Not so cool

The weather got a little bit warm last week so I decided to fire up the A/C in my wagon. It wasn’t necessarily warm enough that I needed the car to be ultra cool, but I like to turn it on every now and again to keep the seals from drying out and just to run a general test.

As many of you are aware, I had the A/C system rebuilt a couple of years ago after the compressor clutch came loose and threw the whole works out of whack. That repair included a new compressor, evaporator/dryer, refrigerant, etc. It was not a cheap repair but since I expect to drive the wagon throughout the summer it seemed like a required one. Imagine my surprise when I turned on the A/C and found only warm air coming from the vents! Took a look under the hood and discovered that my A/C fuse had blown but putting in a new fuse didn’t do me any good. From what I could see, the compressor wasn’t pulling in when the HVAC called for cooling. I contacted the garage that did the installation for me on the off chance that the compressor had a warranty as it certainly looked like I was in for another compressor.

The garage was good enough to book the car in very quickly and gave me a loaner to drive to work for the day. Strangely enough the final resolution was simply a recharge. Apparently the A/C system has a slow leak. The system holds a charge just fine once it’s refilled but here I am two years later with an empty A/C system and no sign of a leak anywhere. For those of you who own one of these B-Body cars, bear in mind that the compressor will not pull in if the refrigerant doesn’t have sufficient pressure. That’s what prevented me from having to put in another compressor, but it’s cold comfort really. A fresh dose of refrigerant, some dye in the hopes of finding the leak, and a hefty bill had me on my way again. Hopefully I’ll get lucky this time and it will hold but I think it’s more likely that this will repeat in 2 years time.