A/C not cold?

Okay everyone, so I just purchased another used 1999 jeep xj. The A/C condenser wouldn't. Kick on at all when I turned on the air conditioner. I jumpered both Pressure sensors and she kicked on. I headed down to my local AutoZone and bought a can of recharge r134. It was a 20 ounce can. I followed the instructions as printed on the can and the condenser kicked on while the system was filling. I thought I had solved (maybe even temporarily) my problem. Now my issue is that the condenser doesn't disengage while the ac is in the on position. Also the air coming out of the vent is only mildly cooler then the outside air. The radiator is clean on the front and none of the fins are bent up. The low pressure side of the lines is very cold to the touch and the high pressure side is hot to the touch when the ac is running. Any ideas on what could be wrong? Thanks everyone!

Anyone?

Do you mean "Compressor" and not "condenser"?

I'm not an AC expert, but I know if pressures are not w/in spec (High & Low) it can lead to poor performance. Have you hooked up a set of gauges to your High/Low and checked those? Could be one of your lines are plugged...

I'm interested to see what others might have to say.

Redsnake said:

Do you mean "Compressor" and not "condenser"?

I'm not an AC expert, but I know if pressures are not w/in spec (High & Low) it can lead to poor performance. Have you hooked up a set of gauges to your High/Low and checked those? Could be one of your lines are plugged...

I'm interested to see what others might have to say.

Click to expand...

As to the "condenser" (compressor) not dis-engaging, did you remove the jumper wire?

As Redsnake posted, throw a set of gauges on it, you may have a leak and have already lost some/most of the refrigerant.

When I charged mine last time using a fancy new $10,000 matco AC machine at work the compressor pretty much ran all the time. As it leaks out (very slow leak in the exap, not worth fixing) the compressor starts to cycle more and more.

Wondering if you might have a blend door issue or something allowing a little heat from the heater core keeping the air from blowing as cold as it should.

I was thinking the same thing... when my AC is working properly (I have a slow leak as well...) in my 2001, the Compressor runs pretty much all the time (in Max AC)... as the coolant leaks out the compressor cycles more and more frequently.

The system on my 1998 only holds 19 ounces of R134a; that is a factory weighed in charge.
With the suction line cold and the discharge line hot; I would recommend you connect gauges and see what the pressures are actually at.
You might be a little over charged if you added 20 ounces.
With the vehicle stationary, the condenser fan running and the engine idling; the suction should be around 40-45 psi and the discharge should be around 300-325 psi. This pressure will drop when the engine rpms are increased or when the vehicle is driven and air is pushed thru the condenser and radiator.
Those pressures should provide you around a 45* air temperature depending upon what the outside air temperature is.

replace it with your totaled xj.

Before you charge it, you should vacuum all the old stuff out, then check for leaks.. there are some good video's on YouTube from Eric is the Car Guy explaining how. And the compressor should cycle on and off.