mikebarbs

On a drive back from LA, the a/c light started blinking and soon no cooling air was coming into our 2002 Lexus ES 300. By the time we got home, maybe 1/2 hour later, we turned the a/c on again briefly, and it seemed to be working. After I read the forum inputs on the problem, I drove to a parts store and bought a replacement magnetic clutch relay. The a/c worked fine with the old one all the way to and from the parts store, but I replaced it anyway because it was cheap and easy and Toyota had issued a bulletin on it. Now I'm wondering if the real problem will crop up again.
Any thoughts???

wik009

I have a comment: it's a moot point since you cannot return the magnetic clutch relay and your old one is still good but did the a/c mishap happen after you splashed through a big puddle? I did this a year ago and because plenty of water made it to the a/c belt and slipped for certain number of seconds the a/c light blinked and basically the compressor shut down for about a minute. It's been fine ever since.

mikebarbs

Thanks for the input. No puddles in LA in the summertime. It's been months since the last rain. Also, our a/c light was on for SEVERAL minutes.
It's been a month now since that event, and the a/c is working just fine. Maybe it was the magnetic clutch relay starting to misbehave intermittently.