The air conditioner on my 2003 360 has stopped blowing cold air. I have had the car 11 years and put 23,000 Miles on it. Do these units go out much? Are there rebuilt compressors out there? Any experiences ?
Nothing exotic about the A/C system. Most any shop should be able to diagnose the problem and fix it fairly easily.
I had to have my compressor rebuilt. I think it was ~$600. Your better off with that than a NOS that has 20 year old seals
You can try adding freon to it yourself and see how log it holds a charge. For about $50 you can buy at set of gages at Harbor Freight or Home Depot. Some auto parts stores may even let you barrow/rent. The pure freon cans are about $5-$8 a can. Ive been told to avoid the ones with sealants they could gunk up your system. You could get a can with dye and see if its leaking at the compressor.
The A/C doesn't work and it's a bad compressor, low freon, leaky seals? Quite excessive diagnostic conclusion given the lack of information by the OP. I would check the A/C clutch fuse first before anything else. A blown fuse will only set you back a few dollars. Good luck!
My motto: If you are going to have a go at yourself ( and there's certainly nothing wrong with that in this case) always start with the cheapest route first then work you way up to the expensive stuff. A/C systems are not that mystical. And there are very few things you can due to hurt it with most modern cars having low pressure valves and high pressure shut offs built into the system. When my '03 started to not keep up with cooling a simple addition of 2 cans of freon had it blowing cold again as it should even here in the hot Florida summers. Mello's post is spot on.
Shop manual states to replace the filter in the front trunk every 2-3 years iirc....just did mine. 2004 360 with 43K on it. Might not be the failure reason but a gunked up filter might cause other failures...
Actually shop manual, after checking, says every 2 years filter change ( or 20K kilometers) and check oil levels in compressor. HTH
If the filter drier is getting dirty and the system is working, you will feel a different in temperature between the inlet and outlet pipes on the filter drier. The liquid will expand over the filter due to the restriction of the dirt blocking the filter drier. As for changing every 2 years, absolute rubbish if you have no temp difference. If the filter does get dirty this may be coming from wear in the compressor, as it wears the filter traps it. You are unlikely to lose any oil in the system if you still have your gas pressures as the oil would leak with the gas, you would see oil staining . Get the system pressure checked with compressor off, ( the suction and discharge will be the same) then check the pressures with the compressor running . Get this info before you start changing bits on guess work
I'm EPA certified. So I could still by 12 a few years ago and I have the recovery machinery for it. Now mostly all gone from the retailers and wholesalers. I have some 30lb canisters left for my old cars. I just bought some 134-A for the F-car a few months ago at Advance Auto.
Its high time they got rid of 12 , 22 . The damage it does is terrible. We used to use a lot of the big 6 feet high cylinders using 12+22 when i worked deep sea and with the constant ship vibration cracking the pipes we always had leaks. Very surprised you can still get any as banned over 15 years or more now
My AC problem was dirty contacts on the "Stop" button. Compressor worked fine on "defrost" as this turns on the compressor without depressing the "Stop" switch.
Also not uncommon for hoses to "weep" freon through the years. Sudden loss of all cooling is one thing but simply not keeping up with the cooling the cabin any longer could be a result of "weeping" hoses. Not that they need replacing. Just a fact of life for cars with rubber A/C hoses.
I believe the weeping issue is limited to systems that were converted from R12 to R134a. The molecular size of R134a is smaller than R12, hence the "weeping" effect. Systems designed for R134a should have the proper hoses and seals to prevent the loss of working fluid over time. The compressor seal against the rotating parts is a much more likely source of slow leakage. Then again, what do I know?
My local mechanic had a try at the 360. All He has ever done on it is change the break Pads. First phone call-How do you open the hood?. Second phone call-the compressor is not turning on....do I know where the fuse Panel is ? I gave him the phone to my Ferrari mechanic who was helpful. Third phone call-was tinkering with the fuse Panel and the compressor started up! Blowing cold air just fine but then it stopped. Couldn’t get it started again. He has a friend Who is better electrician then him going to look at it after work. Nothing is ever simple with these cars. I am Sure for some one who sees a lot of 360s This has already happened. I hope this panel thing can be fixed
This is really good advice. I'm against opening the A/C system unless absolutely necessary. Changing the dryer every two years is nonsense.
Ok, the bit about it was blowing cold air, then it stopped. Before you do any more get a set of gauges on the compressor suction and discharge Did the compressor stop turning and/or did the cold air become warm ? If the compressor was turning, ie clutched in then either it has pumped all the available gas and it has cut out on low pressure by the clutch disengaging. Connect up a meter to the pressure switch on top of the filter drier, then run the compressor- you will get cold air out and then warm air- if this happens and the meter shows the switch has operated then chances are you are short of gas.
Apparently it’s either a damaged wire from the relay to the compressor or something wrong in the panel. They out electricity directly to compressor and it started blowing cold. Freon already topped off