A/C is not working properly....

Based upon the above, I understand that the air conditioner works when your car is at speed, and doesn't work when you are at a standstill or driving slowly. If true, then my guess is that the radiator fans are inoperative.

 

I gotta agree with Patrick. If the R-134A charge is full, the next most likely cause of your syptoms would be inoperative fans. No airflow over the condensor = no heat transfer. Set the A/C to max cold and pop the hood, you should be able to see and hear the cooling fans running at least 90% of the time.

Good Luck.

 

I am not sure how your buddy would know the status of the compressor. It is electric, not belt-driven; hence there is no clutch to look at, and it is not obvious when the compressor is on and when it is off.

You should expect to pay for an hour of dealer tech labor to find out what is wrong. If the problem is a warranted part, then the dealer would waive the labor charge.

Did you look at the radiator fans to see whether they are running when the air conditioner is turned on?

 

ummm Just a little safety note here when letting a buddy open the hood.

Remember that the A/C compressor is HIGH VOLTAGE!! Don't get too carried away with playing around with it.

 

the best thing you can do now is : look at the little glass thats left off the air intake.

there is a metal pipe with a plastic grey thing on it with the letter "H" on it! ( this is the high presure side of the ac system )
next to that there is a eye glass.
you can see the refrigerant inside the AC system.
when you start the car and put it in ready mode the compressor will start running.
then look into the little glass and see if you see bubbles
Dont forget that you need to do this when the car is cold and the ac system not on for a while.

-if you don't see anything then you don't have anything in there ( not the case now because you have cooling at highway speeds )
-if you see bubbles and after a while start to disappear then there is enough in there
-IF you keep seeing bubbles then you need to refill.
-IF a refill work but after time the problem is back then you have a leak.

 

Hmm, maybe the clicking is due to an incorrect refrigerant charge. It's time to let the dealer tech handle the problem.

The compressor has a variable-speed motor, so it should be running pretty much all the time assuming that the A/C button is on.

 

One stupid mistake previously reported is that the fan was re-installed facing backwards.

 

I have a 2006 Prius that has a similar problem with the A/C. In my case the A/C has a tendency to stop blowing cold air when it's over 105 degrees outside for a long period, but then works normally otherwise. I haven't noticed if driving the car at slow speeds has anything to do with it either. The problem has been recurrent but I haven't had time to take it back to a dealer yet.

 

I had a buddy looked inside the hood and found out that the compressor keeps spinning on and off.

When looked under the hood with the AC running, you can hear something keeps clicking on(ac cold) and off (ac hot) . I was advise that the compressor was turning on and off.

I'd say your friend confused the cooling fan operation with the compressor, which is sealed. And after spending 1500 for an a/c that doesn't always work , I'd expect a free check.

 

you dont see the compressor go on and off because its not belt driven.
maybe a ac relay broken?

 

the system pressure is most likely low, or even possibly high , resulting in the compressor kicking off when the system builds pressure.

and the reason might be the condensor not being cooled off.