The car is an 03 wrx. The ac clutch is not engaging when i turn on the A/C, it just blows out air (not cold). Under the hood, I took out the A/C Relay fuse and jumper a wire from one prong to another and the AC clutch engages right away but it won't turn off (because the wire is not a relay) I replaced the relay with a new one bought from Autozone and it still doesn't work. I am now at a point where I don't even want to leave the house cause my car doesn't have A/C. What could be the problem? I searched on nasioc and on here but can't find anything. Any help would be greatly appreciated Thanks
Try the pressure switch. Its usually on the high pressure line. Sometimes those will act up and cause the system to think its seeing too much pressure and disengage the compressor.
Was the air cold when you did the relay bypass? piddster described my problem, I bought a $30 can of 134a with the gauge and filler hose at wal-mart. Clutch kicked on as soon as I put the smallest amount in there, and it didn't take much to top it off. Freezing cold air ever since! Was about 7 weeks ago?
Yes there was cold air when I did the relay bypass. I'll have to check the switch tomorrow. Could possibly the expansion valve be stuck in the close position?
Alright, I had Valvoline flushed out the old stuff and filled it up with new freon to the correct pressure and the clutch is still not engaging unless I bypass the relay. The pressure switch is inside the high side of the A/C pipe so I'll have to buy the whole pipe to see if it's the pressure switch cause I can't think of another reason...
You can try and bypass the pressure switch with a wire, if it turns the compressor on... well you have an issue with pressure (either the switch or too high or low pressure).
The system shouldn't be leaking out all over the place if it's in operating order. The A/C system is supposed to be sealed, and if you overfill it...it won't work either.
Sounds like your pressure switch might be broken then. If you bypass it, does the compressor turn on?
