Originally Posted by
Sussudio
Just to update this thread I started, as I can't stand it when someone asks for help and then doesn't bother letting anyone that helped them know that they either fixed it or found out the problem.
Apparently my car had no freon at all which is what caused the clutch to not engage. They did a vacuum test and everything held like it should. There's a dye that was put in it and I will take it in next week to see if we can find out why it was empty. It's definitely nice to have cold AC as it is the hottest day of the year so far for Oklahoma. Heat index of 110 today. Will report back with any findings.
Thank you guys for all your help and now we know for sure that the clutch definitely disengages when there's no freon in the system to prevent from damaging the system. Again thanks fellas
Alrighty, so just two days after having the system charged it was empty again. I certainly knew there was a leak but not this severe just because of what I was told by the shop. I went to drive the car just two days after having it at the shop and when pulling out of my garage, I turned on the AC and the fan kicked on air was cooler but not cold for about a minute and then back to ambient temps fans off, clutch disengages and back to where I was before. I called them as it was Friday the 3rd and was planning on taking the car down to Lake Texoma for the 4th. Not if the A/C wasn’t working though. Knowing that they put dye in the car and was told the leak had to be very “small” for it to hold vacuum and not seeing any signs of leaking before they gave the car back to me, I figured they’d get me in to at least see if it could be fixed or at least know where the leak is. Welp no. So I didn’t take RIO down to the lake. No AC in 100+ heat is a no go for a three hour drive in Oklahoma... Soo I took it in and it’s the AC Condenser which in all honesty makes the most sense. When it was getting repainted, both front fenders and the front bumper assembly were removed. So the condenser was exposed for however long they had them off. Mind you the AC blew ice cold and had not one problem since owning the car before I took it to the body shop. It could’ve just been coincidence, or something else could’ve caused it. Who knows, shops have so much traffic a number of things could’ve happened. The car also at that time had a new center drag link put in along with steering dampener, left spindle knuckle, front camber bolts, and new right side fender liners put in. So in those few weeks something happened and now here I am. Soo my question is has anyone changed the AC condenser themselves? Also what brand did you go with? FCP euro has the MB for 149$ and the Nissens for 94$. I’ve used a Nissens before on my Volvo C70 and 960. I’ve searched threads on here and have found no How To’s on changing it. Looks like to the Manual I go. Before though I want to see where this leak is and how bad it is just for reference. Oh I was quoted 340$ by the shop just for the condenser lol. Yeah not happening fellas. Any pertinent info you guys feel I should know please share and thanks again, sorry this one had some ranting in it. 🤙🏼