How to QUICKLY Test A/C Clutch At Home

now this is the easiest way in my opinion to check the compressor clutch on a modern vehicle now we're assuming that there's enough refrigerant in the AC system if you're not sure I uploaded a video a few weeks ago showing on how you can quickly check at home it's very easy to do and if you're low on refrigerant the compressor simply will not click on in other words the clutch will not engage so you want to make sure you have enough refrigerant and if you do have enough refrigerant this is the next step now some of you may be Familiar of just energizing the AC clutch directly but on many modern vehicles to get clear access to the AC clutch which lives all the way down there it is not very easy so this will save you a lot of time so what we're looking for is the relay that allows power to the AC clutch now that is simple enough to do right here is the relay box so you simply remove it and rotate it and you'll see a bunch of diagrams and the one that you're looking for so I just needed to turn off the light so you can clearly see what I'm looking at whenever you see this symbol there's also some down here this is the symbol for a relay so this is the rear defroster this is the blower motor inside the cabin this is for the cooling fan this is for the AC compressor fan okay but right here it looks like a snowflake this is for the AC clutch okay so this is the relay that we're working with so that is this guy right here now with the relay removed I want to take over I want to be in control and apply power directly to the relay box so it engages the clutch so we can test it now there is a tool that you can purchase it's rather cool that you've removed the old relay and on top is a switch and you insert this tool and now with that flick of a switch you can engage any unit within any electrical unit within the engine bay or really throughout the vehicle let's assume you don't have that but if you want to save some time I will include that link in the description box below but let's apply power and see if the clutch engages so what I'm using is a 12 volt power source if you have an old cordless power tool that pushes out 12 volts that will also do and then I just have some leads again I'll link everything below if you need any of these tools so I have my leads hooked up to the battery be very very carefully do not want to touch these as you can see in the past just for a split second it will melt these leads be really really careful and now we're just touching the leads inside of the fuse box and what we should here is a clicking noise okay so here we go and there you go you hear that now if you do this test and the clutch does not engage you found the problem you have an issue with the AC compressor now chances are it's something called a field coil and you can remove and completely disassemble an AC compressor and test the field coil chances are most of you will just replace the entire thing but that is your issue if it does not engage now let's say on the flip side it does engage but inside the cabin when you press the AC button that clutch is not engaging I have a friend with you press the button keep an eye on the clutch and you should see it engage and hear it but if nothing is happening now you have to work backwards so the next thing to check would be the relay now I've shown how to test relays multiple times in the past so I'll do this rather quickly but all that you're doing is applying power to the relay and then on your multimeter you want the continuity setting that looks like a Wi-Fi hotspot and that just means two points make a connection okay so let's first Power this on so again I have my leads process of elimination you will not hurt anything here you want to hear a clicking noise so nothing is happening here let's flip to these guys just be careful and you hear that so the relay is engaging but it's not a hundred percent you want continuity so with the multimeter taking the leads and we have continuity okay so if I disconnect one of these we have no continuity okay so the relay works now if the relay is bad replace it and you found the problem on the flip side if the relay is good let's backtrack it some more and check the fuses so in this case on this Acura we have two fuses that deal with that AC compressor clutch here's the first one okay this fuse is in good shape the second fuse lives in the cabin it happens to be number 30 which is right here let's see and this one is okay as well now at this point you're more than likely found the problem either with the AC compressor or relay or a bad fuse but let's say everything checks out the last thing to check is really the wiring now to do that again multimeter you want to be on the volts DC setting okay the ignition key is off okay nothing is on right now and then I have the black wire to ground and then the red wire again going directly to where the relay lives for the AC compressor clutch and watch the meter okay so I'm going to try different terminals let's try this one and right there you see how we have 12 volts worth of power that means that the relay box is good we have no issues here whatsoever but you can just check every single one so nothing is happening there and you would check the other two which of course nothing is happening so by following these steps you can really pinpoint where you have the problem more than likely it's because the vehicle is low on refrigerant or just the AC clutch is no longer good and has to be replaced but check the relay check the fuses check the wiring and you can really pinpoint where you have a problem and as always thank you for watching

Channel: CarsNToys

Views: 98,647

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Id: KT_ITd9crI0

Length: 6min 43sec (403 seconds)

Published: Sat May 13 2023