Air Conditioning

[notsmartguy]

Ok on my 1992 my air conditioner has been broke for like 4 years. Well I got the car and I got fed up with sweating all the time so i took it to Midas to get the A/c fixed. Well basically they told me that a relay was broken so i waited a week until they got it and went back and I found out that, it wasn't the relay. They did tell me that when you jump the relays the A/c works but they can't figure out exactly what it is. anybody got some ideas? any help would be appreciated.

[homeguard]

when you say broke do you mean the motor wont work at all or when you turn on the AC button it doesnt give you cold air? does the heater work?

[notsmartguy]

I can hit a bump and the A/c will work but 99 percent of the time it blows warm air. My heater works great. It will make you sweat when it is snowing out.

[garryconn]

I am guessing that all the obvious things have already been checked such as freon level is good? If you are still set up on that you should convert to R-134a which you can purchase at Walmart cheap.... I have a 92 corolla and it has a small leak somewhere.... so I have to add about 1 can per summer.

[notsmartguy]

I am guessing the freon level is good because it blows really cold air sometimes. My uncle who is in home air conditioning said i should not convert if i didn't have to because the new stuff didn't get as cold as freon.

[garryconn]

When you say it works sometimes.... that would be only 1% the time..... 99% the time it does not blow cold air at all. This is what you had said earlier. So to me that is about as broken as something can get. For it to only work 1% of the time, maybe there is just barely any freon in there and certain conditions were right to make it work again for a moment.... I still think your a/c is dry without freon.... do you actually hear your a/c turn on when you push the a/c button? Usually puts a little strain on the moter and you can hear it running.... if you don't hear it kicking in that is another indication that there is no freon.... however, even if you do hear it kick in still could mean you are out of freon.....

As far as uncle saying that the r-134a not getting as cold as freon:
(1) I have converted my car, and its ICE cold.
(2) I didn't have to pay a professional to service it ($400.00 quote)
(3) r-134a is sold at walmart, autozone, etc.... its cheap.
(4) Even if uncle is or might be technically right (which I would seriously love to challenge) who cares! Look at the conditions you are subjected to currently? You have hot air blowing at well 80* 90* degrees??? or you can go to walmart and blow $25.00 on the r-134a conversion kit.... and if it works great!!! if not then who cares... you just spent $25.00 troubleshooting..... at anyrate when you find the real problem..... you have fresh r-134a ready to go.... I feel very strongly that you have no freon in your car... same shit happened to me and I did all what I have explained above and it runs ICE cold.

My opinion is based on what you are telling me.... if you have left anyother symptoms out.... then it might be a different story. But again.... as it stands, I would fill that damn thing up with r-134a.

If you decide on doing that and do need help, just let me know I would be glad to explain how to do this.... however, its really easy to do... especially if you purchase the conversion kit... instructions are simple.

[Flashmn]

if you don't hear it kicking in that is another indication that there is no freon

It would kick in even if it was empty, thats how I blew my first compressor. Anyhow, what I would check is the fuses and circuitbreakers in the pass. side footwell, I had a problem with a fuse being to loose (the metal strips were too thin), so when I hit a bump it would get knocked loose and stop working. That might be one problem.
My car is converted to R-134a, yeah it DOES get ice cold in there Besides R-12 is getting obsolete in cars, so if you dont have freon in there, you could put R-134a into the OEM compressor, but its pretty much a betting game, it might seize the compressor, but it might work. (didnt try it on mine, because it blew the compressor that used R-12).
Anyhow good luck on finding the problem, aircon is a nice add for summer.

[REN69]

Shit.. does Walmart in Canada do freon conversions??? I have never fixed mine cuz it would cost me like $250 CDN to convert. Anyone know any cheap places in Toronto to do the conversion??

[notsmartguy]

I had it checked again and they say it is an electrical problem but the wiring diagrams they use aren't right for my car. and I can't find the wire so I am about to have to take it to the dealer and pay 102 dollars an hour for them to find this stupid wire.

[2advanced]

too bad you live so far haha..

well you checked all the fuses right?

there are a few relays located in the passangerside box..
there is one CDN 30AMP fuse in the engine bay for the compressor..

what you can trying to do is get a positive wire from the battery and connect it to the wire that comes out from the compressor to activate the clutch.

once you connect that wire the clutch should grab and the engine rpm's should climb because of the load of the compressor and you should be blowing cold air.

I put an A/C system in my 92 corolla that didn't have A/C in the first place.. so i know the system quite well.. so you can try to ask me

[notsmartguy]

Well do you know of any wires that run under the dashboard for the a/c. that is where they directed me. and it has got me nowhere. And I can't find a wiring diagram to save my life. I called toyota and I can order one for 20 bucks and wait 4-6 weeks or pay 40 and get it in two days. You would think the bastards would have something a little fast wouldn't you.

[2advanced]

uh, there are quite a few wires that run under the dash for the A/C.. but you want to try to work you way backwards, do what i told you to try.. check if you have + 12V to the Compressor.. there is one single wire.

check if there is 12V going to that wire. (its a positive wire)