Hi guys

AC was working just fine on a long trip when suddenly it stopped cooling. Turning the AC off for a min and turning it back on will make it cool again for a very short while. I am not sure what is causing this.

Here is what happens. If i turn on the AC it will cool for a few sec to few minutes then the cooling goes way down.
When i turn on the AC the gauge on the low side will go down from 70-80 PSI to about 40 PSI. When it stops cooling the low side will go up to ~60PSI. High side is always around 200PSI no mater what happens on the low side.


We replaced the drier and the TXV. problem continued the same way after evac and recharge.
The compressor is variable. I am suspecting a bad control valve in the compressor.
Any thoughts on this? I would appreciate a technical hypothesis from someone who is experienced with AC systems.

 

Could be a bad compressor. Are both cooling fans on the condenser working?

 

yes both fans are working. could it be anything else besides the compressor? perhaps a clogged up line or something?

 

Something similar happened to me on a 200mile trip2 months ago. Cruising at about 75mph...my ac felt like the air was backed up and barely any cool breeze was coing through the vents. Had the fan running but turned off the ac to let air from outside come in...that flowed in with no issues. Turn back ac....cool for a lil bit and back to same issue. Pull over at a rest stop with ac on, and all is back to normal-cooling on normal speeds and just functional. not sure what was going on that day.

 

bought a new compressor. will install on Thursday.

 

it was the compressor. il open the old one to check if the control valve is bad when i have time