A/C Cutoff Too Early?

M

MindyMark

Registered
I might be crazy but it appears the WOT cutoff is activating on my car (96 Cougar - Joe gets to drive the Lincoln :() when it shouldn't. Maybe it's something else but here is what is happening with my car.

99% of the time the A/C works great, but at this one stop light in particular (again could be crazy) when I accelerate the a/c shuts off for about 15 to 20 seconds. The RPM's never 2000 so it shouldn't shut off. But the a/c is for sure going off as the air gets warm real quick. It has happened several times now, sometimes under similar load conditions. The only thing unique about this light is it is my first light right off the highway and sometimes I have to sit at it for a while. The air never gets warm until I accelerate.

I was under the assumption the computer was what provided the a/c cutoff, but is there some other part that could be causing it to trigger much sooner then it should be?

Or is there maybe something else wrong?
 
Only thing I can think of is freon is a tad low and it changes the cut-off..... do you have a gauge to test it?
 
I know the system does have a leak in it somewhere, as I had to put in one can earlier this year but I used cheapo gauge on a T-connector with a piercing (so i can reuse it on other cans).

My dad has a set of real gauges so I might borrow them to check both the low and high side.

Also, did you mean that if the pressure is low it could cause the cut-off to activate sooner? If so, why is that?
 
budpytko said:
Was talking to a friend locally....could also be a vacuum leak....
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That's possible too, as I've had a check engine light on and off for a few weeks now (more off then on) for a vacuum purge valve somewhere and my gas mileage seems a bit less then normal as well, although my trunk is fully loaded with spare car parts and other crap too. I finally unloaded about 40 extra pounds from the trunk today.
 
Well I went to check the freon level on the Cougar yesterday, and noticed the compressor wasn't fully engaging at first. You could see it spinning at an inconsistent speed as it looked like the clutch was slipping or not fully engaging. Time for a new clutch most likely.​
 
The serpentine belt is a fairly new Goodyear Gatorback.....everything else seemed to be spinning fine and working fine as well - good tension on the belt. Sometimes the compressor was barely spinning at all...

I think i'm just going to play the waiting game on this one, because like I said in my original post, it's working fine the majority of the time.
 
Looking through the manual, it doesn't appear to be a huge task to replace the clutch. Have you checked the 'air gap'? You may simply need to readjust it.
 
i heard it was adjustable but I hadn't look it up. However, what's the average life of these compressors? It's got nearly 240k on it, which I'm sure the compressor was running for the vast majority of those miles....
 
MindyMark said:
You could say that about the plastic intake manifold too, it lasted till about 222k or so.

So how easy is it to adjust?
Click to expand...


I was losing refrigerat in my Mark and it was due to a leaky high pressure shrader valve (the port where you check the AC high pressure.) I purchased another assembly from Torrie at FastPartsNetwork.com

The Wife's Continental also leaded there. The leak wasn't as bad as the leak in her evaporator.)

The HP valve leak seems to be an "experienced" (high mileage) Ford thing.
 
I know I have a leak somewhere, just haven't tried too hard to find it. There are no obvious signs yet like a greasy spot. I do have a freon detector in my trunk, but I have yet to use it on my car.

I put in about a can a few months ago and it's continued to work fine so far.
 
driller said:
Readers digest version... after measuring the free air gap, you pull the clutch and decrease the bushing thickness behind the clutch pulley which decreases the gap.
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How do you "decrease the bushing thickness"? is there something in there that you can turn or something?
 
Bushing was not the proper term as it is actually shims that you adjust between the hub and pulley. From the inside out, you have the coil, the pulley and bearing assembly, a snap ring, shims, the hub and retaining bolt. The coil and pulley are retained by the snap ring. The hub is shimmed from the pulley and retained by a bolt. The air gap is adjusted by the total shim thickness.

Not sure how or why the air gap would change but the manual calls to check the clearance in 3 places around the hub between the clutch hub and pulley mating surfaces with a feeler gauge and it should be 0.014 to 0.033 inches.
 
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