Air Conditioning Problem

[dovecs]

Hi all,

Bought a 97 Neon recently, SOHC, all stock, 51K miles, love the car. I have a strange problem with the Air Conditioning, hoping someone can help. The AC blows ice cold (great for the desert heat!), but if I drive the car in WOT condition (also known as 'flooring it'), the compressor shuts off, and will not re-engage unless I shut the car off, and restart. I have checked the R134 pressure, it is good, also tried bypassing the low pressure switch, still doesn't work. I assume the compressor shuts off on purpose in a WOT condition for added power, does anyone have any hints where I should start trying to troubleshoot this?

Thanks in advance,

Jay :gr_patrio

[RadarLove]

The A/C does shut off for WOT. It should come back on once you're back in the normal range. It's been a while since I looked at the circuitry (ditched my a/c years ago), but pretty sure the PCM kicks off a relay for the compressor. Relays can stick... I'd suggest finding the relay (probably in the box behind the battery), checking to see if it's like all the other relays (99.9% probable), and swapping with one of them - Horn Relay is probably the safest bet. If that doesn't work, let me know and I'll dig up the FSM and take a look.

Best of luck!

[dovecs]

Thanks RadarLove,

I'll have a look, it will be a few days before I can get to it, but will post when I get it fixed!

[dovecs]

OK, after much troubleshooting, I do believe I have the EXACT problem diagnosed, but now am not sure what to do to fix it, need HELP! Problem is not related to WOT after all, but here goes...

The electrical connector on the AC compressor is intermittent. The intermittent problem is NOT in the vehicle harness itself, but definetly on the compressor side. If I turn the AC on, the compressor does not always engage, but if I touch/wiggle the wiring that goes into the (female pin) plug which plugs into the compressor, the compressor engages, and works fine. The prior owner told me the wiring to the compressor was flaky, he had it tie-wrapped to one side to hold tension on it to make it work. Believing him, I went to a boneyard, and proceeded to cut the AC compressor harness from another Neon, including the connector which plugs into the compressor, leaving myself plenty of extra wire to work with. I then cut the existing AC harness connector from my Neon off, and spliced in my new harness connector. Now, the question I have is simple (I hope): I am assuming the connector from the vehicle harness (2 pin connector, Blue/White Stripe and Black/Orange Stripe wires) carry the switched (12V signal?) that tells the compressor clutch to turn on/off. Is there any way to bypass the connector on the compressor itself, and splice those two wire directly into the clutch? I can't really tell by looking at it, Haynes manual not much help (surprise), any Neon people out there with AC repair experience that can help?