After 10 years (and discovering I just missed the extended underhood wiring coverage Ford offered with of a tsb) I found that my a/c was failing to cool. After overfilling refrigerant myself I had the car serviced at Meineke who went on to inspect wiring under dash when they couldn’t get power at the pressure switch. $400 dollars later, they allegedly repaired a frayed wire under dash, but after the car had been parked in the sun - the compressor failed to engage again. I then realized that the car will cool reliably EVERY cold start and for most of a tankful on the highway, but after parking hot or even slowing in traffic the compressor gives up, sometimes restarting briefly with either an ignition or a/c mode switch off/on. I should probably clean connectors under the hood, but I would appreciate knowing the contents of the TSB (mines a SVT but I think it was for all Contours) and if anyone has ever heard of an old a/c clutch failing to engage when heat-soaked.
I did a check of TSBs for your car and didn’t see anything related to your issue. You can do a Google search of TSBs yourself. The trouble you are having appears to be due to a bad power connection to the compessor. When the bad wire connection heats up enough due to high resistance it lowers the voltage available to the compressor. After the connection cools down the resistance lowers also and the compressor works again. This kind of trouble will usually cause burn damage at the bad connection. If there is a relay in the circuit that would be the first place to check for the trouble.
I would suggest a local (not a chain) A/C shop. They are often A/C & Radiator combined.
I suggest avoiding chain shops. In general they usually not the best choice. Ask your friends and neighbors for recommendations.
Thanks, the problem w/TSB searches is that they give you a subject (like a/c - wiring) but not the content of the Bulletin, at least not unless you are subscribing to an expensive service. I should have posted the tsb#s but I didn’t save them; figured anyone with the answer was a Ford tech who didn’t need more info! Thanks for the tips.