98 Cav. a/c / refrigerant problem

SO i recently bought a 98 cavalier and the a/c wasn't too bad on it while i was driving it home. But after a few days, it really wasn't doing good (air wasn't really that cold)

I figured its just low on the refrigerant. So i plug it in and the gauge moves up into "WARNING" meanings theres tooooo much in it.

NOw i decided to leak a little bit out so the gauge would show on normal. Which it eventually did.

But now when i turn the a/c on, i dont hear the compressor come on. What went wrong?

IS there something wrong with my gauge or should i have not leaked the refrigerant?

Any help is appreciated!

Welcome to AF!

My guess is that your gauge is bad AND you should not have "leaked" the refrigerant.

This isn't directed at you personally, way too many people do this, it's for everyone... and maybe we can make an A/C sticky too?

Anyway. Your A/C worked. Then it started to not work. Unless someone added some refrigerant just to F- with you, it is impossible that it had more in it than it did when it was working. The A/C system isn't something that most people should work on. You need to understand how the A/C system works in order to figure out what's wrong with it. Basically, the compressor compresses the refrigerant which packs more heat into less space which raises the temperature which is lowered in the condenser which lowers the heat, when the refrigerant passes through the orifice tube, it is uncompressed and is able to absorb the heat that it lost while under pressure.

So, if the gauge reads "warning", the only logical thing that can cause that is the compressor not compressing enough. Unless someone really was under your hood adding refrigerant. So what you need to do is evacuate the system and measure the refrigerant removed, not let it into the atmosphere. And I have never seen a good gauge that has "warning" as a reading, the good ones will have numbers, not words.

well the gauge i have also has numbers. Firstly, it has low, filled, alert and warning

When i measured it, it was at 100 psi (which, according to the gauge was in 'warning')


LOL i'm pretty sure no none sneaked under my hood and added extra refrigerant. Though it does seem logical that the compressor is not compressing enough.
So you are saying that it might be the compressor thats gone bad?

If the compressor was running when you read 100 PSI, it's bad, no question about it. If it wasn't running, it's most likely an electrical problem... switch, relay, clutch, etc.

i did take it to a mechanic today. he said the compressor won't work, and needs to be replaced. but i dont think he knows what hes talkin bout. becuz the compressor was working yesterday

Just because it turns doesn't mean it works, 100 PSI is very high for the low side, the compressor should be pulling it down to 30-35 PSI.