Slappy32
New member
So I've been having some issues with my AC. It would work at random times, with the blower fan always working. The air would either be hot (living in South Florida) or cold. I could turn off and on the system and sometimes it would come back on. All of the lights on the AC controls worked properly. I took it to the dealer and they found a rock lodged in my condenser fan that had shorted out the motor. They replaced it under warranty and tested it and it was fixed.
Except it wasn't. It stopped working for me on the way home and was back to its old tricks. I made another appointment and they called and said the clutch on the compressor wasn't engaging for whatever reason, so they replaced it under warranty. They tested it and it worked fine. It was fixed.
Except it wasn't. This time I made it home just fine, but later on in the day it was started failing and this time it wouldn't come back at all. Something is really messed up now, I'm thinking. It would always come back on, eventually, even if for a little while.
Frustration.
I made another call to the dealership to make another appointment. Later that day when it wasn't working, I had an idea. What if it's just a loose wire that's keeping the clutch from engaging. To test it, I give the dash panel where the AC controls are a firm push and the AC starts working immediately and doesn't go back off. The next day when it happened again, the same trick fixed it. Obviously in the past, when I was power cycling the system, it was flexing the panel enough to make the connection to get it working again on occasion.
I can only assume that the plug on the temperature knob was not plugged back in all the way when we were installing the aftermarket stereo. I haven't had a chance to pull the dash off yet and check it out, but hopefully this will save someone else some frustration in the future.
Except it wasn't. It stopped working for me on the way home and was back to its old tricks. I made another appointment and they called and said the clutch on the compressor wasn't engaging for whatever reason, so they replaced it under warranty. They tested it and it worked fine. It was fixed.
Except it wasn't. This time I made it home just fine, but later on in the day it was started failing and this time it wouldn't come back at all. Something is really messed up now, I'm thinking. It would always come back on, eventually, even if for a little while.
Frustration.
I made another call to the dealership to make another appointment. Later that day when it wasn't working, I had an idea. What if it's just a loose wire that's keeping the clutch from engaging. To test it, I give the dash panel where the AC controls are a firm push and the AC starts working immediately and doesn't go back off. The next day when it happened again, the same trick fixed it. Obviously in the past, when I was power cycling the system, it was flexing the panel enough to make the connection to get it working again on occasion.
I can only assume that the plug on the temperature knob was not plugged back in all the way when we were installing the aftermarket stereo. I haven't had a chance to pull the dash off yet and check it out, but hopefully this will save someone else some frustration in the future.
