OK!! so I know a lot of people out there are going to be relieved to read this. It took me over a month of searching with a fine tooth comb through forums and talking to mechanics until finally i found the issue. So you get in the car and go to work in the morning and the ac works great! freeze you out even. BUT!!! on the way home in 110 degree Texas weather the a/c works for about 5 minutes and then nothing for the rest of the drive home... You go to a mechanic and they say it could be too much or not enough freon causing incorrect head pressure in the system and cutting off the compressor. WRONG! the problem is in the compressor clutch. even after applying 12 volts directly to the clutch it still wont turn on. What you need to do is replace or rebuild the clutch. This is not a do it your self kind of project. you will need to evacuate the freon and oil from your system and completely remove your ac compressor. That does not mean bleeding out the freon with a screwdriver which is illegal and bad for the atmosphere. Then you have to disassemble the compressor to get the clutch off and into pieces. The clutch is operated by an electromagnetic setup. The problem with electromagnets is that even though they are very strong the fields are very small. So the fix it either replacing the clutch with a non factory clutch that is designed better or re-shimming the factory clutch. Personally I had this done at a local shop whom I know to be reputable. It cost me about 500 bucks for the diagnostic service, evacuation, removal, rebuild, re-installation, and refill. however for the average joe who is going to replace the entire compressor it will probably run you about 800 or so. Good luck to you all I hope this helps you as much as it would have helped me. And also on a side note make sure to check your cabin filter as well which is located behind your glove box. its white and has two phillips head screws holding it in. remove it slowly because chances are yours also has 100,000+ miles of crud sitting on top of it that you don't want going down into your fan and out your vents. They are only about 30 bucks and 5 minutes to replace.
OK!! so I know a lot of people out there are going to be relieved to read this. It took me over a month of searching with a fine tooth comb through forums and talking to mechanics until finally i found the issue. So you get in the car and go to work in the morning and the ac works great! freeze you out even. BUT!!! on the way home in 110 degree Texas weather the a/c works for about 5 minutes and then nothing for the rest of the drive home... You go to a mechanic and they say it could be too much or not enough freon causing incorrect head pressure in the system and cutting off the compressor. WRONG! the problem is in the compressor clutch. even after applying 12 volts directly to the clutch it still wont turn on. What you need to do is replace or rebuild the clutch. This is not a do it your self kind of project. you will need to evacuate the freon and oil from your system and completely remove your ac compressor. That does not mean bleeding out the freon with a screwdriver which is illegal and bad for the atmosphere. Then you have to disassemble the compressor to get the clutch off and into pieces. The clutch is operated by an electromagnetic setup. The problem with electromagnets is that even though they are very strong the fields are very small. So the fix it either replacing the clutch with a non factory clutch that is designed better or re-shimming the factory clutch. Personally I had this done at a local shop whom I know to be reputable. It cost me about 500 bucks for the diagnostic service, evacuation, removal, rebuild, re-installation, and refill. however for the average joe who is going to replace the entire compressor it will probably run you about 800 or so. Good luck to you all I hope this helps you as much as it would have helped me. And also on a side note make sure to check your cabin filter as well which is located behind your glove box. its white and has two phillips head screws holding it in. remove it slowly because chances are yours also has 100,000+ miles of crud sitting on top of it that you don't want going down into your fan and out your vents. They are only about 30 bucks and 5 minutes to replace.
- Kevin W., Roysecity, TX, US