1985 wagon AC

[Greg]

Hello!  I recently purchased an 85 wagon with AC. I tried the AC recently by simply turning to Max AC. The air was not cool.  Should I have it charged or should I first check the AC compressor to see if it works, and how do I go about checking the compressor, please?  Thanks in advance 

[89 MJ]

I would guess that it just needs a charge. I could be wrong, but I believe that most AC systems won't even turn the compressor on if they are too low on refrigerant.

[MIPS]

I can't remember if the Eagle had only a high or low pressure cut-out switch located next to the condenser sight glass but I have noticed a lot of eagles lose their loop pressure. Depending on how desperate you want AC (it is actually really nice when it works) I'd start with having the system pumped down to vacuum and seeing how long it takes to leak back up again.

[vangremlin]

I'm no A/C expert, but I believe those switches came into play when they started putting the round, Sanden type compressors in the Eagles.  With the old York compressors, there was a separate oil component so the compressor would stay lubricated even if all the refrigerant leaked out.  In the Sanden units, the oil was mixed in with the refrigerant, so if there was a leak, the oil was gone too.


Again, I'm no expert but that is my understanding.