Hello. I have a '94 850 Turbo Sedan. I live in the Southern part of the U.S. where it gets quite hot. The air conditioning system has started failing after the vehicle has run for a short while, then the car stops, such as at traffic lights. Cycling the A/C switch on the panel will usually get it to return working after 3-4 minutes. The blower is still blowing air, though hot.

I bought an inexpensive gauge and the low pressure side seems okay, though I added a can of R-134a anyway. The system is still within range, (35 psi maybe?) and this helped the situation for a short bit, but the problem has returned.

My luck will certainly be that the compressor needs replacing, but I thought I would seek your thoughts. Thank you in advance.

- Mark

I just read back over my post, and I wasn't very clear on one point. The A/C only fails when the vehicle is stopped, such as at a traffic signal. If the car is moving along at decent speeds, no problems with the A/C. This may clarify my problem for some. Thanks for reading.

- Mark

If it is your compressor then consider playing lotto tomorrow (I get half!)!! It sounds like you have a leak (duh). The only way you can tell where is have the system evacuated and recharged with dye. Most likely it is your evaporator that has gone further south then you live. And that is expensive repair vs. a compressor repair. The approximate range (and the range seems to be rather large) is $900-$1600 to replace the evaporator. It is a rather lengthy process to get to the evaporator as it resides deep in the depths of the dash. Most of the cost of the repair is labor (hence the large range of repair cost). I am battling with it on my car this summer; I just keep adding 134a every 3-4 weeks. I will probably replace it after this summer but I want to find an aftermarket copper core one.

If anyone has information on where to get a copper core or any other longer lasting evaporator let me know.

Hope this helps and maybe you'll have the luck of the Irish.

Scott
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Scott K - 1994 850 Turbo 99K miles