air con problems.. no power..?

[westbad]

Another fault i have to fix on the ss is the air con, its not turning on when the switch is pressed.

I have tried a different switch so its defo not the switch, i pulled the power wire out the back of the air con pump and gave it a direct live feed to test the pump, the pump works when this is done.
I did notice there is a gas leak from the system when it is running
no fuses or relays are missing.. the air con relay has no power going to it either. How can you disable the air con system with out pulling the relay etc?? I want to get the power problem fixed before i take it to a specialist to have the gas leak fixed and re-gassed

any ideas??

[Brett_jjj]

There are switches built in to shut the AC compressor off if theres low pressure (no gas) or hi pressure in the system.You can jumper(bypass) these switches to test if the AC system works.Im not sure exactly how they do this.Ive watched em do it though before regassing the system to get the compressor running while regassing the system.

[westbad]

Yep i know what your saying brett, but the green light in the switch should still light up when its turned on even if the compressor doesnt start.. should it not..???

I also tested the power supply to the compressor using a live tester and there was no power getting there when the air con was turned on in the cab.

[Brett_jjj]

I think the light wont light up until the compressor is actually going.Im not 100% sure about that though.When mine was out of gas the light wasnt working and the compressor wasnt switching on,so Im only going off that.Once they had regassed it ,the light worked and its still going a year later.

[westbad]

arr righto.. lets hope this is the case with mine then.

Now i just need to find somewhere local that can fix the leak and re-gas it, the guy who was doing it in town has been made to stop doing it, i called in to see him on Wednesday and he told me the council have shut him down because he didnt have the right type of license to do it and its going to take him 12 months to get the correct one..

[hako]

If you know where it is leaking you can either replace the "O" rings or whatever else is leaking yourself. The "O" rings are light blue from memory. From what you say, the system is low or out of gas and consequently the low pressure switch (on the drier in front of the rad) has killed the compressor. You shouldn't run the comp with no gas (by hot-wiring) for more than half a minute as there will be no lubrication. Apart from that I'd go with what Brett says.

[westbad]

yeah i just tested it for a few seconds, its leaking from the compressor its self so no doubt it will just be a o-ring.

Thanks for the info guys hopefully a new o-ring and re-gas will fix it then, altho im pretty sure than on the last car i did a engine change on and emptied the air con gas out the green light on the switch still lit up when turned on even tho the compressor didnt start.. ??

[hako]

If it's leaking from the front pulley of the comp it will probably be cheaper to buy a new one (~$350)....rear may just be "O" rings but may also be split connector. Worst thing about A/C is that when you take it to the specialists they are in control!!!!! There are a lot of dodgy operators around....also honest ones too. Mate of mine worked as sidekick to an established A/C repairer and decided to start his own business - was firebombed after a few months...