GnatGoSplat Posted September 11, 2009 Report Share Posted September 11, 2009 Crapdammit, 94 Cutlass vert is acting up. I should have cash-for-clunkered this POS. My wife picked me up for lunch at my work and the A/C didn't work. She said it was working perfectly yesterday, just it was just dead when she started the car today. We went to Taco Bell, and the car acted like it didn't want to start. A couple cranks later, it finally started up. I had her turn on the climate control. The compressor was engaged as though it has enough refrigerant... I was under the impression it won't engage if refrigerant is low. She drove me back to work and the car idled a bit rough at lights. Then she got home and IM'd me: I was on my way to see grandma I got to the james river and hwy 60 intersection the light was red when I stopped the car was shaking really bad much worse then before. Oh and I could smell things so I got in the left turn lane and headed home. by the time I got home the car was making a odd sound like maybe a flutter sound it is also shaking still. well not right now cause i'm inside but you know what I mean. yeah there is some kind of sound made me think of a belt or something. I don't know how to describe it. I opened the hood don't see anything obvious Arrrrgh! Any guesses? I'm suspecting maybe a bad bearing causing the compressor to be hard for the engine to turn, but I'll have to pull off the belt when I get home to check it. That also doesn't explain why the clutch is engaged, and why the clutch would be engaged and no cold air. Does this sound familiar to anyone? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy K Posted September 11, 2009 Report Share Posted September 11, 2009 could be. you can turn the guts of the compressor by hand without removing the belt... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GnatGoSplat Posted September 11, 2009 Author Report Share Posted September 11, 2009 Yeah, I'm suspecting the pulley bearing because it still has the problem with A/C off and clutch disengaged. I'll have to pull the belt to check the pulley. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy K Posted September 11, 2009 Report Share Posted September 11, 2009 Yeah, I'm suspecting the pulley bearing because it still has the problem with A/C off and clutch disengaged. I'll have to pull the belt to check the pulley. oh! touche! the 94 3100 had a bad bearing, basically it was very whiny. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GnatGoSplat Posted September 12, 2009 Author Report Share Posted September 12, 2009 It turns out the car has a number of problems that just seemed to occur all at the same time. I heard the weird noise my wife described, it sounded like tapping. It came from somewhere near the front of the car, close to where the coil lives. I looked, and saw a spark plug cable had come off. The terminal inside was a bit rusty, as though it may have been loose for some time. I cleaned it off best I could, pinched the terminals a bit tighter, and plugged it back on. I'll probably have to replace the plug wires, but so far that seemed to fix the bad running. There's no whining, BUT I see the front of the compressor looks a bit greasy. It looks kind of old, I can't tell if it's runoff from when the power steering O-ring went bad or if it's compressor oil. I'll need to get my manifold gauge set back from my friend who borrowed it years ago to check. Strange thing is, with A/C on, the clutch engages. Will it engage with low refrigerant? I didn't think it would. Also, the fan doesn't come on. Isn't the aux fan supposed to come on anytime the A/C is turned on? I've checked the relay, it's good. When I jump across the terminals, the fan spins. The PCM isn't requesting the fan to come on at all. I'm wondering if the disconnected plug wire could have allowed stray spark to fry the PCM and make all this weirdness occur, but who knows. At least the car is drivable now (I think), albeit a bit warm and toasty inside. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tornado_735 Posted September 12, 2009 Report Share Posted September 12, 2009 I know my AC clutch does not engage at all, but I am able to spin the compressor by hand. I went to put refrigerant in it this summer just to find that the gauge that came with the bottle said it had enough coolant. Luckily, this summer wasn't that hot, so I just lived without it. Good luck either way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobertISaar Posted September 12, 2009 Report Share Posted September 12, 2009 the aux fan will engage once the compressor builds up enough pressure(not sure of the exact number ATM). it sounds like there is enough freon in the system to allow the compressor to engage but not enough to accomplish anything... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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