a/c not working

The "little glas thing" is a sightglass. The purpose of this is to allow you to view the refrigerant status when the compressor kicks on.

I suggest that after the car is READY, you have a helper press the A/C Auto button to turn on the air conditioner while you observe the sightglass. As the compressor turns on, you should see bubbling in the refrigerant, then the bubbling should go away after pressure is built up. The refrigerant is clear in color.

If you never see any bubbling, this means that the compressor did not turn on. If you continue to see bubbles, this means that you have insufficient refrigerant in the system.

The H cap is for the valve that accesses the high pressure side of the system. There also is an L cap, for the valve that accesses the low pressure side of the system. The purpose of these valves is to allow the tech to measure the pressure on both sides of the system. Additional refrigerant is added via the low side valve.

 

Your initial msg said that you checked the fuses. Did you also check the driver's side junction box (hidden behind the instrument panel to the left of the steering wheel) that contains the 10 amp A/C fuse?

From your second msg, I take it that the cabin ventilation fan is operating, but that cold air does not come out. My repair manual lists the following possible trouble areas:

1. Volume of refrigerant
2. Refrigerant pressure
3. Pressure switch circuit
4. Air mix damper control servomotor circuit
5. Air mix damper position sensor circuit
6. Room temperature sensor circuit
7. Room humidity sensor circuit
8. Ambient temperature sensor circuit​

9. A/C inverter circuit

 

Have you driven on any dirt roads with rocks on lately?

We had a stone go through the grill and kill the A/C compressor summer before last- they have still not changed the grill to prevent this from happening...only about a $750 cost.... and not covered by the warrenty - since it is "Road hazard"

 

I'm surprised more Prius cars don't have dead A/C over this. Before I fashioned the grille guard, I was really surprised at how pockmarked the condenser headers were from normal road debris.

Although driving a lot on gravel would probably hasten the process, I think just driving on normal roads will eventually damage the condenser. If the A/C is not engaging at all, the LP switch has cut it out. That usually means most to all of the coolant is gone

 

Jayman,

Grill guard? Can you pontificate please?

 

I think I posted this a *long* time ago, back in '05, so here it is again.

I went to Home Depot and got a roll of gutter guard stuff. It's a plastic mesh to keep leaves out of your gutters. I got mine in black. As you can tell from the photos, it blends right in. With the zip ties total cost $15

Not too unusual to find rocks lodged in the gutter guard. I guess that means it's doing its job

Would you also like me to post photos of the A/C condenser header tube? It was already badly pockmarked by the time I put on the gutter guard stuff

 

Not really. The tech is expected to go through a standard A/C diagnostic

With my FJ Cruiser, in winter I pull the clutch relay for the A/C compressor. By default, when the airflow is set to Defrost, the A/C will try to run unless the ambient temp sensor cuts it out

As I have a heated garage, that means even at -40 the A/C compressor will try to run for a few minutes, I figured that couldn't be good for it (PAG oil too thick below +5 C)

With the A/C clutch relay out, whenever I pulled out of the garage and the system commanded the A/C to run, the LED in the A/C button would flash. No other indication it had "failed"