[hometheaterman]

So, I'm far from an expert when it comes to A/C work, but I've done a few repairs. A few as in 3 or so, and I've had great luck until this one. My compressor was making a ton of noise on my 06 Accord V6 so I changed the compressor, condenser, expansion valve, and drier. I flushed the rest of the lines and the evaporator. The only things I reused were the lines, the pressure switch as the one on the new condenser had a different plug, and the evaporator core. Once I got it back together I pulled a vacuum on the system and started trying to charge it just using a can of R134A through my A/C gauges on the low side. This is where I ran into a problem. It just doesn't seem like it's sucking the refrigerant in. After about 15 minutes it seemed like it took most of the first 12 oz can. With other cars once I've gotten a little in the compressor has started cycling and then it would pull it in. One this one the compressor won't come on at all. Have any of you run into this issue? Everything seems to be hooked up correctly. Do you think it's something with charging it and should just pay a shop to charge it? Or do you think I have a problem somewhere else?

 

[salcuta]

Is the AC running on max when you're recharging it? It takes about 15 mins to suck it all in. Patience.



After recharging it, is the AC kicking on and off right away? If it has too much freon, it won't be able to engage. Try releasing some. Check the pressure.

 

[greg1c]

The compressor is not coming on at all? Or is the compressor only engaged a few seconds and off for 30 or 40 seconds? You need to set the fan on high and the temperature on the A/C as low as possible. The first step to charging is to "flood" the high side with liquid r134a (turn can upside down) while the car is not running. It should take most of one can. That will put enough r134a coolant in the system to make the low pressure close. Then put the remaining r134a in the low side as a gas, this takes a little while be patient.

 

[hometheaterman]

The compressor is not coming on at all. I have had the A/C on low and the fan on max the whole time. I've done this a few times before and it's always sucked in the r134a and then the compressor would start cycling. I'm at a complete loss here as to what's going on. I've never tried flooding the high side.

Is there a pressure switch in the compressor? All I can figure is that there has to be and something is going on. It's taken about 1.5 cans now. Close to what it should have in it, so the compressor should at least be cycling.

I thought maybe the compressor wasn't getting power so I got my meter out and checked that. The switch is getting power. Just to test it, I then wired it straight to the battery. You could hear the compressor click and it kind of drew the clutch in maybe 1/8th of an inch or so, but it would never kick on. I'm just at a loss as to what is going on here. I've never experienced this before. I'm almost wondering if the new condenser is plugged or something so that enough refrigerant isn't getting to the compressor.

 

[hometheaterman]

Guys ignore my last post. I got this thing working. When testing the compressor the first time hooked directly to the battery it was with the car off. I assumed it would just spin, but I guess it doesn't unless the A/C is actually on. I tried it again with the car turned on and it spun up. This allowed me to put the proper charge on it.

I investigated a little more and it turns out the plug was actually bad. I guess when hooked together it wasn't getting a good connection. The wire at the plug was getting power, and if you hooked the wire to the other plug, power would feed through, but when connected together they weren't getting a good connection. I ended up just cutting both plugs off and putting my own plugs on there. It now works great.

Thanks for the help and suggestions guys.

 

[salcuta]

lol tested the ac with the car off? Glad it's solved. Stay chill.

 

[greg1c]

Hmmm, you wired the clutch to 12v and it the clutch pulled in but the compressor is not turning? Sounds like an issue with the compressor, can you turn the driven plate by hand? On some compressors there is a pressure switch inline with the clutch, but the factory compressor does not. The combo high/low pressure switch is at the base of the condenser on the passenger side. See if there is continuity across the connections.

 

[hometheaterman]

lol tested the ac with the car off? Glad it's solved. Stay chill.

Yeah, after I was just frustrated at that point. After I came back inside and sat down I realized how dumb that was, so that's why I went back out and tried it again. I kind of would have thought it would have still spun though to be honest since it's still getting power, but I guess not.