ZeroTX

I have a question that I'm very stumped about. My A/C just quit working one day. It seemed to work occasionally after that, but not often. Previously it was ice cold. It turned out the compressor clutch wasn't kicking in, so I was told by many that it could be low on refrigerant, so I bought a gauge and tested that. Well, it seemed slightly low, but pulled 30psi while blowing ice cold, so I added a little, but then it just stopped working again after one of the clutch cycles.

So... I was told by some to jumper the pressure switch and check voltage down on the compressor. Did that. Had voltage. They concluded then that it was a bad a/c clutch.

So, after cursing and working for 10 hours, and getting to a point where I had no pulley, no way to drive the car, I gave up and evacuated the system (not in a pretty way), pulled the compressor and pounded the new clutch pulley on (the "tight fit" comment in the Ford manual is angering... there really is no way to get that on there without pounding it on).

Finally got that together, got some refrigerant ready to put in and then... NEW clutch wouldn't kick in. I could get about 70psi static into it (like 1 can of r134), but the compressor would not kick on in order to fill it up.

Okay, so a friend comes over and we hard-wire the compressor clutch to the battery... it clicks on, with a nice firm "clink" as it's supposed to. Manually engaged as such, we added more freon and it blew cold inside the car. Unfortunately, despite showing voltage down at the connector, it still doesn't engage the clutch unless I manually jumper it to the battery.

Now, that said, I started to think about another issue I've had since buying the car about two months ago... the battery/charge light on the dash comes on off and on. I'd say in a 30 minute trip, it goes on and off 2-3 times. The voltage gauge on the dash never fluctuates, all devices work fine, no dimming, engine runs fine, battery never gets drained, and I'm getting about 13.5v at the battery with the car running. On the other hand, I want to say the voltage down at the A/C clutch is more like 11v. Frankly, I am clueless as to how to diagnose that.

Could these be related? Ground issue? Man I hope I didn't replace an a/c clutch and release all that refrigerant for nothing, but either way I want to get it back online. Any suggestions of where to go next? I hate to take it to a shop at this point, because they'll charge me hourly to do the tests/work I've already done.

I'd prefer comments from folks who've worked on such a repair before. I don't need shots in the dark, as I've already done those.

-Michael