Farking air conditioning, magnetic clutch won't engage

[Boston]

The magnetic clutch on my air conditioning compressor won't engage. I found a few corroded wires and respliced them, but no luck. I checked a bunch of voltaged including at the relay and the thermoswitch behind the glovebox and they checked out ok. I need to recheck the wiring at the magnetic clutch tomorrow when I have daylight. The clutch and "thermal protector" wiring as a few of the placed where I repliced.

I don't see any oily leaks at any of the fittings on the AC lines, so I am reasonably confident that once I get the compressor to kick on, I'll have pressure in the system and it'll keep my nice and cool.

Have you had the problem with the magnetic clutch and how did you fix it?

[Boston]

I got the magnetic clutch to engage by supplying 12 volts to the black/red wire coming off of the pressure switch near the sight glass on the driver's side behind the headlamp.

Do you know if the presure switch senses high pressure and shuts the compressor off, or does it sense low pressure and shut the compressor off?

I got no continuity through the pressure switch and the manual says to change the pressure switch along with the line it is attached to. I am wondering if the pressure switch is open because of the low pressure in the system.

When I turn the AC on at the dash, I get 12 volts to the black/blue wire going into the pressure switch.

I cannot get the condensor fan to turn on no matter what I've done so far.

[chrisf]

The compressor won't run if there's no refrigerant in the system. Do you know if you have any in there? There's a sight glass in one of the lines that can tell you if there is.

[RALLYBP_94]

The compressor won't run if there's no refrigerant in the system. Do you know if you have any in there? There's a sight glass in one of the lines that can tell you if there is.

Yeah.. it is in the right front corner of the car.. it's about 1'' and its squared, if you see bubbles running throught the glass then you need to recharge it.

[Boston]

Yeah.. it is in the right front corner of the car.. it's about 1'' and its squared, if you see bubbles running throught the glass then you need to recharge it.

I got the magnetic clutch to engage by supplying 12 volts to the black/red wire coming off of the pressure switch near the sight glass on the driver's side behind the headlamp.

Yeah I know where it is, but I failed to mention in my earlier posts that I did see refrigerant and bubbles through the sight glass. I tried using my cheapie recharge/gauge kit but system pressure would never come up.

I got a call from the shop this morning and they said the condensor was leaking. They're fixing that and going to recharge the system. All should be good when I get it back later today!

Thanks for the input!

[XxToKeSxX]

How much does it generally cost to recharge for an r-12 system... I imagine fairly cheaper than the rest? My AC just went out on me this quarter... and was working fine before the iwinter... I dont think that I have any leaks. PM if at all possible

[Boston]

dude, they takin you for a ride.
a.) you don't "fix" a condensor.. you replace them.
b.) the **** (your remaining r-12) probably vented while you were playing with the compressor.
c.) there are nor "quick and easy" r-12 charging kits unless you live in mexico
d.) you cross contamiated your A/C system with 134a putting that "quick charge" **** in there. and if you DID'nt use r-134a as a "quick fix", and opted for one of those gay "r-22" or "r-12 add-in" refrigerants, it's likely it ****ed up the system entirely.
e.) there are several control mechanisms which tell the compressors magnetic clutch when to activate. have you done any wire or relay troubleshooting at all?

sounds to me like someone's gunna get you to spend a few bucks at thier shop then blame the failure of something else when it does'nt work "all that great"..
..
hrmm.. we fix dat der condenser... we jus sla some der 'poxy on 'er.. good as new.. that'll be $48.32, and me and bubba can go get sum beer tonight and laught at you.

dude,
a) they are fixing the condenser by replacing the condenser
b) I suppose it could have been pumped out through the leaking condenser
c) my system has been retrofitted for R134a
d) see "c)" above
e) yes I did several hours of wiring and relay troubleshooting according to the factory service manual that I have, parts of which I mentioned above.

Sounds to me like I did exactly what any other sane and able person would do.

[Boston]

uhh.... go get it recharged by someone qualified.... this is an R12 system... those "DIY kits" are for R134a

Yes, my system is retrofitted for R134a.

[Boston]

If your system needs a recharge, it probably has a leak, which means it needs to be fixed.

R12 is spendy; $30/lb or higher is the price I've seen. License/qualified technicians are far and few between and can only purchase a limited amount every year.

But what do I know?

[Boston]

I realized the limited amount of info that I gave, but I thought I'd give you a little crap on the bounce. The "uhh" and "dude" along with the broken English train of thought remark were nice touches I have to admit

When I first posted, I was more or less just quickly describing what I did, but if you read my questions, they were specific. I didn't solicit any information about troubleshooting anything other than the magnetic clutch in the first post. And in my second post I only asked a specific question about the pressure switch.

I appreciate the other info, but as you said, you made assumptions because of my lack of description detail. I described this problem to a lot of people off the board, so I forgot what I included here and what I left out.

So I picked up my car today and the AC blows ICE COLD. All it was was the condenser, a recharge, and now it's sittin' pretty. Except for the wires that I need to resplice.

[Boston]

Right. Good analogy. That is precisely my career aspiration! And ClubProtege.com is akin to surgery.

[TheLastMarauder]

Lets not start a feud over something that doesnt matter... "Peace Love Dope"....

[Boston]