I know NOTHING about ACs, this is my first car to ever have one that worked... My AC stopped working last week, been too busy to care as I only drive it to and from work.

There's four settings, 1-4, 4 being the highest. In just "Blow Air mode", you can chose to run the AC condesor or recirculate the air at any temperature setting. Then there's "Max AC", which is basically as cold as it gets, and the AC is on and recirculationg automaticly.

In "Blow mode", 1-3 equals no air whatsoever, but I can run the AC condensor (AC button lights greet to verify, and I can feel it on, parasiticly) When I throw the fans on "4", it blows air at usuall speed, but the compessor light goes off (AC light goes off automaticly, and I can feel the compressor go off). Just to re-cap: In non-max AC mode, 1-3 equals no air, but a running compressor. 4 equals lotsa air, but the compressor turns itself off.

In "Max AC mode", it's the same thing, 1-3 equals no air, but a running compressor. 4 equals lotsa air, but the compressor turns itself off, that's the weird part to me. Normally in "Max mode" you CANNOT turn the compressor off. That's what it is, MAX AC, why wouldn't you want the compressor on?


Does this even make sense? Please help so i don't have to pull my mods so i can go to the dealer!!!

 

sounds like a bad switch in the panel. see if someone else nearby will let you use their panel just to check to see if that is the problem. probably can use a stock lancer's one too and shouldn 't take to long to do. did you spill any liquid on it?

 

Its a switch/wiring problem behind the dashboard. Compare it to a Lancer (any) since they all use the same compressor and layout of climate controls. Take it to a local auto electrician. They can fix it for ya. If the car is still under warranty..take it to the dealer...hopefully they wont void the warranty and not fix it. Im assuming that you have less than 36k miles and judging by your name "I'm stock", that youre still stock.

 

yeah but by using someone elses a/c panel, they can isolate the prob to that area before he takes it in.

 

I'm at 36,104 as we speak.

I'm not really stock (See sig), but everything but the Hotchkis suspension can come off in under two hours if need be... I just wanted to see if this was a common occurance, or something like that.

Like I said, none of my 4 previous cars (DSMs) ever had AC, so i'm new to this.


Judging by how quickly you guys mentioned some wireing behind the dash makes me belive that maybe you've heard of this happening before?

 

sounds like your blower motor resistor seperated. its behind your glovebox. you will have to unbolt your ecu to get to it. i believe there are 5 wires in the plug. its screwed into your blower box assy between the blower housing and the evaporator unit. pull it out and give it a look. ill bet you the solder seperated.

randy

 

Weird that you mention that location, as last time I went through a car wash with the AC pulling outside air (I like the smell ), I noticed some water pooling in my rubber floormat on the pass. side....

The next time I went through I just ran it in max with it recirc'ing inside air, and I didn't see any water down there... This was a week or so before it stopped working.

But if there were anything going on with the blower motor, would full blast (4) still work? Like I said, the car blows air, it's just only on the highest setting with the condensor off...

 

Bump?

 

i'm a little hesitant to say you should pull out your blower motor although that is a possibility.
with problems, always check the easiest first. i know it may sound stupid, but start w/ fuses and connectors, and then move on to switches/wiring, then go to hardware.

 

Work smart, not hard.

I've check every fuse under the hood, looks like I'm going to check the AC panel and keep my fingers crossed. Someone local said he thinks there's some kind of bulliten out on the panel, so i'm feeling lucky...

 

It is most definitely not the blower motor...if it was then the blower would not work at all....my dad had this issue with his 1992 corolla.....it was a little different though...the low switch did not turn on the blower at all yet the compressor started....but there wasnt any max ac or anything and no problem with compressor not turning on. its a switch/ wiring problem behind the dash. I would love to tell you how the corolla problem was...but we sold the car and did not fix it. Also..i changed the blower motor in the corolla just before we sold it..cause the blower motor just recently blew and i picked up the part from the junkyard and fixed it but the "Low" switch still did not work. Just sold the corolla on thursday.

 

like someone said its probably the resistor. The resistor just cuts down the voltage going to the blower motor, slowing it down. Problem is that it gets red hot when run on low "its resisting a lot of voltage" and can burn out. But when it fails it still works on high "no resistance" so check the blower motor resistor.
Hope this helps
Marcus

 

like i said remove the blower motor resistor and inspect it. it is a lot easier than replacing your control panel.

 

well did you ever get your a/c to work?

 

Seriously my car does the same thing im trying to find out wtf is going on with it... Ohio sucks with no ac in the summer its soo muggy.... Im going to try the resistor hopefully that will do it for me