I have a friend who owns a Chevrolet Camaro that's a few years old. I don't remember the exact year. The car has about 50K miles on it.
The AC stopped working. I took a look at it and saw the compressor wasn't engaging. I checked the fuse and it was good. I then replaced the A/C compressor relay. With the car running and AC button on, I felt and heard the A/C Compressor relay click. I put the old relay in and it also clicked. Even though the relay clicked, the Compressor didn't engage.
I concluded myself that since the relay clicked, there is enough refrigerant in the system for the PCM to engage the compressor.
Since the compressor isn't engaging, I figured its a broken wire somewhere in the compressor clutch circuit. My friend decided to go to the dealer to have it taken care of.
The dealership told my friend that "The compressor failed internally" and needs to be replaced. The cost is $1000. My friend is paying that since he needs the car fixed quickly.
When my friend asked about how they diagnosed it, They said they hooked up the pressure gauges and saw that the pressures were good. Then they used a scan tool to command on the compressor. Because the compressor didn't engage, they concluded it was a bad compressor.
I feel like they didn't spend enough time diagnosing the wiring and just assumed it was the compressor. If it was me, I would have checked continuity from the relay to the A/C clutch connector and also the ground from the clutch connector. If that was good, I would have measured the resistance of the clutch coil. Its not shorted since the fuse isn't blown so it could only fail as an open circuit.
Of course it can also be a mechanical failure of the clutch and the clutch gap wore itself too much so the coil can't engage the clutch.
Technically if only the A/C clutch failed, the clutch and compressor are serviced as an entire unit. I understand that.
Can an A/C clutch fail in a few years and 50K Miles? I've only heard of them fail at 100K+ Miles. My old Cadillac's compressor was still engaging after 18 years and 170K miles.
The AC stopped working. I took a look at it and saw the compressor wasn't engaging. I checked the fuse and it was good. I then replaced the A/C compressor relay. With the car running and AC button on, I felt and heard the A/C Compressor relay click. I put the old relay in and it also clicked. Even though the relay clicked, the Compressor didn't engage.
I concluded myself that since the relay clicked, there is enough refrigerant in the system for the PCM to engage the compressor.
Since the compressor isn't engaging, I figured its a broken wire somewhere in the compressor clutch circuit. My friend decided to go to the dealer to have it taken care of.
The dealership told my friend that "The compressor failed internally" and needs to be replaced. The cost is $1000. My friend is paying that since he needs the car fixed quickly.
When my friend asked about how they diagnosed it, They said they hooked up the pressure gauges and saw that the pressures were good. Then they used a scan tool to command on the compressor. Because the compressor didn't engage, they concluded it was a bad compressor.
I feel like they didn't spend enough time diagnosing the wiring and just assumed it was the compressor. If it was me, I would have checked continuity from the relay to the A/C clutch connector and also the ground from the clutch connector. If that was good, I would have measured the resistance of the clutch coil. Its not shorted since the fuse isn't blown so it could only fail as an open circuit.
Of course it can also be a mechanical failure of the clutch and the clutch gap wore itself too much so the coil can't engage the clutch.
Technically if only the A/C clutch failed, the clutch and compressor are serviced as an entire unit. I understand that.
Can an A/C clutch fail in a few years and 50K Miles? I've only heard of them fail at 100K+ Miles. My old Cadillac's compressor was still engaging after 18 years and 170K miles.