Topic: 3.0 Air Conditioning quit working

[UKMyers]

I have a SASed 94 Runner that I take my family wheeling with. Before you tell me I don't need AC I'll tell you it's awfully nice to have with a baby in the back on that 2.5 hour drive down the freeway in the middle of summer after a long day of wheeling.

My green light comes on in the button but it does not kick on the compressor..no idle up nothing. I'm guessing there is prob a relay someplace in the system that tells the compressor to engage when you hit the button. It worked fine and blew nice and cold before it started doing this. Anyone know where I should start chasing wires?

[motormouth559]

Start simple try to recharge the system if its too low it wont kick on i had an old 85 with factory ac just charged and it worked.

[Tallchevy]

Make sure the key and the a/c switch are on with the engine off. There's a single wire that goes to the a/c clutch, flow that wire to the connector and check for power going to the a/c clutch. If there's no power then your either low on freon or the lower pressure switch is bad. More likely the freon leaked out. Oil residue on any a/c component is a sign of a leak. Flow the a/c line and look for oil residue, also check the underside of the a/c compressor just behind the clutch for oil residue. Look at the a/c condenser behind the front grill and make sure a rock or something didn't put a hole in it.

[UKMyers [OP]]

Thanks Tall Chev.. I don't think the Freon leaked out. I was actually using it the same day it quit. I ran it headed wheeling and then had it off while I was wheeling. It was when I was headed home and tried to use it again that it would not engage.  I'll check the wire for power and go from there.

[emsvitil]

Don't know if 94's have a similiar systems as an 86, but there's a hidden fuse behind the glove box for the compressor coil..............

[dmczeke]

I had the same problem on my truck. One day it was working perfect, the next nothing. Chased down all the wires and relays to no avail. Found a crack in the AC line and no more freon. Make sure your system is charged up before anything else. My two cents.

[joeycool00]

put some ac gauges and see if it needs recharge

[UKMyers [OP]]

Well life got in the way again and the Runner has been sitting some more. I'm revisiting this post because I finally have some time to go wheeling and need to get my AC going. I've been searching all day for a way to read the sight gauge for the Freon. All it talks about in the FSM is if it has bubbles its either empty, low, or overserviced. That does not help a whole lot. At least mine is a R134 system. Has anyone recharged one of these with an Autozone recharger bottle? I found the low pressure port on the firewall. I've never messed with that stuff before and dont' want to risk overservicing it. Here's what my sight gauge looks like... Anyone care to diagnose?

[joeycool00]

dude you really need to get some gauges and get it done right, anything else is just a patch job, 30 pounds on the low side bout 170 on the high side

[joeycool00]

if you go to schmucks they might let you borrow some, but if your going to do it anyway, buy the r134a with the low pressure gauge and fill your system up till it goes to 30 psi and it will work, depending on how bad your leak is