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I bought my car after it has been sitting for 2 years. It has75k miles. The previous owner said the A/C worked great when the car was parked. I think the seals dried up and the refrigerant leaked out. I'm assuming I need to replace some o-rings at the condenser and possibly the accumulator. The compressor runs, it does the typical fast on and off cycle that they always do when there is no R134a. It has been a long time since I did A/C work, what do you suggest?

Get some fresh R134A with some oil (not sure what type of PAG oil this uses), and stick it in. Don't forget to purge the line coming from the R134A can so you don't get air (especially moisture!) into the system.

inition wrote: . The compressor runs, it does the typical fast on and off cycle that they always do when there is no R134a.

Does it do any cooling of the pipes when it clicks on, indicating some refrigerant left?

I went out to feel the pipes, they were both hot. I checked the compressor by switching to defrost and then pressing the A/C button, it doesn't seem to be kicking on. I thought I heard it kicking on and off, but I never actually checked with the hood up. I'll have to check some fuses and research how to check for faults on the compressor clutch. I'm sure it was discussed here before!

I'm going to wait on putting in the bottle of r134a and oil until I work out the clutch issue.

The clutch isn't engaging since there's no R134a in the system. There's a pressure switch in the compressor that tells the compressor if there's enough R134a to kick on. Add some R134a, and I'll bet your A/C springs to life while the pressure is still high enough.

It sounds like there's a leak somewhere, or the seals need some oil to expand. Adding refrigerant will help determine what the problem is.

LeSabre in Buffalo wrote:The clutch isn't engaging since there's no R134a in the system. There's a pressure switch in the compressor that tells the compressor if there's enough R134a to kick on. Add some R134a, and I'll bet your A/C springs to life while the pressure is still high enough.

I was hoping the system was clicking on occasionally and back off. That would indicate a minimal charge.

I agree with putting in some to see if it will engage. IF it engages, charge it up to normal. I don't know if it even needs the freon with oil in it. Running the system to move the oil should help rejuvenate the seals. See if it holds the freon you put in.

If it's completely lost freon, it will need to be evacuated and then charged.

If it's completely lost the refrigerant AFTER a recharge, then get some UV dye into there to trace where it's leaking from. And hope it's an easily visible leak.