1999 windstar a/c clutch not engaging

[june1st]

my a/c quit working. first i made sure i had enough freon(3.5lb front and back)at about 95 psi. then i repaced clutch cycling switch and high pressure(clutch saver switch). next i hot wired the clutch, it engages like it should. compressor clutch doesnt engage on its own. is there a way to test the switches, maybe i bought a defective one? does this year windstar have a ccrm module? any ideas where to look next? thanks

[tripletdaddy]

The ccrm was only in years 95 - 97, so since then all its functions were split up into separate components. I would start tracing your wiring from the dash controls to the ac clutch cycling press sw. to the highpressure cutout. They are connected, according to my diagram in that order with purple wire and should measure full bat+ when turned on. From the high cutoff the blk/yel wire goes to a connector joining the pcm and ac clutch control relay. It may be bad. The pcm tells this relay to close, thus allowing the current finally reaching the ac clutch. Hot from relay to clutch is pink/lt bl, and it also goes to a diode. I don't know if it is serviceable, but if bad maybe all you need, well maybe not since you got it to work by hot wire. The two other wires to the relay are pink/yel, which is the pcm grounding wire to energize the clutch relay. and the red wire is the common hot wire to the the hi and low cooling fan relays, originating from the pcm power relay. Hopefully, and quite easily, it will be your ac relay that is bad. I'm guessing it is in the main power distribution box under the hood.

[12Ounce]

The '99 has a ac clutch plug-in relay ... have you replaced it? In the fuse/relay box near the battery. See your glove box manual, section "Roadside Emergencies", for fuse/relay layout.

[june1st]

yes, the first thing i did was check all related fuses and relays. i did double check to make sure, they are good. did notice that my fans dont turn on when a/c is turned on, but as soon as i disconnect the high press. switch the low fan turns on for a few secounds then the high speed fan kicks on(both fans are on when low speed and high speed) when the switch is connected back in the high speed goed back to low speed and stays on. clutch never engages. there are three wires coming out of the high press. cutoff switch, 1 i understand came from the cycle switch, 2nd goes to the relay i think, and where does the 3rd on goes? to me sounds like pcm may be the problem. p.s. diode is good. what do you think? thanks

[searcherrr]

How did this turn out? What was the cause?

[june1st]

never did figure out what was wrong. i did some creative auto wiring to bypass the pcm, but still have the low and high pressure swtiches do their part. the tricky part was: figureing how to make the engine speed up a bit when a/c on. too bad i did not document or take pictures of what i did.

[searcherrr]

Honestly, don't take this the wrong way, but that kinda pisses me off (that you had to do what you did). lol I don't know if you've read many of my other posts, but I've treated this van (1995 3.8) better than a woman would treat her diamond collection and to know that others have had to resort to workarounds just gets on my damn nerves. I don't know why people can't just FIX the things and do a good job (talking about shops). Its like as soon as a car has some dirt on it or is beyond 5 years old you can't find anyone to reliably fix anything anymore.

I bet this issue is electrical. Some misc ground somewhere or something. I don't have mine "not engaging" YET... but it is delaying engagement quite often especially on the 1st startup when the engine is still cold.