I have a 1994 GT. The AC is not getting very cold. It starts to get fairly cool and then goes back to warm. The cycle continues regularly (it doesn't seem to get better or worse the longer the car is running). I put a pressure guage on it and it is fully charged and seems to be cycling correctly. I was told that there are some spacer washers on the compressor clutch plate. I took the clutch plate off the AC compressor and there was a washer there but when I removed it the clutch plate was permanently engaged. The coolant is R134-A. Can the coolant "wear out"? Does anybody have any ideas? Thanks.

 

The compressor should not cycle till it is either pretty close to freezing. Or if Electric cooling fan isn't working causing the high pressure to go up.
The compressor should kick off at like 26-28 I beleive.If it cycles quickly then it is most likely low on freon.Or it could also be a bad low pressure switch.

Most of the time if the gap is to much when the compressor heats up it will loose the magnitism and disengage.There will still be power at the compressor when the compressor is disengaged.

 

Like I said in the original post, when I put the pressure guage on it, it read that the system had a max charge. So should I release all the coolant and recharge the system or do you think it's a pressure switch? How long should it typically be between compressor cycles?
Thanks

 

I'd try to drain and recharge your AC.

 

The cycling depends of the fan speed of the blower motor.
If you keep it on high fan speed it will take longer.If you keep it on low fan speed it will cycle more.

Find your low pressure switch and try to jump it and see if it makes a difference.
But if you keep it on low fan speed it will freeze up.

When the compressor kicks back on what was the pressure reading?