Selser420
New LVC Member
Hi all! New guy here looking for some tips and advice. I have a 97 Conti that I picked up in January and I absolutely love it for a daily driver on my 30 mile commute(the fact that I got it for $500 and have only put $500 into it since then might help too!)
When the warm weather hit I had to add some refrigerant to the AC system and it's worked great up until a week ago.....granted it's been a mild summer up till now. I noticed it not being as cold as before and then one day nothing. For a few weeks leading up to that point the compressor was making some noise but AC was still cold. I threw my gauges on it and the levels were fine. I also had added oil to the system when I had recharged it. Upon investigation when it stopped blowing cold, I found that the compressor is only cycling for a couple seconds before shutting off. I would say it's less then 5 seconds on with 10-20 seconds off before cycling for a few seconds again. I went ahead and changed out the low pressure switch since it's cheap and easy and I've had that issue before on my Windstar. When doing that I jumped the the terminals on the plug to make the compressor run so I could get a reading on my gauge but it still cycled on and off, which in my experience isn't normal. It did run longer before shutting off but I thought it is supposed to just stay on when that plug is jumped. I was able to get a reading on the gauges and my refrigerant level is in the normal range.
What else could be causing this? The fact that it was making noise leading up to this has me thinking it's the compressor/clutch but I wanted some other opinions and advice before diving into that project. I don't want to spend a bunch on money and time only to have it not be the problem.....this could result in wrenches flying across the garage
How hard is it to swap the compressor on the 97s? I'm a pretty decent wrench and not afraid to tackle something like this (I have a buddy that can evacuate the system for me before doing it!) but I always like as much info as possible before diving in. Has anybody posted a write up on it? (A quick search didn't didn't show anything).
FWIW, the car has 181k on it and I replaced the belt(gatorback)and tensioner when I purchased it at 175k.
Thanks in advance!
When the warm weather hit I had to add some refrigerant to the AC system and it's worked great up until a week ago.....granted it's been a mild summer up till now. I noticed it not being as cold as before and then one day nothing. For a few weeks leading up to that point the compressor was making some noise but AC was still cold. I threw my gauges on it and the levels were fine. I also had added oil to the system when I had recharged it. Upon investigation when it stopped blowing cold, I found that the compressor is only cycling for a couple seconds before shutting off. I would say it's less then 5 seconds on with 10-20 seconds off before cycling for a few seconds again. I went ahead and changed out the low pressure switch since it's cheap and easy and I've had that issue before on my Windstar. When doing that I jumped the the terminals on the plug to make the compressor run so I could get a reading on my gauge but it still cycled on and off, which in my experience isn't normal. It did run longer before shutting off but I thought it is supposed to just stay on when that plug is jumped. I was able to get a reading on the gauges and my refrigerant level is in the normal range.
What else could be causing this? The fact that it was making noise leading up to this has me thinking it's the compressor/clutch but I wanted some other opinions and advice before diving into that project. I don't want to spend a bunch on money and time only to have it not be the problem.....this could result in wrenches flying across the garage
How hard is it to swap the compressor on the 97s? I'm a pretty decent wrench and not afraid to tackle something like this (I have a buddy that can evacuate the system for me before doing it!) but I always like as much info as possible before diving in. Has anybody posted a write up on it? (A quick search didn't didn't show anything).
FWIW, the car has 181k on it and I replaced the belt(gatorback)and tensioner when I purchased it at 175k.
Thanks in advance!
