Air cond has no power?

[chickens]

Hey All,

Just picked up my first corolla as a commuter beater- very different from my F-150; It's a great little car. Question- the light on the AC does not light up when you press it- and no ac clutch engagement. My first thought is a bad AC fuse or relay, but I've never had a relay go bad on a car in my life (and I've had like, 20 beaters) and can't find mention of a fuse anywhere. Any other things that might kill power to the AC that you guys know of?

Car is '97 CE, 1.6L.

Thanks!

[speedy25]

No pressure= no power to compressor

-SP

[chickens]

So no power to compressor= no lighty light on the on switch?

Time to search for the recharge threads, thanks!

[chickens]

Quick bump-

More investigation has revealed the following:

All AC related fuses are okay

AC relays test out okay

Gauge hooked up to low side reads WAY into the red- like 75PSI, should be 60 max, according to the recharge kit

Still no green light on the a/c button

no compressor turnover at all.

My Haynes manual says tot test out the main engine relay as well, and this one does not test out as it says it should in the manual.... does the main engine relay really control the AC as well? There is no other similar relay to swap out in the engine to test.

Also, if there is no power to the button (like a wiring issue) would this cause the low side to read with very high pressure? Or did the previous owner overcharge the system and would that kill the power to the switch?

[96coroll]

I doubt it but you can try taking off the the black panel or cluster or whatever you wanna call it which is around the radio and the heater controls.. just pull of the heater knobs and pull on the black thing. And see if the switch it connected. Maybe it fell off or maybe if you have an after market radio guy didn't plug it back in. Worth a try it's only like a 15 min process.

-leo

[chickens]

Originally Posted by 96coroll

I doubt it but you can try taking off the the black panel or cluster or whatever you wanna call it which is around the radio and the heater controls.. just pull of the heater knobs and pull on the black thing. And see if the switch it connected. Maybe it fell off or maybe if you have an after market radio guy didn't plug it back in. Worth a try it's only like a 15 min process.

-leo

You, Sire, are a genius! This turns out to be exactly the problem- the a/c switch is not wired in, it just fits into a slot, and after I took the cover off, I pushed the switch in a little more... and it works. Aftermarket radio guy must have hosed the installation.

Now I just have to figure out how to get the panel back on, and fix the air selector switch which I somehow broke in the process- it's stuck on Defrost. Anyway, the AC works now. Thanks!