Low refrigerant/overheating

Well I was on my way home from work and it's a scorcher today. I finally broke down and turned on the A/C (gas is 4 bucks here) and it was blowing kinda cool but no where near where it should be. I made a stop at the local auto parts store a minute or two from my house and refilled the refrigerant. Everything checked out ok I guess so I drove home to mi casa but before I could get here my voltage dropped and my temperature slowly started going through the roof. Any idea why this is happening? I know if I wouldve left it on any longer my Jeep probably would have overheated. Any help would be greatly appreciated.:wstupid:

Is the belt still there?

If the compressor isn't turning as freely as before it may cause the belt to slip. I really don't know, but temp increase and voltage drop sounds like a belt not there, slipping, etc... Just trying to tie it in with the compressor that also runs off the same belt.

Hopefully you didn't over fill the A/C.

The belt is still there. I just came back from taking it out and it never overheated just came really close to the red. It just doesnt seem right though.

bump

sounds like a belt issue to me. if the situation occurs again, turn the ac off and see if the symptoms continue or stop. if everything returns to normal then the culprit is most likely the load put on the belt by the ac compressor especially that it effects other belt driven systems like the alt and water pump.

if only overheating occurs without a change in voltage then most likely its the condensor. if so then the radiator is not able to cool the coolant enough with the extra heat added by the ac condensor. the usual fix for that is the easiest with just taking the fan shrouds off and back flushing the rad (no pressure added to the garden hose and directing the water from the back of the rad). you could also move the condensor out of the way and make sure there is no crud inbetween the two.

hth
stewie