AC does not seem to kick in on my 93

I noticed the other day when driving my car that the air conditioner was not blowing cold. I finally took a look at it today. When I enable the AC, the engine idle increases, but the blue AC light does not come on. Looking under the hood, then compressor does not spin.

I recently added an under-drive pulley, but I do not know if that had anything to do with this. I do not remember when I last used my AC before the new pulley. I do not know if the AC worked after the pulley or not, since I never checked to see if it spun when I turned it on after installing the pulley.

I saw another thread where Titus suggested that low freon will cause this. Since I have one of the old AC systems, I do not think replacing the freon is an option without a conversion, which is $$$.

Any other things I can check before moving to expensive fixes?

Conversion costs about $30.

How about pulling out the Factory Manual and go thought the trouble shooting steps on the A/C.

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Originally Posted by Titus

Conversion costs about $30.

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I thought a new compre$$or was required.

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Originally Posted by POS Racing

How about ulling out the Factory Manual and go thought the trouble shooting steps on the A/C.

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Darn it, I keep forgetting about that resource. I will take a look.

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Originally Posted by jrj512

I thought a new compre$$or was required.



Darn it, I keep forgetting about that resource. I will take a look.

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I bought a conversion kit that came with adapter fittings, a can of oil, 2 cans of freon, and a filler thingy. My condenser had a hole in it at the time, so there was no freon in it. To do it correctly, you should have a shop pull the old stuff out, but disconnecting the condenser fittings will vent the old freon to atmosphere. I also picked up a $5 pack of o-rings and replaced all that I could easily get to. You are supposed to use a vacuum to remove all air from the system before re-filling. I ordered the vacuum, but got impatient waiting for it and filled it as is. Worked fine.

Since the blue light isn't coming on, did you check your fuses? There may be a relay/fuse under the hood too, but I'm not sure.

Jump the plug on the pressure switch, to see if that is the culprit.
Getting "caught" venting R-12 into the atmosphere can cost you 10k+.
You need a vacuum pulled on the system, and make sure its holding.
You must use gauges on R-134, its picky, and it takes less 134 vs 12.

Or you could just add some R-12, I have seen cans for $20 on CL this week.

In my case, blue light was coming on but not blowing cold. If you need to top off R-12, I suggest Fifth Gear Automotive on 407 in Lewisville. Owner charged $35 for a 1/2 lb and some time for labor. Less than $100 out the door and not a problem since.

Well, using the Factory Manual and learning how to use my voltmeter, it seems that it is either the refrigerant pressure or the refrigerant pressure switch.

I do not have the gauges to check the refrigerant pressure. So, I can either find some gauges or I can just replace the switch ($38 at Rock Auto -- I can check with Mazdaspeed tomorrow).

Rogue, would you have a pressure gauge that I can hire you to use or do you have a cheap switch that I can buy?

Paging Titus...

He got the whole under-dash AC setup from my spec when it was yanked.

Got gauges and the r12 adaptors!

I say pull the AC

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Originally Posted by cam76034

Got gauges and the r12 adaptors

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Is this a statement or question?

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Originally Posted by cam76034

Got gauges and the r12 adaptors

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PM sent.

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Originally Posted by cone-cerned

Is this a statement or question?

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Now it's a statement.
Got gauges and the r12 adaptors!

Did you jumper the pressure switch? Or run a jumper directly to the compressor? Gauges wont' tell you much if the compressor isn't kicking in.

If you jumper the compressor and it comes on, take a look at your sight glass and see if you see bubbles flowing through.

She's all fixed up. It was a pretty good leak, after all. I guess I must have put a little pressure on the line or something when I was installing the new pulley or even the new header and I caused a leak. It was fixed with a $.20 o-ring. Thanks to Lost216 and POS Racing for helping.