AC suddenly stopped

[dantheman68]

Today after taking a few trips in my 2007 Limited my AC suddenly didn't work. At first I heard a screeching noise from what seemed behind the dash, it went on for awhile until I realized it was coming from me (I thought it was a far away weather siren as we are having bad weather today) I turned the eatc off and ran the self diagnosis which turned up all clear. Still no AC. The noise is gone too.

I drove around a bit checked a few more times and still no AC. I've searched high and low and everything I find points to adding more coolant. I don't have a gauge so I can't test it but the fact that it worked earlier and the noise coming from the dash leads me to think that its another (probably more expensive) problem.

Truck is a 2007 limited with dual automatic climate control and rear control AC

 

[Rcflyer330]

First to check is the compressor turn the ac on and open the hood check to see if the center of the compressor is turning. If it is not turning then it could be pressure related.

 

[dantheman68]

It looks to me like the compressor is not turning. I bought a recharge kit at the parts store and it comes with the low side gauge which showed the pressure is way above the normal range. It was showing in the range of 100 PSI whereas it's supposed to be between 25 and 55 according to the gauge. I bled some coolant out through the high side until it was back down to the normal range. I did this all of the truck was running with Max AC on,

The vents are still letting warm air through but I'm guessing something else is broken where should I start looking?

Edit: there was also a lot of what I assume was AC stop leak as some yellow dye leaked out

 

[Rcflyer330]

The yellow dye is a uv dye used to detect leaks in the system. It was not the best idea to drain out any refrigerant (due to the epa and cfc's depleting the ozone and stuff) even though it was reading high which is with normal when the system is not running. Basicly since you have drained out some refrigerant it will make troubleshooting a little harder because the system is now not at a full charge. Also don't add any refridgerant in now.

Now since the compressor was was not running we need to find out if it is the compressor clutch or something else. There is a way to test the clutch but I will have to look that up. It could also be a bad pressure switch on either the low or high side. I think you can jump the connector but am not 100% sure on that.

 

[dantheman68]

I ended up taking it in since I figured the system would have to be opened and properly charged.

The compressor failed in that the rubber ring that connects the clutch to the pulley separated. A new compressor and I was good to go.