I have a 1994 automatic. Now this is technically my first car and Im already having problems. When I have my AC on everything is great. Im freezing inside of a minute and there are no weird noises going on, but my problem is whenever i push on the accelerater to go my car dies. Ive been told its my altenator and its not, I got that checked out. Also Ive been told its my compressor but I find that hard to believe. The problem is I dont have alot of money to figure this out and I need help!

 

that sounds like an electrical problem id take off your AC belt and then turn on the ac and if it still dies its an eletrical problem if its fine then you ac compressor is out

 

My uncle works on cars alittle and he said it could be the kill switch. Does that sound like it may be the problem?

 

how does the car run without the A/c running?
Does it stumble at some point in the pedal travel?

 

No it runs perfectly fine. It even runs fine with the AC on until you try to go from a complete stop.

 

does it idle fine at a stand still?

 

Does the idle go up when you turn on the AC? If not, then the idle is probably going down too much because of the extra load. The ECU is supposed to up the idle speed when the AC is on to prevent the idle from going too low.

 

If I remember correctly the idle is just fine. Has anyones '94 done this to them before? Thanks for all the advice Ive gotten so far though...

 

What do mean "just fine". Does the idle speed go up when you engage the AC or not? What does the idle speed go up to??

 

mine hasnt done that to me yet but mines a 93. however theres no real difference. sounds to me like what the other poster said. the scu is supposed to compensate for the ac. so when you put in in drive and strain the motor even more it dies.

 

It speeds up but im not sure to how much, I will have to check it out.

 

Well I suppose I could go and get the ECU checked out. I was wondering if a simple diagnostic could maybe tell me whats wrong.

 

It's probably not the ecu. It's probably a relay/switch etc.

 

Such as the kill switch for the AC?

 

Lower left. But maybe that's for the unit itself and not for the high idle switch

 

It never fails to amaze me how much you try to learn about cars and your still lost!

 

Ok new information, I turned on my car today and without the AC on it idled out to a perfect 500 rpms, but when I turned on my AC it dropped to a good 250 rpms. So anyone knows what that means?

 

Isn't 500 rpm already on the low side? Most automatics tend to idle around 750-ish don't they?

There's definitely something wrong here...

 

yep sounds like the idle is too low when the AC is on, so when you put your foot down it just stalls. im not sure on the fix, some else will have to help there.

 

It means that the switch/solenoid or relay that tells the ecu to up the idle speed is not working.

 

with the ac off it should idle at 750. that definately needs to be fixed as well.

 

Is there any way to test any of those things myself without actually having to go and get them checked out?

 

Ok so exactly how do I fix the idling problem in the first place?

 

Ok new information, I went to Midas because I have some friends who work there and they thought it was my idle censor but come to find out its my compressor. If I had a choice it would be the censor because it only costs about $300 to fix but I bought a book on my car and im going to see if maybe I could get my b/f to fix it for me if I get the parts. Do you think that its a good possibility?