The AC in my 2005 Buick Century blew hot air. I added a can of R134A last year for maintenance reasons, and I added another can recently after the AC’s failure with little results. I bought the car 7 years ago and never had a full recharge by a pro mechanic. Although the compressor clutch is working, can the compressor still be bad? I would like to ask the Car Talk community before I take it to a mechanic.
If the clutch engages, the compressor could have failed internally.
But this can’t be determined until a set manifold gauges are connected to check pressures.
Tester
What maintenance reason??? To much freon is can damage the compressor…
AC technicians have made lots of money off of what we call 2 can Sam…
Like what Tester said, hook up a set of manifold gauges to see what your head (high side) pressure and low side pressures are…
Example: If your blend door is not closing all the way to block off (or stuck on heat) the heater core then the AC will not be cold, if you add freon to a full system then you could have damaged the compressor over a blend door actuator not working correctly…
Take it to a pro, have them diagnose and fix it.
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a/c repair is rarely do it yourself. Too many specific tools needed to figure out what is actually going on.