Confused about climate control

Well, to start with when I bought my car the previous owner said that the air conditioning only needed to be re-serviced, and I actually believed that. Anyway, I took it in today and the mechanic said that it still had freon, and that the problem was electrical. He hooked it up to a computer and said it was throwing a code for the sunload sensor. He couldn't get to it today because it would require the dash to come out, and he said even then he didn't know if that was the real problem. I did some research and found a climate control diagnostic test that Boone put on and I ran that on my car. In the sun it said 00 and in the shade it said 13. That means the sensor is working correctly right? Does anyone know? From what I understood that's how the numbers should read. Sorry this was sooo long, but any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

Hi Rach, What you're seeing is normal. The sunload sensor is that little round thing up by the windshield. Hmm... is the climate control working properly? What is the problem? .B.

Well, the blower is working, it's just not blowing out cold air. I'm just confused because the guy I took it to said the compressor wasn't coming on because of the sunload sensor, but the diagnostic test I found on one of your posts says it's working fine. I don't know what else is keeping the compressor from turning on. From all the posts I've read, it could be a million other things. I just wanted to see if those numbers I got are normal so I can start checking other stuff. Why would the mechanics computer say it was throwing a sunload sensor code if there isn't anything wrong with it? Weird. Thank you for your post Boone.

[kuoh]

If you set the temp to a lower setting than the cabin temp, the compressor should run regardless of what the sunload sensor says. The sunload sensor is only supposed to make the AC work harder when you're in bright sunlight. Did he check to make sure the compressor clutch is working properly?

KuoH

Hmm... You will get a sunload code if there is no sunlight shining on it. In any case it shouldn't keep the compressor from cooling. My best guess would be insuffient refrigerant pressure but also the trinary switch or even a fuse. Mebbe print the climate control.pdf file in my locker and bring it to your tech if you have confidence in him.

I think I will take it to another mechanic since mine is off on the wrong track. The only real thing he could tell me was that I shouldn't have bought a car with automatic air. Anyway, it's starting to get hot here and I know i won't be able to figure out the problem on my own. I'm glad to know the sensor really shouldn't effect the compressor that much and I'll be able to tell the next guy that if it comes up again. Thank you both for your posts.

Good thinkin', this stuff isn't that difficult for a competant tech. Regards, B.

I had a similar problem with my car. Everything worked....but no cold air. The car had R134 in the system, but not enough to activate the compressor (some sort of pressure switch stops the compressor from working unless there is a certain amount of pressure in the system). The system was topped off and now it works fine.

DAve

I took it to another auto place yesterday and the mechanic there took a look at it for free. He said I had enough freon and good pressure, but my compressor wasn't kicking on. He did some quick checks and found that a few places were getting power, but said he would need more time to chase down the problem. He thinks maybe the high pressure switch is bad. I'm going to leave it with him on Wednesday, and hopefully he'll be able to fix it.
When I was searching on this forum for other problems similiar to mine, and I found that a lot of people never posted back the results after having their car looked at or fixed. It would have made it even better to know exactly what their problem was and how they ended up fixing it. Anyway, that's just my two cents. Thank you all for the helpful advice, I will post back and let you know what's going on with the car...if I find out of course.

Well, I guess now I see why a lot of people don't update their posts when they eventually find the problem. I know I should have just let this one die, but I said I would post if the mechanic could tell me what was wrong. He said my problem is a climate control switch. Cost is about $46 for the part and probably 2 hours in labor $109.00. I'm not too upset, as long as the a/c works. It's been in the 75-80's this week.

[Earthworm]

Thanks for the info. Please let us know how it turns out!

[kuoh]

It would be nice if he could be more specific as to which switch it is.

KuoH

Originally posted by RachelH
He said my problem is a climate control switch. Cost is about $46 for the part and probably 2 hours in labor $109.00.

[Landshark]

Originally posted by RachelH
It's been in the 75-80's this week.

we're getting snow on Sunday. today it was 75.

Snow on Sunday.....that would be a nice break! Probably not for you though.

"It would be nice if he could be more specific as to which switch it is. "

KuoH

I'll have to ask the mechanic, the person at the front desk just said climate control switch, she really didn't have any idea....but she did know what to charge me for it. The switch won't be in until Thursday, so I will find out then. Thanks for the replies.