I am new to this so bear with me. I have a 2004 Dodge Stratus and my a/c is not blowing cold at all. The blower works, but it will blow out the cold air occasionally and for a limited amount of time. I wanted to know if anyone knows where I can find a diagram so that I can find out where the a/c clutch and pressure switch is? Does anyone have any suggestions as to what could be causing the problem. I just placed a new can of freon in the car and the hoses are icicle cold. It seems like the switch isn't flipping for the cold air to come out.

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

Welcome first thing to try is pull out fuse five(should have a cover over it you need to take off to get to fuse) inside drivers door(or unhook battery if you cant get fuse #5 out) for five or ten minutes,reinstall fuse start car let run five minutes see if it helps, the body control module(sometimes needs recalibration) which controls heat and a/c operation, thats most common problem with erratic operation

 

The A/C clutch in on the front of the compressor. Basically it is a electromagnet that is used to engage the compressor when needed. There are two pressure switches (one low pressure and one high pressure) that are in their respective circuits to disengage the compressor when either a low pressure or high pressure condition occurs. If you continue to run the compressor in either a low pressure or high pressure condition you will cause a failure. The switches are used to protect the system.

1) Have you checked the pressures with a set of gauges?

2) Why did you add a can of freon? Was the system low or did you add simply based on a guess and having access to freon?

3) What kind of freon did you use? Different freons will cause different pressures in an otherwise identical system. Mixing different freons will cause problems.

I'm not trying to insult you, but it sounds as if you don't have any idea of how the A/C system is supposed to work. I would not suggest you work on an A/C system without knowledge of what you are doing. This is a great place to learn what you'll need to know.

-Ken

 

I had the same exact problem last summer, and it was annoying! It would blow cold air for a few minutes and then stop all of a sudden and would not return until I turned off the car, let it sit, and crack it again. I took it to the Dodge Dealership (BIG MISTAKE) because they told me it was the Blend Door, which it was not. I then took it to a hole-in-the-wall mechanic which fix the problem in less than 20 minutes. He took off the right Front tire, took off the A/C Compressor Clutch, there are 3 washers (spacers), he removed 1 of them. He explained to me that overtime and in extreme heat the magnet which is used to engage the clutch wears out and that small amount of space the washer leaves is too much and the magnet is not strong enough to engage the clutch completely. My A/C has been blowing cold air ever since. If it ever stops, I will simply remove the other washer. I hope this helps, it's atleast worth a try.