• Welcome to the Contour Enthusiasts Group, the best resource for the Ford Contour and Mercury Mystique.

    You can register to join the community.

Air conditioning not working

P

pare_john

New CEG'er
Joined
Jan 26, 2010
Messages
12
Location
Saint-Eustache Quebec Canada
1998 SE 2.0L 65000 KM. I went to use the AC and no cold air. I noticed that when I turn it on that I can not hear the compressor kicking on. I wanted to know that if the system is too low if the compressor will not run? or does this mean I am not getting any power to the compressor.

Thank you,
 
if the system pressure is to low then the compressor will not turn on. if you want to check this out yourself you will need to buy the proper guage set to check the high and low side system pressures. otherwise you are going to have to take it to a shop.
 
Everything you need to service the AC should be at autozone.
I might say - on some cars when the refigerant is low, the compressor will kick on and off eratically. Did it ever go thru a phase like that?

Also, I don't know if car AC systems eventually just leak out but if it seems to be leaking, Autozone has some kind of dye you can use under a flourescent light or something,

I know my car 96 contour, the AC doesn't work at all, and there is no refrigerant in the system at all. Not sure what happened there, never has worked. Can't be assed to deal with it.
 
I just did this on my 1999 and BrApple is definitely correct about having a proper pressure gauge. In my case the clutch was also stuck. Liberal amounts of WD40 and a few gentle taps fixed that problem.
 
From what I've seen the system will quit cycling on/off at less than around 25 lbs. of pressure. The warning just before that is that compressor will come on for just a second and quickly go back off repeatedly.
 
amc49 said:
From what I've seen the system will quit cycling on/off at less than around 25 lbs. of pressure. The warning just before that is that compressor will come on for just a second and quickly go back off repeatedly.
Click to expand...

I think the system is only suppose to have ~ 25 lbs, iirc. the amount of R-134A in the system is determined by the ambient temp and the cycle time of the compressor. it should cycle until the out side temp is well above 90 degrees, iirc.
 
My AC just quit working as well. The gauge I have says that there is way too MUCH pressure in it? It won't service so I'm inclined to agree with it. I have no idea how this could have happened as I've never touched the AC and it worked fine last year... Compressor is not kicking on. I am baffled at this and need to get it fixed.


edit: Did some searching, any links to the air gap shimming or anything? Also, how do I jump the ac bypass and can I just use a test light to see if I'm getting a signal to the compressor? Sorry for the noob questions but I've never had to worry about this sort of thing before. Not really that great with AC systems.
 
only one guage? please get a guage set. my guess is you read the pressure from the low pressure port. if the system has R-134A in it and it isn't running the low side pressure will read way to high. need to check the pressure on both sides to make sure you know what is going on.

also everyone needs to remember that for the A/C system to work correctly it needs to first hold a vacuum, then be filled.
 
Yeah I know when it isn't running it'll read stupid high so I'm guessing thats what is going on. Sigh... I'll see if my mechanic father in law has a gauge set from work and if not I suppose I should probably just go get the set anyways. It'll be cheaper than an hour of labor for a diagnostic... Autozone has complete gauge sets? Eh, maybe I'll just take it somewhere.
 
I went without a/c for almost 2 yrs because I was told by the dealer that the clutch was out on the compressor, then after reading a bit in here I found a thread about air gap issues. I knew my freon was good no leaks but compressor wouldn't come on. Won't say this will work for you but thought I would pass my story along. With my engine running I turned on my a/c and took a pry bar and tapped the center plate of the clutch and presto......a/c compressor kicked on and I had a/c again as cold as I had when I first got the car! I never had any more problems with it until I blew motor and had a 3.0swap done and now I have a leak where the line set couples into the compressor....
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top