Yes I can see where creating the circuit would cause some problems when it may be low. But one thing he did not comment on was when the last time it was working. I assumed it quit within the past few days and up till that point it was cold air and had been cold air.
My problem is that it would start and be fine for a good half hour then kick off, finely it just got to the point it didn’t come on. There’s really only 2 things that can cause it not to kick on if the clutch is still good. Not enough pressure or a bad switch. Last time I checked a switch is cheaper than figuring out the pressure unless you have the right tools. And I think its the optimistic approach to the problem. Because if there’s no pressure in the system, then well bigger problems exist. (I don’t mind throwing 20 bucks at car, its when its 50 or over I care. It’s just less scratch off’s I buy). Local I know its 50 bucks just to check if the system has something in it or not. Its 2 mins or less of work for 50 bucks.
Also you can try to make it turn on by creating a circuit like I said above. If the system is undercharged it should be fairly apparent. An undercharged system will not get cold, maybe cool but not cold. Also if you do this check to see if the top of the accumulator is getting cold. Normally if its low the bottom may get cold, but the top doesn’t
(Feel free to correct me if I am wrong, but its worked for me 3 out of 3 times for me. I don’t insist im an A/C master or even a novice, just things ive noticed in the cars that ive had the pleasure to toy with.)
As for the orifice tube pic... WTF happened. I replaced mine when my A/C cruded out, but even at 130k+ miles it looked just like the new one I put in it. It did not look like that... Got the story behind that one, did the unit burn up at one point of time or something?
