Cooling quandary.

Steve-Oh · Apr 5, 2011

So I had some apparent cooling complications last summer that have rolled over into this spring. I've recently put a new air conditioning compressor on (been broken for many years now) and once I turned it on the engine temp climbed above 210*. Fan's seemed to be working as should. So this year I unplugged it again and the car seems to be running fine. Slightly above 150* for a little them goes up a little more to about 190* if I've been driving it around for awhile. To test this theory I plugged it back in and once again the temp rose above 210*. Mind you this is with the compressor off, merely just plugged it in! I don't get it.

This was taken when I first plugged the new compressor in last summer:

toyman · Apr 7, 2011

Do you sense that it's getting hotter or is it perhaps the gauge reading higher when the compressor is plugged in. I'm phrasing this way as it may be possible that the engine is not properly grounded. I would check the engine ground from the battery.

Steve-Oh · Apr 24, 2011

toyman said:
Do you sense that it's getting hotter or is it perhaps the gauge reading higher when the compressor is plugged in. I'm phrasing this way as it may be possible that the engine is not properly grounded. I would check the engine ground from the battery.

I pretty sure I'm sensing the heat. Took a laser to the t-stat housing, temp sender and hoses and they all read above 210* ... I think I did get a reading of 220* but I forget it was a while ago, so it is running hot. I just don't understand why it seems to happen when the AC compressor is plugged in? I've had it unplugged for awhile now and it runs fine. I think the solution is to just put a new motor in her :tongue3:

modo · Apr 24, 2011

go to lowes / home depot / or harbor freight and pickup a hand held ir thermometer. hold it a inch or to off the thermostat housing neck and compare it to the gauge when the compressor is cycling. you will know if its really that hot or a bad ground

Steve-Oh · Apr 24, 2011

modo said:
go to lowes / home depot / or harbor freight and pickup a hand held ir thermometer. hold it a inch or to off the thermostat housing neck and compare it to the gauge when the compressor is cycling. you will know if its really that hot or a bad ground

On it. :thumbsup:It's rather frustrating because it's starting to get hot up here and I refuse to go another summer without AC!! :boxing:

95-stang · Apr 24, 2011

Lucky you, in our climate it gets used once or twice a year if your lucky.

modo · Apr 24, 2011

Steve-Oh said:
modo said:

go to lowes / home depot / or harbor freight and pickup a hand held ir thermometer. hold it a inch or to off the thermostat housing neck and compare it to the gauge when the compressor is cycling. you will know if its really that hot or a bad ground

Click to expand...

On it. :thumbsup: It's rather frustrating because it's starting to get hot up here and I refuse to go another summer without AC!! :boxing:

whoops, i didn't read the whole thread lol.

are the fins on the condenser all bent over or full of debris? does the car have under drive pullies on it?