I am having trouble with my air conditioning system in my 1996 Chevy Lumina. When I turn on the AC, the compressor clutch does not engage and the fans do not spin. I was able to jump the compressor so the clutch engaged, however, the fans still did not spin and the AC was not cold. I then jumped the low pressure cycling switch (near the accumulator), which caused the fans to spin while the compressor was running. However, this still did not produce cold air from the AC and none of the AC lines were cold to the touch. I am starting to think the system is low on Freon, but I do not have gauges to test the pressure.
I’d guess you have little to no R134A (Freon was phased out by '96). If you don’t own gauges, (or a vacuum pump, or a reclamation machine, or leak detector, or…) you should probably seek out a pro. The gas leaked out for some reason. Just putting more in will likely just leak out again. You need to find and fix the leak and that is hard without the proper tools and knowledge.
Thanks for the response. A leak seems to be the likely culprit. Last summer, I replaced the low pressure cycling switch because it was faulty and recharged the system and I was able to get cold air all summer. So it’s probable that the R134a leaked out during the winter. I’m only looking to keep the car for another year or two, so I may just recharge the system using R134a Super Seal to get by until I purchase a new car, instead of possibly spending hundreds on an AC repair (I think that’s what they cost).