Forgive me, but I let my TJ sit idle for the past several years. I would start it up and drive it just enough that I could get emissions check done on it each year, and then it would sit again until the next year. I know... I know... Shame on me. Trust me - it was my DD and has plenty of trail rash to prove that it has been used as intended over the years, but that was all BC (Before Children). Now the kids are old enough to enjoy the Jeep and after dusting it off and getting it cleaned up, I've found the AC isn't coming back to life like everything else did..
I found a questionable fuse behind the glove box and now I can see that the compressor runs intermittently - it will come on for a second or two then turn off for several seconds (more time off than on)...lather, rinse, repeat. I put some pressure gauges on and I see that when the compressor is running, the low side gets up to ~55psi and the high side gets to ~125 and then the compressor shuts off. When the compressor turns off, the low drops to ~25-30 and the high drops to ~100. I had a half can of R-134 on the shelf so I popped it onto the fill line on the gauge and let that run for a while. That bumped the low pressure up to ~60psi when the compressor would run, and the low pressure hard line would cool off, but that's about it. I hoped that maybe it was just a dry seal in the compressor or something that, after running for a while, would magically reseat itself, but after ~10-15 minutes I decided to shut 'er down for fear of doing more damage. I do hear a very faint hissing that SEEMS to be coming from near the compressor (it's so faint it's hard to pinpoint it with the fan and engine noise), but I don't see anything wet or visible leakage.
Any ideas of how to nail down the culprit?
I found a questionable fuse behind the glove box and now I can see that the compressor runs intermittently - it will come on for a second or two then turn off for several seconds (more time off than on)...lather, rinse, repeat. I put some pressure gauges on and I see that when the compressor is running, the low side gets up to ~55psi and the high side gets to ~125 and then the compressor shuts off. When the compressor turns off, the low drops to ~25-30 and the high drops to ~100. I had a half can of R-134 on the shelf so I popped it onto the fill line on the gauge and let that run for a while. That bumped the low pressure up to ~60psi when the compressor would run, and the low pressure hard line would cool off, but that's about it. I hoped that maybe it was just a dry seal in the compressor or something that, after running for a while, would magically reseat itself, but after ~10-15 minutes I decided to shut 'er down for fear of doing more damage. I do hear a very faint hissing that SEEMS to be coming from near the compressor (it's so faint it's hard to pinpoint it with the fan and engine noise), but I don't see anything wet or visible leakage.
Any ideas of how to nail down the culprit?
