A/C in grand am not working
 

Okay, my wife and i took a 3 hour trip to panama and had no A/C. we drive tghe car a lot now that we have two kids and both car seats wont fit in my alero for some reason. so my problem, which i figured would be simple as putting more r134 in is not so simple.
When i click the A/C button in the car, the light comes on above it saying its on, however, No cold air come out, the car does not bog down like i am used to, nothing happens no noise at all. what could be the problem here? is the compressor shot? condenser? just need R134?

Repairs are such BS. the alero now needs a new o2 sensor on top of intake gaskets. >_<

It could be a multitude of things. My Alero had an internal compressor failure when the a/c went out. The compressor stopped compressing, though the clutch still engaged (it clicked)

Hard to say without proper diagnostic tools.

damn. i can't afford to take it to a mechanic that has A/C know how. they charge an arm and two legs to fix ac related problems here.

Delete it! If mine went out thats what i would do. I will agree, ac repairs are stupidly priced.

its the wifes car and the kids are in it all the time, they are not to fond of wind whiping their hair around like crazy. I gotta try to fix it some how. but i don't want to waste money on refrige if it doesn't solve the problem.

Well i would say maybe recharge it, if that doesnt work you might need a new compressor, does the clutch engage on the compressor when you hit the a/c button?

im fairly positive that nothing happens. I hit the button and nothing happens, no noise, no click, no cool air, nothing. i wish this damn car was an alero because the alero has recirculating air button and i just use that to cool off my alero. no need for ac when the air just gets cooler by itself by recirculating.

Every compressor I replace had a little hole in it

I have a Grand Am and also in the process of debugging AC issues. The bad news is there are no simple fixes or freebies here and it's going to cost you some money either way you go.

Most likely the freon level is so low that the compressor clutch will not engage. With the engine off you can apply 12V directly to the compressor electrical connector pins and see if the clutch is pulled in or not...it's magnetic. This will tell you if the clutch is working or not.

Check the AC fuses and the AC clutch relay. The relays are simple to test with a 12V power source and and ohm meter. Beyond that you're going to need access to an AC gauge set to check the freon level in the system...there is a high side and low side. Certainly you can just go out and buy a can of freon and throw it in the system on the low side, but that's not going to show you much and may only be a short term fix if it works at all.

If there is a leak in the system, then you're going to need a leak detector and/or some dye with a black light to help locate the leak. Once the leak is found and repaired then you'll need a vacuum pump to evacuate the system and then recharge with freon to the proper level.

Working your way through the system and checking everything can be very time consuming, especially for a novice mechanic so that is another thing to consider versus taking it to an experienced shop for diagnosis.

Check out the Youtube videos by Eric The Car Guy on AC repair and then you can decide if it's something you can handle or not.

Good luck.....! 8-)

there are no true experienced shops around me most of them have people about my skill level and my age working on stuff they can't even afford. but damn ! thank you for the insight. i will try these things and see what is going on.

Has the system ever been recharged and what year is the car?

03 and im not sure, i purchased the carlast winter

Without gauges it's impossible to say. At the very least you should temporarily (as in very temporarily) jumper the pressure cutoff to see if the compressor clutch engages. It's also possible that yours all leaked out and only adding one can isn't enough to get it working again. If that's the case you have a serious leak, and they can be incredibly hard to find. I just found a compressor seam leak on another car, and it took me three dye packs and over a year to figure it out.

I assume that you have checked every possible fuse???

i did check the fuses. all intact.

Very possible you need a recharge, R134a last about 10 years.

I would first test and see if you're clutch engages, jumper 30 and 87a on the relay, this will give you 12v.If no problems are found and you are tight on cash just buy a recharge and see what happens, though it should be evacuated and recharged, you'll be ok.

You don't necessarily need a mechanic.. You need a good set of manifold gauges and the know-how of a/c systems. If you can grasp the concept of how a/c works, it's not that hard at all.

Compressor generates pressure in the high (discharge) line, approx. 190-350 psi depending on temperature. HOT refrigerant flows through the condenser in front of the radiator turning from vapor to liquid.Next the orifice tube is the point where high pressure becomes low pressure, 22-55 depending on temperature. The expansion / drop in pressure is what makes it cold. (like the propane tank on a grill). COLD refrigerant travels to the evaporator core where it turns from liquid back to vapor in the dash. Next, the refrigerant flows to the accumulator/receiver/drier where it is assured that the refrigerant is vapor so liquid doesn't go to the compressor. There is a desiccant inside that will absorb any moisture, like those silica gel packets you get in stuff. The compressor draws refrigerant vapor from the receiver/drier and the cycle starts over again.

basically the idea is to have the largest difference between your high side and low side pressures while maintaining good flow. Blockages or other anomalies would result in funky pressure readings, hence the manifold gauges.

Btw in the alero and most other cars,
the air recirculate will still kick on the AC compressor.
no matter where you have your temp gauge set.
same goes for Defrosting the front window

That seems to be true for most models, but my 99 GLS lets you disengage it manually for recirc, except for defrost mode. Also, it stays where I leave it at key-off, and can switch to recirc from fresh with the fan set to off.

My compressor is on the way out now, putting a big drain on the system when I use it.

I found a leak in the compressor today...looks like it's time to replace. :cry:

And accumulator/receiver-dryer, and orifice tube, and flush all lines. And ideally some Nylog Blue to do the O-rings with.

Don't half-do it, or you'll get to pay twice for the compressor.

And STILL pay to replace the other parts, too!

I did find this kit on eBay. I didn't see what size motor you had, so verify, Verify, VERIFY if it fits or not for you.

You'll also need the R134a refrigerant, a gauge set, and a vacuum pump.

You'll also need a flush kit and the flush chemical.

The vacuum pump and gauge set MAY be available on a loan-a-tool, the flush kit certainly is at Advance and Auto Zone. If not, Harbor Freight has a perfectly servicable set of both gauge set and vacuum pump (hint: For a single car, you don't need the big pump, just let the little one run longer.)

The refrigerant - ideally, you'll weigh the charge going in. That's a bit hard to do on the small cans, but I doubt you can possibly justify a 30 pound canister of R134a (like I could with the *counts* six or seven cars I help maintain in the family ... )

Anyway ... Didn't want to hurt you worse, but that's what you'll need to look at.

I'd HIGHLY consider a new serpentine belt at the same time, but I'm all too familiar with what happens when you ignore Mrs. Case's son, Justin. Their uncle Murphy tends to light and stay a bit ...

RwP

Yeah, this looks like a big PITA, or pay somebody to do it. My cars are running like crap in this muggy weather.

Actually once past the money spent for the parts, and the poor location of the low pressure fitting, it's not that bad. I've worked on worse ...

(I do have a flush kit, a vacuum pump, and a gauge set. And most of a 30 pound canister of DuPont Suva(tm) R134a. And most of a bottle of Nylog for the O-rings. That may make a difference in my take on it ...)

RwP

My condenser is in bad shape, too, many of the fins are damaged or clogged. My only gauges are for home refrigerators, no other tools available since I retired. The company took them back. But I might try to replace the compressor, it's about to become a safety issue.

I got a vacuum pump and gauge set as a loaner from AutoZone. I just used the small cans, each one is usually 3/4 lb.


The compressor isn't a horrible job. It's just bolted to the block with 3 bolts, one bolt holding in the line and 2 electrical connections as I recall. The older V6s were much worse.

The condensor being in bad shape means you also get to drain the coolant - if it's exactly like my Malibu, it's bolted to the radiator, and the radiator comes out to get it out.

Well, maybe no - my nephew and I managed to coax my condenser out when it failed on me about six years ago ...

RwP

Can you elaborate on this some more and exactly how you found the hole?
I'm pretty sure that mine is leaking from the compressor (at least that's what my electronic leak detector and VU glasses suggests).

That and is this as easy as it looks to replace? The factory service manual suggests that it's pretty easy. Reference page 1-42 of the 1999 Factory service manual, and it says remove the lower splash shield, serpentine belt, electrical connector, hose connection, and 3 attaching bolts. My compressor is very messy since my LIM gasket leak leaked onto it. I just did one on my other car and it was easy except one bolt was really hard to get to. That and the 2oz of PAG oil on the install. By the way, when I did the one on the other car the old compressor seemed to have no PAG oil in it. It worked fine, just leaked r134a, but when I tried to drain it, I got nothing. I guess 215K miles can do that, but I was at least expecting something.

Does the replacement brand matter? I'm tempted to just get something like the cheapest new one I see on eBay or Amazon ()
http://www.amazon.com/Universal-Cond...dp/B001O005L4/
Which I see for $128, and it gets good reviews. It it's cheaper to buy in the middle of the winter I might buy it then.

Yes, on the other car I used a junkyard A/C compressor that only had 63K miles on it, and now my r134a on that car last for 2-3 weeks instead of 3 days! I will be getting a new one for the Alero.

Mine 1999 V6 Alero still has it's original compressor at 39K miles. But these things seem to go bad with time, irregardless of mileage, and the few rebuilt ones I have seen at auto parts store look terrible.