Durango A/C compressor question

From : shane

Q: my wife has a 2001 durango. she said the a/c was working the other week and now it is not. it just blows warm air. i took a look under the hood and when she turns the a/c on the compressor turns on for a few seconds and then off 20 seconds or so then back on. i hope the compressor isnt bad since i suspect its a pretty expensive repair. im ok with repairs. i just have limited if any experience about a/c units. i dont want to have to dump a grand for a new compressor and the installation and flushing the system and all the rest. i am hoping that it may be a simple electrical issue like a relay. it may just be low freon. beats me. any ideas .

Replies:

From : shane

i added some refrigerant and it allowed the compressor to run but the pressure went down quick. apparently there is a leak. any good way to troubleshoot the link .

From : tom lawrence

i added some refrigerant and it allowed the compressor to run but the pressure went down quick. apparently there is a leak. any good way to troubleshoot the link you can pick up a leak detection kit... itll have a can of r-134a with a tracer dye in it and a black light. charge the system with the can run it for a while then go over the whole system with the black light. the dye will glow green. yours sounds like a fairly gross leak so it shouldnt be too hard to pinpoint. .

From : curmudgeon

previous answer is correct. youve got a leak and there is a pressure switch cutting the compressor off. on sat 31 may 2008 094753 -0700 shane wrote my wife has a 2001 durango. she said the a/c was working the other week and now it is not. it just blows warm air. i took a look under the hood and when she turns the a/c on the compressor turns on for a few seconds and then off 20 seconds or so then back on. i hope the compressor isnt bad since i suspect its a pretty expensive repair. im ok with repairs. i just have limited if any experience about a/c units. i dont want to have to dump a grand for a new compressor and the installation and flushing the system and all the rest. i am hoping that it may be a simple electrical issue like a relay. it may just be low freon. beats me. any ideas fast cycle like that is usually a signal of a low charge. -- chris .

From : christopher d thompson

on sat 31 may 2008 094753 -0700 shane wrote my wife has a 2001 durango. she said the a/c was working the other week and now it is not. it just blows warm air. i took a look under the hood and when she turns the a/c on the compressor turns on for a few seconds and then off 20 seconds or so then back on. i hope the compressor isnt bad since i suspect its a pretty expensive repair. im ok with repairs. i just have limited if any experience about a/c units. i dont want to have to dump a grand for a new compressor and the installation and flushing the system and all the rest. i am hoping that it may be a simple electrical issue like a relay. it may just be low freon. beats me. any ideas fast cycle like that is usually a signal of a low charge. -- chris .