zoned019

fonseca,
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (zoned019 @ Jun 19 2005, 04:01 AM)</div><div class='quotemain'>Check the heater cable clip to make sure that it is "supposed" to be blowing cold air, if you have the A/C on with the temperature on hot you're not going to get cool air.
Below by the gas pedal you can see an offwhite triangular shaped clip thing (its sorta hard to describe, heh) that pivots on the bottom left. It should be pushed all the way up for cold air. This IS the normal position, but possibly something is blocking it holding it down (giving u hot air)
just a thought.
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fonseca

Yep it's attached.

I'm actualy used to adjusting the temp by reaching down there and doing it by hand. That's how often my dash is disassembeled. wink1.gif

Unless I broke it or something, but I don't think so, since it can go from simply warm air with or without the AC on to hellishly hot with the turn of a knob.

I don't think I killed the AC button either after adding LEDs, seems to work normally. My guess is the compressor. That clutch is definitely not engaging with the pulley.

Mad_john

maybe the evap is pluged of the expan valve on the evap is shot . its worth it to take a look at thoes first fing02.gif

fonseca

^^ can you rephrase that for me? You mean that the valve that sprays the r-134 could be plugged? I have no idea how to check that. I guess I need to go read up on AC systems. I need to exhaust all possibilities before taking it in to a shop.

Mad-Machine

Having just taken a friend's POS ford van to Conn to pick up some theatrical paint.. I have a better understanding of air conditioning. When I picked up this ancient F350, the air did not work. Turn it on, you got hot air.. opening the hood, I discovered that the clutch mechanism was bad.. even with the air engaged inside the car, the centre of the clutch mechanism never moved.

I took a pipe that I found in the van (no idea why it was there) and gently nudged the compressor clutch.. and to my surprise it kicked in. I did discover that I had to do this EVERY time I shut the van off.. but it was better than sweating all day.

I suggest you find a way to see if the clutch on your compressor is working. With the engine on and the air OFF.. the centre part should stay still with just the pulley spinning with engine RPM.

With the air ON (switch to on and blower on) the middle of the clutch assembly should be spinning with the pulley.

Mad_john

expan valve on the evap is shot= there is a yalve that is part of the ac system that lets/contronls the freon in and out of the evap" the thing that makes cold air" and its located in the dash. now if that is stuck every thing will look like it works the "L" side hose will get cold and the "H" will get hot. but i wont blow cold air..its that valve on it

UltraTibby

If the center "clutch" part of the AC unit is not spinning then the AC unit is not turning on. We had this problem on a Jeep Grand Cherokee and found that it was being caused by:

- Not proper tension on the AC belt
- Not high enough pressure in the coolant lines

Once we fixed those two problems the center "clutch" part would spin/engage (as it should) when the AC was turned on. Hope that helps!

fonseca

Thanks guys. So before I buy a new compressor, I'll do the obvious and check the pressure in the lines. I know the belt is perfect. The clutch does not spin, trying to get it to spin by physically nudging it with the car and AC on doesn't help. I didn't know that low pressure could stop it from spinning. I guess there is some sort of switch that cuts off at low pressure.

I also found a good forum on car air conditioning.

BTW, my alternator's output is pathetic. I'm only getting 13.1-.2 with the car running, which is probably why my headlights dim so much when the fans cut on. I'm going to do the Big 3 upgrade ASAP. And also check that power is getting to the compressor.