So I’m gonna try and explain exactly what’s going on with my ac and not leave anything out so best with me. My card 2008 with 240k miles. I bought the car with 205 on it and love it. But the ac seemed to take around 8 minutes to get cold and it would only get cold when the engine was totally warmed up at running temp then it would cool down and eventually get very cold. It would only get very cold at times when I was not stopped at idle it would be barely cool. Lately people have been telling me it’s either got too much or too little Freon so I used gauges to test the low side psi. Soemtimes I would get 25 to 35 if I were pressing on the gas to 2500 but at idle it would go to 60 or 70. I let some more pressure out because after starting and stopping and checking the pressure it was up to like 90 as if the compressor was not even on , I checked and it’s spinning. I let pressure out of the low side while it was running til I saw the pressure at 45 (it’s 100 degrees outside ). It’s still not getting cool now. I need to add at times it seemed to only work if o would drive it around for a while and not stop and start it too often(otherwise the low side pressure would get too high snd it seemed to not work. I’m wondering if I have a blockage in my condenser or my evap core. How do I know if my compressor is even working cuz today it seems to not want to cool. I’m letting the car rest a couple hours and I’m gonna go back and put some manifold gauges and check the high side too. (If I can get the high side to go on that is I had issues earlier getting it to attach ) thx.

 

Why don't you have a shop test the system and refill it with the right amount? It sounds like you were only measuring one side of the circuit, which like you said won't tell you if the compressor is doing its job.

I've attached the Service Manual for a 1997 ES300 Air Conditioning system. Should give you a good foundation on how to test it.

 

The component most prone to "blockage" is the expansion valve. The valve either gets clogged, or simply stops opening and closing as it should to maintain cooling. I had one fail in my MR2, and the symptoms were somewhat intermittent like yours.

 

The service manual is perfect. run down that list and determine which test you fail.