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Air Conditioning Problem....Help!

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Old June 23rd, 2010, 11:15 AM
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Default Air Conditioning Problem....Help!

Thanks to anyone who can help us with this!!!

We noticed that the A/C Compressor was not working. However when we put a jumper in the male end of the relay that starts the compressor (located on the dryer) the compressor does work. But the air is not cold even with the compresor working.

We added R134 until it would not take anymore. About 2 or 3 small cans.

We found a suggestion on-line that a dirty orifice tube was normally a culprit when the A/C system failed.

So we bought the orifice tube and the switch on the dryer that activates the compressor.

My questions are:

1. Should we allow an A/C mechanic to take care of this whole thing or could we utilize the mechanic for the evacuation, vacuum test, and refill of the system only? My son and I are compotent with wrenches and do a lot of normal component replacement to save money.

2. Is the orifice tube the most likely cause for this problem?

3. Does the relay / compressor switch located on the dryer shut down to prevent the compressor from running when oil is not reaching the compressor? (or has it simply failed with age?)

4. We heard the evaporator and dryer should be replaced on this 13 year old vehicle? We heard they were common locations for debris to build up. Sounds logical to me given the size of the fins for cooling in the evaporator and the dryer being the oil filter.

5. Should all major components (all under the hood) be removed and cleaned with high pressure air to remove debris or should they be cleaned with something else?

Thank you for your input. We have to fix this for the least amount possible. Even if it's believed we should have someone else perform this maintenance I'd like to understand the cause(s) first.

Thank you again.
Monty
Old June 23rd, 2010, 1:58 PM
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I agree it would be nice to be able to do the repairs yourself and only have the AC shop do the evac and recharge however they may end up charging you the same amount as that is how they make there money, that and they may not do it if they can't do the repairs also, for warranty purposes....
Thou I would for sure ask a couple of AC shops
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