Help diagnosing A/C issue

[Voice of Reason]

I've tried searching on A/C* and "air* conditioning" and haven't had any luck.

I'm trying to track down an issue with an intermitent A/C issue. When the knob is set to both normal and high A/C it only works maybe 25% of the time. When it does work it blows very cold air, so I don't think it's low on r134. To me this just seems like an electrical problem and not a hardware problem.

Autozone.com shows a $5.99 compressor relay, so I'm wondering if swaping it out might fix things. Or, I wonder if the high/low limit switch is going out.

Has anyone run into this issue on their car and if so how did you fix it? Is there anything I can jump to force the compressor on and try to find the issue that way? And if it turns out the issue is with the high/low limit switch is it in direct contact with the system (IE: I take if off and I would have to have the system pulled down and refilled w/ r134) or is it seperate and removing it won't open up the system?

Thanks!

 

[BlownFiveLiter]

The low pressure sensor is a typical problem on these cars. As long as you've verified a sufficient charge by hooking up a manifold set, you should be able to get the compressor going by jumping the wires at the sensor to determine if that's in fact the problem. It's on top of the accumulator at the passenger side corner by the firewall and there's a schraeder valve, so you can safely remove it without losing any of your charge. I think the replacement cost was around $20 for a new sensor. I believe the relay for the compressor is inside of the CCRM on the 94-95, so I don't believe Autozone is correct with what they're telling you. I could be wrong, but I think it's in there along with the wide open throttle relay.

 

[Voice of Reason]

I kept digging for answers using search and found a link to the following document:

http://renaxgade.net/95ac.pdf

This looks like it has some good info. Anyone know where the cycling switch is located?

 

[HISSIN50]

I agree with getting some gauges on there before tossing too many parts at it.

It's nice to not replace switches if all you need is a charge. If you're low on charge, the compressor will kick off quickly once you rev the engine (this pulls the low side down quickly and the switch disengages the compressor clutch).

Good luck.

 

[Voice of Reason]

I have a refill kit at home that I just tried using on our old 99 Contour that has a gauge on it. I'll have to try hooking that up just to see what it reads.

 

[Synned]

I kept digging for answers using search and found a link to the following document:

http://renaxgade.net/95ac.pdf

This looks like it has some good info. Anyone know where the cycling switch is located?

Hey, my website is getting passed around .
But i can't take credit for that document, but if you follow it you will find out what the problem is.