Another A/C question ... Geesh its getting hot!!!

[Fang]

I did a forum search and there is a sudden surge of A/C questions... You can tell summer is near!

 

My 1988 wagon (SPFI, 4x4, 5-speed... and its red) is giving me a/c trouble. IT was working great a few days ago, but now I have nothing. NO blower fan, no ac clutch. I would just live with it, but I live outside of Austin, TX, and I am a bit concerned about how well my 7 month-old boy can handle the heat. So I jumpered the compressor and did a pressure test and hi/lo is 100%. I thought that it was the buttons on the dash, so I pulled that all off.

 

Yep, the buttons are broken... the old white plastic has oxidized and died a horrific death. THe problem is that the dash controls have been broken since I got the car about a year ago. I was hoping that they just broke a bit more, finally rendering it all useless. However, with it all disassembled, you can operated the directly and I still have nothin' -- still no blower, no compressor.

 

I have checked the fuses and they all seem fine, but I do not have a manual, and I don't even know what fuses do what (I looked at ALL the fuses, and they all seemed fine...)

 

I am suspecting a relay, but I don't know where they are.

 

 

So, in summary, the a/c doesn't work, but the physical system is intact. My dash is in pieces, and I suspect either a dash control or a relay.

 

Thanks for the help!

-Steve

[Fang]

Well, I found the passenger-side, mounted to the strut under the hood a/c fuse and relays. I think it is th a/c relay... A funny thing happened while running test: The blower spontaneiously came on when it was all turned off. This has never before happened... The compressor diddn't kick on when this happened. I'll run over to the parts store and replace both of those relays -- just for luck -- and I think it should work for the next few days until I can focus on it again for a while.

 

I am about to drive to Houston. It is only a 4 hour drive, but it is already about 93F outside. The AC will be a big help.

 

I'll post again before I go to tell you how it all is working.

-fang (steve)

[Fang]

la la la... I'm singing to the choir, but I fixed it. IT turns out that it had NOTHING to do with the relays under the hood as I had previously thought. I an out and bought two, but there was no change. I dug deeper with the multi meter and still was stumped. There was something that I was overlooking. You know: the sort of thing that would be a lot easier to find with a good wiring diagram!

 

I made a jumper to circumvent the disassembled dash controls and was experimenting with that when I head a faint <click> under the steady mummer of the fuel pump. I did it again listening more carefully this time and it defiantly was there -- the missing relay! It was coming from somewhere by the fuse box, so I jumpered it about a hundred times each time zeroing in a bit closer to the invisible relay. I removed the fuse box, laid down on my back neat the pedals with a flash light and VOILA! there were relays up there!

 

It turns out that the blower(?) relay was a major part of the problem. It was switching, but apparently the main load's contacts inside it burnt up. My forensic analysis is that the busted dash controls were intermittently shorting out themselves and that relay.

 

IT was one of those expensive relays: about $27.00 at O'Reilly's (the local parts store), but when it all boils down to it, that's a really inexpensive a/c repair. Besides I was just happy that they had it in stock. Yes. The air conditioning is blowing strong and COLD again. Whoo hoo! Off too Houston, and now I can scoff at the 97F afternoon outside!

 

-fang

[Cougar]

Good troubleshooting Fang. You did well without the aid of a wiring diagram. Repairs can get done without them but they do take longer to do.

 

Someone else had a similar problem recently that turned out to be a problem in the relay area.