Hi everyone!

I noticed my a/c stopped working, so I went and got a can of r134-a like I usually do whenever it stops working so that I could recharge it.

I went to recharge, and instead of reading in the normal range like it usually does, it was reading about 145-150 psi... anyone have any clue what could make the pressure in the system go so high? I didn't dare try to put any in with the system being that highly pressurized.

BTW, I'm refilling from the cap labeled "max. 6Nm" and using a regular gauge with plain r134-a w/oil.

Thanks!

 

If you're using a standard charging hose it will only attach to the "low" side. If the compressor isn't engaged and spinning then the high side and low side will equalize and your reading of 145 psi would be normal.
Whatever you do, don't vent any out of the system until you confirm your reading is with the compressor turning. If the low side really was at 150psi you should have blown a high side hose by now as that would put it well over it's safe operating range.

You need to make sure the clutch on the outside of the belt is spinning. That means the compressor is turning and that's when you get a reading on the low side which shouldn't go over 55 psi and depending on the ambient temperature that day might be less. On a cool day 40 psi might indicate a full charge.

You might not have a low freon condition. Your clutch might need to be adjusted as wear will widen the gap until the electromagnet can't pull the clutch in or does but slips badly. You might also have a pressure switch that has failed and isn't allowing the clutch to turn on.

 

Yep, check the compressor. Sounds like you are equalized meaning the high and low sides are the same pressure. Two possible causes, the compressor is not running or the compressor is toast.

It is very common in these cars for the clutch to wear to the point where they no longer can magnetically connect due to the gap between the clutch and pulley. There are a few fixes for it. Replace the clutch, reshim the clutch or shimmy the clutch from the outside. By far the easiest is to shimmy the clutch from the outside which involves adding small zip ties or bread clips to the outer part of the clutch which pushes the clutch closer to the pulley thus bridging the gap.

The magnetic properties change as the clutch gets hotter the magnetism gets weaker . A larger gap makes it difficult to engage the clutch. Typical signs of this are an perfectly working A/C system that fails after 10-15 min of running but then works again when cooled off.