So, i bought my 'Vette in January, and as far as i knew, the A/C worked just fine.... however, now that its getting warmer out, its becoming apparent to me that it doesn't.... The symptoms and characteristics are very weird, so i'm hoping someone has run across this and can help me out......

First off, a friend of mine is a mechanic at a Nissan dealer - i had the refrigerant pulled out, and then pumped back full - so i'm not worried that the problem is a lack of refrigerant... the refrigerant was very low, and i haven't got to run the car since having it refilled, but the main symptom below still had not changed when we were at the dealership - it still blows hot air....

If I start the car up in the garage, where its semi cool, the A/C will blow semi cool ... as long as i keep the car running, no matter where i go, no matter how hot it is, or if i'm sitting in traffic, or anything, it will stay semi cool... it won't get cold, but it won't blow hot.....

HOWEVER, if i stop at a store, when I come back out, the car will blow nothing but hot.... even if its a cool, sunny day, and it heats up in the car, the A/C will blow nothing but hot....

When we were filling the refrigerant the other day, he said that the a/c clutch was not grabbing... he didn't know if it was because the condenser was bad, the clutch was bad, or what, but it wasn't grabbing.... he suggested taking it to the GM dealer and having them put a Tech II on it and see if they can determine anything....

Do you guys have any thoughts on the issue? He thought it could be an inside the cab thing, possibly an issue with the climate control... but also just could be the condenser.....

Any help is greatly appreciated!!

-Bish

 

Also, i should mention this.... I started looking into this a couple weeks ago, and i got sidetracked.... i took the 2-wire connected off of the a/c condenser and tested it for voltage... i don't recall exactly what voltage it was, but it was getting power.... but, my buddy told me that that doesn't necessarily mean the car is trying to turn the a/c on, because they MAY turn the ground on and off to control the power.... but he wasn't sure since he's not familiar with the system...

I think that's everything i know....

Thanks in advance for everyone's help! If i could get this fixed, it'd be really huge! i will drive the car without A/C, but my fiance never wants to take the car if its hot out, b/c of the lack of A/C - so i'm tired of leaving my car home on nice, sunny days!!!

 

I live in Phx. and I use my A/C. But I had crap like that going on with my A/C. Took it to the dealer ( no codes ) gave me an estimate of $1200.00 and really couldn't tell me what was wrong. Just throwing money at the problem. So I buy two actuators off of Gene Culley , yank nthe dash , replace them , and when done tore apart the old one. There is no " Re-Indexing " . When they mess up- their broke, just like a headlight gear. Anyhow start there. At least before you start think of some stuff you want to do with the dash off.

 

Hmmm ok.... well I can't do anything til I get home from work.... did a quick search on my phone and it looks like most actuator issues have a DTC associated.... is that the case?

Any other ideas out there??

 

if the "refrigerant was very low" , it went somewhere, meaning you have a leak in the system... really have to address that (usually with dye in the system to locate) - then troubleshoot from there -- it could very well be low again - right away if a big leak.

 

actually not true....a headunit from an 01 and up has built in logic that will compensate for bad actuators....used one out of an 04 to fix my 99..cost me $125 but much easier than ripping out the dash

 

We agreed with this, but the machine at the dealership puts the system thru a vacuum test and it didn't detect any leaks at all.....

 

Has no one else ran into this problem??

 

If the "clutch isn't grabbing" then the compressor isn't pumping refrigerant,and your A/C isn't going to work. At all.

You can put as much refrigerant in it as you want,but if the compressor doesn't go roundy-roundy,there's no cooling action.

If the clutch isn't turning the compressor,you've probably got one 3 things going on:

1 - compressor is broken internally-this is gonna cost ya.

2 - Clutch is bad,or has oil on the friction surfaces,causing slippage(or the belt is too loose to pull the load,How is the tensioner?)
but if that was the case you'd be hearing some bad noises or smelling some bad smells after the A/C was on for more than 5 minutes or so...

3 - System is way overcharged,and the compressor is trying to compress liquid,which ain't gonna happen.

I'm sure there are more,but these are the common ones.

Your condenser isn't the problem,unless it's totally plugged with junk.(i'm not sure what voltage you checked on it)

You may very well have more problems,but until you get the compressor pumping,you're not going to be able to figure them out.

first things first...

 

without a compressor working, you don't stand a chance of getting a/c. was the system refilled to GM specs when you nissan mechanic friend re-charged the system?? if not as pointed out above, you either are trying to compress liquid which the compressor wasn't designed to do, or you are trying to compress an inadequate source of gas (thereby not providing cooling.

 

I'm pretty sure that the system was filled properly... its the same exact machine that is at the GM dealer... you hook the lines up, type in the amount of R134 that the sticker under the hood calls for, and let the machine do all the work...... However, in the interest of not overlooking something small, i'll have this checked out at the GM dealer....

As far as the compressor, i haven't had any time to look into it lately.... I do know that one time i had to put the belt back on for the compressor... it hasn't popped off again since, but since i had to put it back on once, its possible that something needs addressed...

Can anyone tell me, is there any way to tell whether or not its the whole compressor or just the clutch?? If i'm understanding this correctly, the compressor gets power from the car and then engages the clutch... so how can you know if its a compressor malfunction, or just a bad clutch?? Is there any way to replace just the clutch?

If i do find that its the compressor that is bad, is it a really entailed thing to change?? I can do it myself, but i haven't had much time lately, so i'm hoping it wouldn't involve tearing tons of **** apart...... but o well if it does....

 

Ok - so to bump this thread with new symptoms...

suddenly, out of the blue sky, the A/C started working.... it blows nice and cold, never frigid, but it will make the cab very comfy.... However, occasionally, it will start making the most awful screeching noise... its like nails on a chalkboard bad..... sounds like the belt squeeling on a 1989 Ford Ranger, but twice as loud....

Any thoughts on what could make the A/C make such an awful noise?

 

Compressor not turning,clutch slipping (those are the bad noises I mentioned in my previous post)
You need to find out what's causing the compressor to lock up-could be mechanical,could be too much refrigerant-mechanical will be expensive,but if the system is overcharged,not a big problem.(pull a vacuum on the system and weigh in the proper charge)
It's almost guaranteed to turn expensive if it keeps doing the noise thing for long.