It all started when I noticed that the A/C was blowing outside temp. air into the car. Of course A/C was engaged and the fan was on. This 'getting warmer air' did not seem related anyhow to the RPM. Altough when I hit the pedal above 90% or so, the PCM turns the A/C off to make more power available to the engine. This is all by design (although I have 'warm' air 2 minutes after hitting the gas).
The problem might be related to the outside temp. and the temp. of the car. When I drive it between 12pm and 5pm for a while it randomly starts to blow warmer air (since its around 90-95 degrees here outside air equals warm air). This takes maybe 5 minutes before cold air start to get back in the car.
The compressor IS engaging (I can hear the click) and the HVAC seems to work alright. One strange thing is that since yesterday I hear a strange metal like sliding sound when I engage the A/C. So when the A/C clutch connects to the compressor that sound is hearable. Still the compressor is working I guess because cold air comes out of the vents. It sounds like its slowly dying? Or could it maybe be the belt? Since the A/C puts some extra stress on it when engaged.
So the problem is actually:
1. The A/C starts blowing outside temp air after a random amount of time (for about 5 minutes). The outside temp and car operating temp seem te be related to that problem.
2. Since yesterday a sliding like sound comes up as soon as the A/C clutch connects to the compressor. I'm not sure if this is because the extra stress on the belt, or that the compressor is going bad. Maybe thats also the reason problem 1 exists?
I was able to check the pressure on the low port, which is good. Since I'm low on tools at the moment I would like to do some brainstorming here first). I'm thinking that the compressor is going bad slowly. That might be the cause of problem 1 as well. The fix could be to drain the system, replace the compressor (can do that myself) and find a place to let the system recharged.
The car is a ZX3 2004 with almost 100k miles on it.
The problem might be related to the outside temp. and the temp. of the car. When I drive it between 12pm and 5pm for a while it randomly starts to blow warmer air (since its around 90-95 degrees here outside air equals warm air). This takes maybe 5 minutes before cold air start to get back in the car.
The compressor IS engaging (I can hear the click) and the HVAC seems to work alright. One strange thing is that since yesterday I hear a strange metal like sliding sound when I engage the A/C. So when the A/C clutch connects to the compressor that sound is hearable. Still the compressor is working I guess because cold air comes out of the vents. It sounds like its slowly dying? Or could it maybe be the belt? Since the A/C puts some extra stress on it when engaged.
So the problem is actually:
1. The A/C starts blowing outside temp air after a random amount of time (for about 5 minutes). The outside temp and car operating temp seem te be related to that problem.
2. Since yesterday a sliding like sound comes up as soon as the A/C clutch connects to the compressor. I'm not sure if this is because the extra stress on the belt, or that the compressor is going bad. Maybe thats also the reason problem 1 exists?
I was able to check the pressure on the low port, which is good. Since I'm low on tools at the moment I would like to do some brainstorming here first). I'm thinking that the compressor is going bad slowly. That might be the cause of problem 1 as well. The fix could be to drain the system, replace the compressor (can do that myself) and find a place to let the system recharged.
The car is a ZX3 2004 with almost 100k miles on it.
