Year: 1999
Make: Dodge
Model: Caravan
Engine Size: 3.3
Refrigerant Type: 134a
Ambient Temp: 90
Pressure Low: 35
Pressure High: 245
Country of Origin: United States
Great advice in the past on this forum for GM repairs so not a total noob but baffled by this one. I also have a '99 Caravan with dual AC. Lightly used, a little over 100k, mostly a road trip van and not every day driving. 100% original for all the AC hardware. Today the AC compressor totally stopped... no cycling. Engine off / restart ... no change so I drove it home. The posted readings 35/245 are with front and rear on high in recirc mode. Sorry, I can't locate my temp probe but the compressor is running non stop and the air is chilled pretty good. Never had a compressor just stop for no apparent reason. I left it running in the drive way for nearly 30 minutes with no issue. Does this make sense to anyone ?
thanks for all the help over the years,
Craig
Found the temp probe. Drove around for about 10 minutes. 90 ambient / 70 inside / 50 vent temps. That was on high recirc.
sounds like you have an intermittent compressor engagement issue. Given the symptoms you describe, I'd be looking for excessive clutch gap because:
a) Compressor clutch appears to engage when cold
b) After extended period of driving time (hot), the compressor clutch drops out
c) brief engine off/restart doesn't fix - needs to cool down
d) Once cooled down, clutch engages again.
Not a guarantee, but certainly looks like a marginal compressor clutch gap to me. If you can re-create this scenario, try tapping the compressor clutch after it's dropped out with the engine running (if you can do so safely). If it re-engages immediately, you've found your problem.
Makes perfect sense and easy enough to test. If it proves out, a new clutch is required, correct ?
it worked fine today but true test will be a longer commute during the week. I'll repost if it fails to engage again.
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