Air Conditioning

My car is a Chevy Lumina '97, 3.1 and it was working normally last year, but this year when summer started and I had to turn on the AC it didn’t work. A friend of mine saw it and tried to push the compressor pulley with a bar and actually the AC got engaged and worked. Now, whenever I need the AC I push the compresor pulley with a bar to engage it and it allways work. When operating, the AC is cold and confortable. I drive at work a company car which is new (Focus 2008), and the AC is not as cold and confortable as my Lumina. Can you tell me why the AC compressor pulley stoped engaging by itself like it used to do it before? And what should I do to fix it. Thank you.

There is a clutch there and it appears it is not working on it’s own. It may need to be replaced or maybe it is a loose wire. In either case it should not be too expensive. I suggest taking it to a radiator/AC shop.

Thank you very much for the advise. It was a rusted loose wire on the compressor harness. I fixed it myself.

Glad to hear it.