Do I have a bad compressor?

[Noquacks]

People,

Honda civic 2001 EX, I evacuated and no apparent leaks. Filled the system with the exact amount (about 19 oz), and psi on low side was showing about 10-12. No compressor activity. Funny thing on the high side valve the gas was SPWEWING out big time, so sensing I had maybe a bad o ring on the fitting I quickly removed it. Before that, I noticed the psi was only about 100, so no way the high side was "too high". Probably a bad o ring which I will address asap.

But back to the compressor, clutch never engaged with proper amount of gas, so is this a sign I have a bad comp?

Thanks, people.

[Cusser]

Honda civic 2001 EX. Filled the system with the exact amount (about 19 oz), and psi on low side was showing about 10-12. No compressor activity.

Is that reading on the low side the static pressure? Must be, with no compressor engagement. R134a static pressure is based upon the ambient temperature, would expect that to be about 80 - 100 psi, so could be why the compressor is not engaging.

Sounds like the 19 oz did not all go in, leaked somewhere.

[Noquacks]

Honda civic 2001 EX. Filled the system with the exact amount (about 19 oz), and psi on low side was showing about 10-12. No compressor activity.

Is that reading on the low side the static pressure? Must be, with no compressor engagement. R134a static pressure is based upon the ambient temperature, would expect that to be about 80 - 100 psi, so could be why the compressor is not engaging.

Sounds like the 19 oz did not all go in, leaked somewhere.

Psi was with engine on, ac on. Not static. gas leaked no where. I held the can myself, and no leakage. System showed no leak under vac. besides, minimum weight was 17.XX, so I added extra for the Max amount. Even considering ambient temp, I understand that is the worst way to determine how much gas is in a system. Thats why I evacuated and started from scratch. I expected a static of way over 10-15 psi.

[Noquacks]

Just a thought- would a bad relay be my problem? I am struggling with the idea that after putting in the right weight of gas the psi still showed low psi with car running. Could a relay be suspect? Any feedback much appreciated. Wanting to be sure before I buy a new compressor and change it out.

[Tim]

Compressor is not turning on? You have 19 oz of refrigerant in the system and only 19PSI. That does not make any sense to me. But I might be reading the post incorrectly.

[Noquacks]

Thanks, Tim. I just did a recheck and cold engine, static psi was 110 on both guages. Then started engine and ac on, fan on high, low side was 8 psi, high was 160. I am sure I added the right amount of r134a. What do you make of this, Tim?

[Tim]

Does the compressor come on? What are the pressures when the a/c is running?

[Cusser]

I just did a recheck and cold engine, static psi was 110 on both guages. Then started engine and ac on, fan on high, low side was 8 psi, high was 160. I am sure I added the right amount of r134a. What do you make of this?

Sounds like low on refrigerant to me, both sides are lower than they should be.

What was the rpm when you measured the dynamic pressures? Should be 1500-2000 rpm.

[Noquacks]

OK, Tim and Cusser, just checked again and heres what I got: low side psi is 45, high side is 300. Outside temp is 90 (hot here!). The comp did NOT stop - did not cycle on/off, the clutch was turning and never stopped in the 15 minutes I observed it.

The vent blew cold air initially for say, 2 minutes, then quit, and blew just very slight cool air, thats a bad sign. Every say, 4-5 minutes I would get some COLD air which lasted only for about 1-2 minutes. I reved up the engine to about 2000 rpm, no difference, car still blew warm air out the vent (about 85-90 deg).

Oh- this should be big- all the while the comp never stopped turning and every 3-4 minuted the entire engine shook violently/crazy like I never seen before for about 30 seconds. Like the ac clutch was struggling or binding. Thats all I can figure.

[Tim]

Do you lose air volume when it stops cooling. That heat switch on top of the compressor may not be working correctly. But you need to trace down why it is not cycling.

What are the highest pressure you see, normally right before it stops cooling.