2004 Camry AC light blinking

[CarLuver]

Helped a freind change compressor on 04 camry with manual ac controls . swapped compressor and did a vaccum and charge by weight . works great with 40 degree temp from the vents .

Every once in while the A/C light will blink and A/C will shut down . a quick on /off press and it restarts . According to the net, this means there is an issue in the A/C system . locked compressor . low charge most common . none of these seem to apply .

The one thing i i do recall is it had this issue before we swapped the compressor . i have changed the relay . its so inttermitent that can't reproduce it at will. No codes . A/C when it works , which is 99% of the time , is ice cold.

I think its an electrical or ecm issue . not sure how to test the ecm . Any suggestions on what else to do?

 

[slacktide_bitog]

I had a first gen Camry from the 80s where the AC light would blink, and it would shut off, if you drove over a deep puddle.

 

[Aichiguy]

I had an '03 that had the blinking light. An A/C service solved it. Hmmmm

 

[Nukeman7]

Try swapping out the A/C clutch relay (again) in the underhood fuse box.

 

[Timmastertech]

aftermarket compressor or OE/denso? lots of aftermarket compressors have iffy lock sensors

 

[CarLuver]

aftermarket . it was already doing it before changing the compressor . changed compressor due to noisy clutch. its so intermitent that there is no way to make it happen on demand

 

[CarLuver]

it already had the updated relay in it . i put a new one in there just in case

 

[Trav]

Is the clutch still operating when the light is flashing? If not tap the clutch face with a plastic hammer, it it immediately engages the shims may need to be adjusted, check the air gap.

 

[CarLuver]

Is the clutch still operating when the light is flashing? If not tap the clutch face with a plastic hammer, it it immediately engages the shims may need to be adjusted, check the air gap.

that is the issue . it happens so itermittantly can't make it happen to check it out. happens when they are driving it around

 

[TheMAN]

if it was happening before and is still happening now, it could be a bad control head in the dash or bad connections to it... fix or clean the terminals if you see it's visually bad... if it's clean, then replace the control head and see if that fixes it

 

[CleanSump]

that is the issue . it happens so itermittantly can't make it happen to check it out. happens when they are driving it around

@Trav may be on to it. You can check the gap with the engine and AC not running. You just need feeler gauges and what the measurement is supposed to be from the maint. manual.
Also, the electromagnet can be intermittent - they can short only when hot and work fine when cool, just like an iffy coil sometimes does.

 

[bimiko939]

Check the AC magnetic clutch relay or the sensor amplifier behind the dash; that blinking light usually points to an intermittent electrical signal glitch

 

[CarLuver]

Check the AC magnetic clutch relay or the sensor amplifier behind the dash; that blinking light usually points to an intermittent electrical signal glitch

This one does not seem to have a separate amplifier like many other Toyotas . Seems to be integrated into the climate control panel .

I may just buy a used one off of eBay . They are about $20 .

 

[Marcozi]

Scan the car for codes.

 

[TheMAN]

That car is old and simple enough it that it doesn't have a CAN bus system and any codes/live data will just be limited to traditional systems: powertrain, ABS, airbags... anything else will be individual systems that may or may not have any sort of non-OBD diagnostic code system that blinks lights or show simple error codes