I had my engine rebuilt and have been glad to have my rig running for 6 months now. Just being able to be back on the road after being off for so long made me neglect the first world amenities such as Air Condition. But it being headed towards what looks like a hot summer in Louisiana i realize i need to restore the AC have a fully functioning family vehicle. So my question is, when restoring AC what should i troubleshoot first. I'm no mechanic but I've done literally everything possible to a vehicle except Air Condition work.

My symptoms of it not working are as follows.

-obvious first, there's no setting which will give me cold air. Thermostat all the way to cold(or blue) or pressing the ac button
-the blower only works on the low setting, moving it up essentially turns it off
-AC button only turns green on the low setting

My first guess was to recharge the freon but would that be a waste if there's something else i should try first
Set me straight

Thanks in advance
-

 

Here's everything I know about air conditioning: https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f116...-r134a-284801/

You have a problem with your blower switch. If you had only high, it could be a failed blower resistor, but with only Low you're not connecting to the Y-R heater relay line (the heater relay, when closed, also provides power to the A/C switch. Since your A/C switch illuminates only on Low, it looks like the heater relay is not closing for the higher speeds.) http://web.archive.org/web/201102052...g/25heater.pdf

Before you get to work on that, turn the control to low and press the A/C button to illuminate the light. Does the compressor turn? There are lots of reasons for it to not turn, but that's farther along.

Good call; recharging the freon is always a waste of time. Refrigerant is not a "maintenance item"; it can only get out if you have a leak. Using a parts-store "a/c in a can" might give you a few days of cold, but then it, too, will leak out. Killing the polar bears and the rest of us.

If the compressor doesn't turn, your next step is to confirm you've lost your refrigerant. As I describe in the cited post, you'll need a $60 set of gauges. (I've heard some part stores will loan them. I'm not sure I'd trust the accuracy of "loaner" gauges, but you're just looking for zero or not-zero.) If the refrigerant is gone, you'll need to find the leak. I've had good success using compressed air and soap solution (the real a/c guys are gasping as I write this). Once you fix the leak, you'll need to evacuate and recharge.

If that last paragraph sounded a little daunting, you've got lots of company. There is no shame in taking it to someone who does this for a living.

 

and replace the receiver/drier