97 Se-r A/c

Hey everyone, my AC struggles to stay cold in stop and go traffic, generally when there is little airflow through the condenser. I figured that it is just a little low on refrigerant. Recently however, it seems like the AC is shutting down completely, and then kicking back on. Even at highway speeds, (70+) the air will go from cold conditioned air to hot outside air, and back again.

My hope is that the AC pressure sensor is cycling the compressor on and off when it detects a low pressure situation, and that a re-fill is all I need. Does this sound reasonable? Or does anyone think that it might be something worse (more expensive)?

I live near Phoenix, and it is supposed to reach 116 next week! So this is my top priority! Thanks for any help.

-The new guy

Hey everyone, my AC struggles to stay cold in stop and go traffic, generally when there is little airflow through the condenser. I figured that it is just a little low on refrigerant. Recently however, it seems like the AC is shutting down completely, and then kicking back on. Even at highway speeds, (70+) the air will go from cold conditioned air to hot outside air, and back again.

My hope is that the AC pressure sensor is cycling the compressor on and off when it detects a low pressure situation, and that a re-fill is all I need. Does this sound reasonable? Or does anyone think that it might be something worse (more expensive)?

I live near Phoenix, and it is supposed to reach 116 next week! So this is my top priority! Thanks for any help.

-The new guy

Hey New Guy,

Sound like you need to get a pressure check. You symptoms sound a little strange but it would be best to rule out low refrigerent first.

My Sentra came from Phoenix, the few times I drove it out there it had a hard time keeping up with the 115 degree heat, blew ice cold air but temp inside the car was in the high 90's even on the highway.

Get a pressure test and refill as necessary, I would recommend staying away from the cheepo kits from Walmart etc...

Good luck,

Sparky

Turns out that it was low on refrigerant. But since I filled it the AC has been cutting out even more often. Since low pressure is not the problem anymore, I'm thinking now that there may be a blockage somewhere causing a high pressure situation. Any ideas on how to track down a blockage without randomly replacing AC components?