tachusischus

I've been living without the AC in my jeep for about 2 years now, finally had the money to try to get it fixed. Took a bolt to the condenser at highway speeds and it put a nice big hole in it. Finally got the condenser replaced, did the accumulator/drier with it to because that was suggested to me by a friend who does this sort of thing on the other side of the country. I take the Jeep to the shop to have the AC recharged, and they told me they can't recharge the AC because the clutch on the compressor isn't engaging. Another guy at the shop told me that I need to push the clutch back into the engage position after putting some pag oil and refigerant into the system. Anybody have any ideas on how I do that?

fishbone

Did you get charged by the shop for adding refrigerant? The clutch will not engage until there is a certain amount of pressure in the system. Only way to build the pressure is to add refigerant. Even if clutch is not engaging the system shoud still suck refigerant. This sounds strange to me.

PocketsEmpty

I think you need to take it to a different shop if they don't know how to jumpstart your compressor. It's easy, all you do is unplug the low-pressure cutoff switch, and jump the terminals with a paperclip. That's how you'd do it in the driveway with an AutoZone refill can, anyway.

If you took it to a SHOP, they should have the proper equipment to do the job right. If they pull a vacuum on the system (as they NEED to do, to do it right), they can use that to pull in new refrigerant without the compressor engaging. That should at least get enough in there to activate the low pressure switch.

Take it to another shop and don't recommend your friends to this one!

tachusischus

Fishbone: I wasn't charged anything, and I wouldn't have paid even if they tried to charge me.

PocketsEmpty: I will definitely not be sending any of my friends to this place.

tachusischus

Put in a can of refrigerant and some PAG oil. The clutch engaged itself. The shop left the system evacuated, so it all turned out fine without having to do anything special.

fishbone

Great to hear. Enjoy the comfort of icy cold AC!!!!!

PocketsEmpty

Great! At least they might have done something helpful. I just charged up both of my vehicles and finally have icy A/C again, it's awesome on those hot and humid summer days.