So I went to my car and started it up in this summer heat and turned on the A/C and nothing but hot air came out. I noticed that when I would push the A/C button on and off you didn’t hear the compressor kick in like normal. I went to look under the hood later that night and noticed the A/C clutch wasn’t turning. Luckily I had a can of refrigerant and valve (just recharged my sisters car the week before) and checked to see what the pressure was and lo and behold the pressure was zero. I’ve read in other forums that the compressor shuts off if the pressure is too low so that way the compressor doesn’t get ruined which makes sense. So I squeezed the trigger to start recharging the refrigerant and the clutch kicked in. I thought OK great that it was low on refrigerant and that solved the problem. I emptied the can. Unfortunately I closed the hood, called it a night and went to bed. Just out of curiosity I checked the pressure in the morning and it was back to zero. Should have stuck around to listen for any air leaks, stupid me.

My question is that it seems like all the components are all working but that I just have a leak somewhere. Does anyone have a good suggestion of where to look first??? I found a schematic of all the A/C components in the 350Z to give me an idea of what to purchase. I was wondering if anyone had a similar situation that can guide me in the right direction I would really appreciate it or should I just bite the bullet and take it a mechanic? Thanks for all the help in advance.

Juan L.

 

You're going to want to get some dyed refrigerant and a blacklight or a set of the goggles that comes with it. Makes a leak easy to spot, and you should have no problem diagnosing it if it is venting in an overnight time span. Something like this will do the trick:

http://www.shopwiki.com/_R-134a+Refr...9&o=311764448&

Good luck, only thing I can think of is that some of the aftermarket intakes will rub through the AC line running next to it over time, that would be the first place I would check without using the dye...

 

if you look in the maintence section of the forum there is the factory service manual. just follow the linkts to your specific year. hopefully thatll help

 

if you want to find a leak in the lines you can see in the engine bay try one of the following..

rent a leak detector (not quite sure where you can get them) but its pretty easy to use. comes with ear phones and you just listen for it with a sniffer.

use a 50/50 soap/water solution and spray it all over the lines while its running, most air conditioner leaks are outward, which means the pressure in the lines will be greater than atmospheric pressure and will show where the leak is through the solution.

these are the 2 ways we use in my career field on air conditioners....

 

hope you get your problem fixed soon, it is hot as hell in california - 104' in sacramento atm

 

I have the exact same issue and I can hear it leaking from the front passenger side of the engine I think. Is there a rubber line or a fitting on that side?

 

Ac has a few rubber lines and O rings at various spots. Spray soapy water where you think its leaking.

 

So I have to burn another 30 bucks for more refrigerant? Or is there another way? Do the sealer type refrigerants work?

 

so as not to start another a/c thread:

rarely (maybe 5 times this summer) when i drive and then park the z in very high temps (100+) in hot sun etc at a store and then come back out after an hour or so the a/c wont kick in until about 5-10 minutes later
all the lights come on but it just blows 'oh my god i'm going to die' hot air
keeping the engine revved higher than normal usually gets it to kick in again a bit sooner

if it's not extra hot it works great / blows very cold immediately

-i do have under drive pulleys?
-i put a can of refrigerant in back in june (first ever) And it's still full

any thoughts?
-some over heated sensor?

TIA
jim

 

Phreak: No matter what you are going to have to refill it. Most cars the compressor wont kick on if the refrigerant is empty. I have never used stop leak crap in AC, Head Gaskets, or Radiators. Times i've come across cars with stuff like that in them it ****ed up said system. The best way to find an AC leak with with dye and a UV light. If the leak is bad enough soapy water can work.

Burntz: I dont know if it gets super cold it sounds like your AC is working properly and compressor is spinning properly. No idea why it would take so long to kick on.

 

Would the leak area (if bad enough) be blowing air out even if the system isn't filled? Or do I sound retarded?

 

Most systems have a low coolant level switch. If the system doesn't have enough refrigerant the compressor wont kick on. This saves the compressor from grenading in case you leaked out too much oil. Is your AC completely Hot, lukewarm, or somewhat cool?

 

AC is hot all the time and I could hear the leak while I was filling it. It held for a second then psssssssss.....

 

Sounds like a big leak if you can hear it. Well I took my car into Pep-Boys and they found the leak. I bought my car used and it has one of those modified air filters, cone shape type. I've read on other sites that this modification rubs against the AC line, eventually rupturing it. The repair guy told me the same thing and when I saw the part it just looked like it was rubbed off with a nice size hole. The hole was from the fire wall to I believe the front of the car. Sorry, I wish I had pics but from what the guy told me they had to remove some parts to actually get to the line.

I got my thing fixed for $860. If you are mechanically inclined, take it to Pep-Boys, it costs $40 to find the leak. If you find it and know how to change parts, have an uncle or buddy that is mechanically inclined then maybe you can tackle the job yourself. Parts were maybe $200-$300. Good lucks everyone.

 

Yeah, I remember a thread a long while back that showed where the one of those cone-shaped air filter arrangements had worn a hole in one of the AC hard lines.

 

similar issue here, but it was the high pressure hose. it was pushed against the AC pulley and that pulley made a nasty cut in the hose and was leaking from here. replaced it and it's working fine now.

 

I now have similar issue. Turned AC on and luke warm air.... I have the basic Vortech system so not sure if that might be the cause . Now gotta find a place to take the car too...

 

found out what it was. the SC piping screw rubbing against the metallic high pressure AC line, went right through it. I can't believe they installed it like that... Now gotta pay $$ to fix the mistake..

 

I have a 2003 350z 6 speed manual and one day I was trying to fix my radio so I was taking the plastic trim from the shifter and I unplugged the ac ribbon cord and when I connected it back it just kept the AC full blast, until one day I was driving home and it randomly stopped working so I tried to turn it on the next day and the AC made the sound of turning on and the RPMs went up but no AC coming out of the vents. I changed the ribbon cable because the one I had was damaged and I thought that could be the problem but it wasn't and my ac still doesn't work does anyone know what this could be?