Trying to diagnose AC problems

[omgyouresexy]

Hey guys. Quick post with a description of my issue and some of the reading I've done so far and what I've gained from it...

I got my Ex in Jan/Feb and have been using the heat no problem. When I would turn the heat on high it would get hotter and when I would turn the temp down it would get cooler. Now that it's time to use the A/C, I don't have any. The air that blows out is hot, often hotter than the vent (it's about 90 here, mid-day). Is it safe to rule out the blend door seeing as how I was able to adjust the heat settings? If not, I found directions on the blend door fix, but not any on how to test and see if it's actually the blend door.

If it's not the blend door, the other idea is that it may be empty... but I had the impression that A/C that needs recharged will at least blow luke-warm air, not hot hot air. I thought about the possibility of a leak, too. I read some of the threads about using the electronic leak detector and the UV stuff too, but I honestly don't know too much about that stuff.

I don't really know what to do from here (that doesn't involve going and paying the garage to do troubleshooting I feel like I should be able to do myself). If you guys have any suggestions based on the symptoms, they would be much appreciated. Even links to other threads I've missed. It's starting to get hot again, and I don't want to drop $ on a recharge (doing it myself or not, I'm leaning towards not) if it's just going to leak out or just the blend door.

 

[TheJackal]

It may not be the blend door, if the A/C isn't working it could be difficult to tell.
Does the compressor engage? Does the black canister close to the firewall on the passenger side get cold?

To determine if the A/C system is working properly, you need a set of gauges to get the pressures of the high and low sides.

 

[omgyouresexy]

Hey. thanks for the update. I actually got a friend and another user on the board here (I don't his user name, OPaul maybe) to help me out. He had the manifold set so we hooked it up. The pressure was low, so we added a can of coolant plus dye and leak stopper, and then another can of coolant.

We got the high side pressure up to 200 or 210 when operational (I'm not sure what the recommended pressure is, possibly a little higher than that), but the air started blowing cool instead of hot. The compressor also started staying on more than one second, too. We're gonna test it again in a few weeks and see if the pressure is still roughly the same.