I dont understnad how I would do this!

I am new to engines. I need information in great detail.. (pictures maybe)

I dont know what is wrong with my air conditioning system. When I have the controls set to max ac on level four on the coolest the clutch should spin right? Mine doesent and it wont. What does this mean? Is it just not working because it is low on the freon and I need to recharge it or is there something seriously wrong?

I heard about the "jumping" with the paper clips so that the compresser will kick on. But I dont know where or what I would be jumping. And after I "jump" what I am suppose to will this make the clutch spin?

And I also heard about bleeding the accumulatior. Where is this located? How would I do this?

PLEASE explain how to fix my AC withgreat detail. (like your teaching someone who just bought a car)

I dont want to spend so much money to find out whats wrong with my ac if you guys could help me. sooo please!

Thank you in advance.

I have a 99 blazer 4x4 4.3 liter V6 if it helps any.

 

More than likely, you have a leak in the system somewhere that has caused the pressure to drop below the low limit. You could attempt to recharge the system with the over the counter kits available at your favorite autoparts store, however it will require the 'jumping' of the compressor clutch to keep the compressor running while you are recharging it.

The easiest way to do it is by pulling the A/C relay from the underhood fuse box. Make up a short jumper wire and connect cavity 30 to cavity 87. The relay itself should have pin designations on it, but you will be putting the wires into the corresponding spade terminals in the fuse box, replacing the relay.

From there, you will need to have the recharge kit. Find the low pressure service port. It should be located on the passenger side of the engine. You'll see the large filter/dryer. The low side service port should be on the filter/dryer facing towards the passenger door... Atleast I think that's where it is. LOL. There is another one on the lower line directly in front of the filter/dryer, however I believe that is the larger, high pressure service port. Here's a picture:


Maybe someone would be so kind as to take a picture of the jumper that you'd need to put in.

I cannot stress this enough, if you do not feel comfortable working on your vehicle yet, messing around with the A/C is not a good place to start.

Hope this helps, but god man, have some patience. If you want it fixed ASAP, take it to a competent A/C repair shop.

 

Yea I know I do need patients.
But I dont have them hahaha

And I dont really want to take it to a shop because I can do the recharging myself.
I know how to recharg it, Its just that i dont know where to do the jumper in the fuse box? I think thats where it is from your decription, the fuse box?

Because I heard that the blower has to be going and I think that means that the clutch has to be spinning while I am recharging it, which it doent spin automaticaly. I can spin it by hand though.

I beleive the reason that it is not spinning is because it is low on freon and what I am planning on doing is to recharge it myself and find out how to jump it with the paper clip , or where to put the paper clip, and then try to make it work.

I am only going to go to the shop for a last resort. But I want to avoid it as much as possible because
1) the charge WAY too much for laybor on AC units
2) I am slowly but surely learning how to work on my truck.
3) I think that it would be nice if I can always work on my oun car and save me the money.

But here are the question that I came up with after reading your reply.

1) Where and how would I jump the connections with the paper clip?
2) Should the car be running when I am recharging it, ( because I know that the compressor has to be on)?

THANK YOU for your reply
Chad

 

Hmm... Wonder what would happen if people like me would show the same lack of patience towards you... Kinda blunt, but you have to realize that we all volunteer to help people like yourself and do it for nothing. The least you could do is show some patience and possibly some initiative to search for the information you seek on your own instead of waiting around impatiently for someone to hand it over to you. Why is it that everyone wants something for nothing and wants it immediately???

So to start... Who said anything about a paper clip?? Anyway...

#1, there is a nifty little thing called a diagram on the underside of the fuse box cover. It'll tell you the locations and functions of the items located under it. You'll find that one of the larger square boxes on the diagram says 'A/C'. Note the orientation of the relay in the fuse block and remove it. Under that relay will be terminal pins. They will have numbers next to each pin. You will need to place a jumper wire into the sockets that pins 30 & 87 fit into under the relay in the fuse block. If you do choose to use a paper clip, you may want to wrap the part that you touch with some electrical tape so you don't shock yourself. I have attached some pictures of a typical A/C relay and it's sockets to add some detail, but this is from my Rainier so you will have to find the A/C relay and the appropriate pins yourself.

#2, what kind of a question is this...??? You state that you know that the compressor must be on, but don't know if the motor must be running??? Well, here's a hint, the compressor can't run itself... You'll also want the interior fan on high to ensure that the evaporator doesn't freeze up inside the dash.

Probably the best thing that I can suggest is that you purchase a repair manual for your vehicle. Haynes or Chiltons are decent, but the defacto best is the factory service manual available from HelmInc.com. Another resource that I find very useful (although not in this direct application) is AllDataDIY.com. I keep subscriptions for all of the vehicles I service, both personal and my family members.

By utilizing the search function available to you on our forums, you'll find other posts that should detail other trouble shooting steps to determine if you actually need to recharge the system or just need to replace the low pressure cutoff switch among other things that can go wrong with an A/C system. I won't repeat that information and I don't have the patience to do even more leg work for you. But most of them do require that the compressor be engaged to check for. You shouldn't go blindly adding more refridgerant to the system because you can over fill it, possibly damaging the compressor in the process.


[IMG]local://upfiles/667/E473C10010914D42A07B517AFACAACD9.jpg[/IMG]
The underside of the A/C relay from my '04 Rainier. You'll have to check your own to locate the proper pins.

[IMG]local://upfiles/667/0F164176F05D4A3692BF4EEFAB488984.jpg[/IMG]
A shot showing the location where the A/C relay came from in my Rainier as well as the appropriate sockets to place the jumper wire between. Again, you must verify the appropriate locations for the jumper wire for YOUR vehicle.

*EDIT* added descriptions to the images.

 

well im sorry for being impatient. Really I am.

But I went down there to take a look and just tinkering around to find out what to jump to see if I could do it myself.. Literally. I JUST came up here because I pulled the square ac fuse out and just happened to look under it by the prongs and found the numbers.

So thats why I cam up here to find out the numbers that you have to jump..

So I will go down and play around with it some more

And again sorry .

Im driving around in souther cali ( the desert)

its been 100 degrees here for the past couple days and driving with my windows down and then getting stuck in traffic REALLY sucks...

plus the hot blistering wind going 80 MPH..

But again THANK YOU SO MUCH.
I know that you choose to help. And I really do thank you

you probably will end up saving me money

if I have any more problems I will post them up

Chad

 

THE AC WORKS!!!!!!

I went down to the garage and "jump" the two terminals like you said.
It made the ac clutch start to spin n thats when i really got my hopes up.

So I went to autozone and bought the can of freon and they offered to do it for me because they were not busy.

He starts puting the stuff in and I asked " dont I need to jump the two ac terminals"?
he said no it would kick on by itself once the presure reached the right PSI
AND IT DID!!!

at first it went on for half a second, then one second then five and it eventually stayed on.

Not noticing any changes in the air tempature my hopes were slowly coming down.
It took about 10 minutes for the bottle to drain all the way.

I reached my hand in and felt the air....... and screamed "I have AC!!!"

shook the autozone guys hand and thanked him.
and took off.
I then just drove arond to see what it feels like to be driving with AC. Because this is the first time I have EVER driven a car that had AC. Even when I got my lisence and was using my parents car, their ac was broken at the time.

But now I have AC and I am glad for your help. Thank you

I hope that for now it will hold the freon and not leak out.
If it does, then I am set and will be one patient driver on those 100 degree days.

I am soo happy I dont think tha you guys know. lol
Thank you soo much
you really did help,
Chad

I HAVE AC!!!!

 

Glad it worked. Yeah, I noticed yesterday when I was in advanced that some of the new recharge systems will pump up the pressure enough to kick the compressor on. The older ones required the compressor to be running. I haven't used one in probably 6 years so... Sorry about that.

Glad they could get you squared away. Now if your AC goes away in a month or so, you'll know you have a leak and then you will have to take it to a shop to get it properly fixed. If left unrepaired and allowed to drain down, you may be looking at big $$$ to fix it later.

 

Hey, just reading this forum helped me to repair (recharge) my A/C. I am very glad and it works now. You guys are awesome, thanks so much

 

Just wanted to chime in and say THANK YOU for this thread. My clutch intermittently engaged/disengaged. Pressure was way low, added refrigerant, works great now. (Providing I don't have a leak!)

Thanks a bunch for the clear instructions and pics.

 

ok, i have already tried all of this and succeeded, but i do have a leak and it must be pretty bad because my ac stopped working again after a day.

i do have a question about the compressor. when it isn't running, it almost sounds like its grinding. i know this is not normal, but i am thinking that i might need to change the compressor out. i definitely do not want to do that since i just dropped $1200 on fixing the tranny and am out of money. does any one have any opinions of what i may be able to do?

thanks in advance.
Anthony