AC not cooling - likely compressor, could it just be clutch?

[sumo]

Do yourself a favor and take it to a certified ac repair shop. Since you don’t know why the compressor isn’t kicking on, you could be trying to Add to the system that’s fully charged. I suggest you start with a ac system evacuation. After the system is drained, a vaccume will be put on to the system which will indicate if there’s a leak. Before the system is recharged, dye is added so if there any leaks, it will be visable under a UV light.

 

[M1Gunner]

That’s where checking the fuse relay and verifying power and ground to the compressor is being delivered comes into play. If that’s all there and you then supply power and ground to the compressor wether it kicks on or not will tell you wether it’s electrical or pressure related.

If any ever has to add refridgerant to an hvac system to get it to work, you have a leak and need to address it before adding more refrigerant to it. Even if you decide to introduce more refridgerant to the system everytime and don’t address the leak all you’re doing is setting yourself up for disaster. You’re losing oil with every leak and not supplying more into the system and let alone allowing moisture to chemical rot the system from the inside out.

 

[M1Gunner]

Do yourself a favor and take it to a certified ac repair shop. Since you don’t know why the compressor isn’t kicking on, you could be trying to Add to the system that’s fully charged. I suggest you start with a ac system evacuation. After the system is drained, a vaccume will be put on to the system which will indicate if there’s a leak. Before the system is recharged, dye is added so if there any leaks, it will be visable under a UV light.

Valuable information here but unfortunately not all leaks will show themselves through a leak check when applying vacuum to a system. You may have a leak acting as a check valve, vacuum will seal yet positive pressure will allow it to open. But as you have suggested, adding dye will give away the culprit in that scenario.

 

[sumo]

Yes very true but let’s say there was a substantial leak like a failed o ring or puncture in the condenser big enough to loose the entire charge rapidly then it will fail the vacuume test. Our machine tells us if it’s holding a vacuume and advise us not to charge. We still charge it anyways because we inject the dye and cycle the compressor to circulate the dye so we can pinpoint the leak

 

[DonnieBrasco]

Hey everyone, got some updates here and need further advice...

I cranked up, blasted the AC, and connected the can gauge. Sure enough, it was at zero psi. So I started filling. And pretty quickly (much faster than I assumed), it started going up. Then the compressor kicked on, the pressure dropped lower, then slowly started coming up again. I filled it until the reading was firmly in the upper portion of the green "filled" area on the gauge. Then I checked the AC temperature, and it was still not cooling. So I hooked the gauge back up, and it read in the green still.

Does it take some run time for the refrigerant to fully "run through the system" and start cooling? Or should it be pretty immediate? What are my next steps?

 

[sumo]

Hard to say. If it’s at zero it most likely leaked out. At this point my man, I suggest you take it to a ac shop. Those gauges that come with the cans aren’t really any good. Have them evac it recharge it with dye to spec. Once they do that and if your ac stops working again, at least you can take a uv light to find where it might Be leaking from. Blindly filling your system you run the risk of overcharging and damaging the compressor, seals or piping.

 

[DonnieBrasco]

Hard to say. If it’s at zero it most likely leaked out. At this point my man, I suggest you take it to a ac shop. Those gauges that come with the cans aren’t really any good. Have them evac it recharge it with dye to spec. Once they do that and if your ac stops working again, at least you can take a uv light to find where it might Be leaking from. Blindly filling your system you run the risk of overcharging and damaging the compressor, seals or piping.

Damn. That's what I was afraid of. Any ballpark idea on what kind of cost I am looking at (not repairs, just to evac and recharge/diagnose it)? Like is this a $200 type thing, or a $500 type thing? Thanks for the advice.

 

[sumo]

Damn. That's what I was afraid of. Any ballpark idea on what kind of cost I am looking at (not repairs, just to evac and recharge/diagnose it)? Like is this a $200 type thing, or a $500 type thing? Thanks for the advice.

Our shop charges 1 hour to evac and recharge and the cost of Freon. I’d say 150 to 200 range. When the customers comeback for an ac inspection we don’t charge again unless they want to have repairs done needed to fix the problem