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NeoSparky · 08-27-2004, 12:16 PM

Ok so here's the deal.

I've had my car for the last 7 years or so and it runs great. I noticed the AC has been taking longer to cool down. It used to be ice cold within like 30 seconds and it had been as of late taking 5-10 minutes to be tolerable.

I stopped by autozone (I'm a student, DIY and low budget is all I can afford) and told them what was up. They suggested refilling my R-134A freon or whatever it is. I followed their directions and it worked great for 2 days. After the 2nd day I got nothing but hot air from my vents. I opened the hood and my clutch for the A/C wasn't engaging. I threw the gauge on the low side of the A/C system and it was stuck at around 30psi (should be at 55 for the hot AZ weather)

Autozone informed me at that point my compressor was bad and I'd have to buy a new one at the cost of 250 bucks. I did some more research and found that the clutch for my car doesn't engauge if there isn't enough coolent in the system, 30psi was too low so I added some of the stop leak addative with R-134a (again at the reccomendation of autozone) to refill the system again and stop any O-ring leaks. As soon as there was 40psi in the system the clutch engauged.

It's been a week now and while the clutch is still working I get maybe 5-10 degree's colder air from my vents.. What used to be a small problem of a long time to get cold air escaladed to no cold air at all.

I talked to a mechanic and as soon as he heard I put this stop leak stuff in the system he said he won't touch it with his new recirculating machine because the stop leak ruins it. He told me the best thing to do at this point is replace all the hoses, o-rings, etc and would run around 1000.

I know a lot about PC's but jack about cars.. Can anyone suggest anything I might be able to do myself to fix this or what to say to a mechanic to get a lower budget solution?

08-27-2004, 12:16 PM	#1 (permalink)
NeoSparky Crazy	1997 Saturn SC2 A/C issue Ok so here's the deal. I've had my car for the last 7 years or so and it runs great. I noticed the AC has been taking longer to cool down. It used to be ice cold within like 30 seconds and it had been as of late taking 5-10 minutes to be tolerable. I stopped by autozone (I'm a student, DIY and low budget is all I can afford) and told them what was up. They suggested refilling my R-134A freon or whatever it is. I followed their directions and it worked great for 2 days. After the 2nd day I got nothing but hot air from my vents. I opened the hood and my clutch for the A/C wasn't engaging. I threw the gauge on the low side of the A/C system and it was stuck at around 30psi (should be at 55 for the hot AZ weather) Autozone informed me at that point my compressor was bad and I'd have to buy a new one at the cost of 250 bucks. I did some more research and found that the clutch for my car doesn't engauge if there isn't enough coolent in the system, 30psi was too low so I added some of the stop leak addative with R-134a (again at the reccomendation of autozone) to refill the system again and stop any O-ring leaks. As soon as there was 40psi in the system the clutch engauged. It's been a week now and while the clutch is still working I get maybe 5-10 degree's colder air from my vents.. What used to be a small problem of a long time to get cold air escaladed to no cold air at all. I talked to a mechanic and as soon as he heard I put this stop leak stuff in the system he said he won't touch it with his new recirculating machine because the stop leak ruins it. He told me the best thing to do at this point is replace all the hoses, o-rings, etc and would run around 1000. I know a lot about PC's but jack about cars.. Can anyone suggest anything I might be able to do myself to fix this or what to say to a mechanic to get a lower budget solution?