2000 Regal GS No AC

[Zepguy]

My 2000 Regal GS with auto climate control suddenly has no AC. Compressor is engaging, R134 is good, but nothing but vent temperature air from the vents on either side. I can turn it to heat and it works great, but only vent temperature air on AC.

I pulled the HVAC fuse on the passenger side fuse box for about 30 seconds and replaced it. I could hear some clicking from the actuator behind the glove box. Is that the temperature actuator or just a blend actuator?

Any other ideas?

Thanks

[Tech II]

Are the lines to your evaporator cold?

If yes, then it does sound like a temp door problem.....

Is this dual?

[brcidd]

W cars are known for stripped actuator motors- there are fixes for them, but you may just want to buy a new one-- autozone has them. If you hear clicking, follow the noise and find the actuator that is stripped.

You say refrigerant is "good" but there is only one way to know for sure- and that is to recover and weigh it- the number one cause of poor cooling is loss of charge due to a leak- Your variable stroke compressor will run with 95% of refrigerant gone! Cooling goes bad at about half charge gone...

Hint- look at compressor belly, is it oily/greasy- dripping?

[Zepguy]

Thanks for the responses, much appreciated!

The next day the compressor was no longer engaging. So I checked and it showed no pressure in the system. Of course as soon as I put a little refrigerant in it started up again. After a half can and the gauge didn't move from the bottom of the green level, I started questioning my gauge and stopped afraid I'd overfill. Thought I'd hop in and see if there was any cool air since the compressor was running and, nope. This really threw me for a loop because at the time I was thinking ok, there's a half a can in there, it shows in the green on my gauge and it still isn't cooling. In hindsight it was obviously blowing right out the high side port almost as fast as I put it in. As brcidd said, must have been only about 5% retained in the system to keep the compressor going because there sure wasn't enough to cool the air even a little.

I gave up after the heat and sweat on Thursday (95 with even higher temps forecast for Friday) and dropped the car off to be repaired yesterday morning expecting a $500+ bill. Cause: Blown seal on the high side port. Cheap and easy fix. Had them replace both high and low and I'm good to go for a little over $100. Probably could have done it myself once I knew but I just wanted it fixed.

TLDR; Cause was a blown seal on the high side port.

Thanks again for taking time to respond.

Cool again in AZ

[brcidd]

Blown seal on high side? Those ports always leak a little- that is why there is a cap with a rubber washer inside that seals off the port. Matter of fact, that is how I test my leak detector, by removing the cap and getting a sniff there.

My guess is that you will soon be back for the real fix, after your system leaks down again. If you are running without a cap on your ports, there in lies your major problem, but if caps are on and have been on, then the port seal blown scenario is their money-maker. Time will tell. Been there, done that.

[StumpedGMowner1]

Bet all the mechanic did was 0000 steel wool the lines wiped them down with a degreaser and put new caps on. Lol! Seen that shit 100 times.