Hey everyone, my name's Luke, I'm a long time lurker and first-time poster here on FitFreak and I was hoping y'all could confirm my diagnosis of my A/C problems.

So it all started at the beginning of this summer, last summer my A/C seemed to work well but this year it suddenly stopped working.

I followed this video ( ) on diagnosing A/C Problems and measured the temperature of the different lines in-between the different components of the A/C system.

At first, I thought it was the compressor or compressor clutch since apparently that's a common problem with these cars but I measured the high-pressure line coming out of the compressor and it read 170 F which is well within spec. But after measuring the line coming out of the condenser the lines were only around 0-5 F cooler than going into it.

After that, I did some research and took a look at my condenser through the bumper and this is what I saw...




Absolutely destroyed right? This has GOT to be the problem?

I'm new to car maintenance and don't really know what I'm talking about but some reassurance before I buy a replacement would be fantastic.

 

I'm not an AC expert, but from what I can see of your condenser the physical damage isn't the main problem - it looks completely clogged with dust and dirt, so no air is passing through it.

You could try cleaning the condenser before replacing it - hose or pressure washer. Careful with the pressure washer, it can bend fins too.

 

Get a fin straightener.

 

Someone can jump in who is more knowledgeable than me but that is what I would expect. Since the car wasn't moving then then there wouldn't be much air flow over the condenser to cool off the freon. If the engine fan was on then there would be some cooling but not as much as if the car was moving. What is the temperature on the low side. Im assuming you are using an infra red gun to get temps, one thing the video didn't mention is metal reflects ir. You may want to put some electrical type on the line so you can get a better reading. That said the low side should be cold so quickly touching it to verify that shouldn't be a problem. If the line is cold then your compressor is working. However if its hot or at least similar to the high side then your compressor may be bad. The next step though would be to put some gauges on it and see what the pressures are. I believe one of the videos I saw said you can borrow them from any of the auto stores that do the loan a tool.

Once you have the tool you should be able to get a better idea of what is wrong. This page should explain what the different reading mean. https://carhowto.com/what-do-my-car-ac-pressures-mean/

Hope that helps.