Cannot find the issue in my ac system.

[aidanmobrien5]

I have a 2014 chevy sonic the 1.4L, and I've had it for about a year. I bought the car off facebook marketplace but the thing was a lemon. Since then we have done our best to made the car drivable but the one thing that we haven't been able to fix is the ac. The first thing that we did we put an entire new compressor in and for a while the cold air worked. Soon after, something happened with the compressor and I had to have a copper wire in fuse slot R12 to force the compressor clutch to kick in. This worked at first but had a few issues; car didn't say cool while ideling, and after about an hour of the car running I had to stop and have the car cool down for the ac to continue working. I didn't get to fixing the ac last summer with those issues but during the winter my heat was fine for the most part. The heat worked well when driving highway speeds but lacked when ideling or going slower speeds (I have no idea if this is an indicator of any sorts for how the ac works so im just including the info) Currently, the ac still doesn't work but I've done a tone of diagnostics. Now the ac compressor clutch has no issues engaging and clicks when the car comes on and blows semi cold air. I also noticed that the rad fan engages to keep the car from overheating but does not run whatsoever for ac related reasons, even with ac on max. I tried to charge the car but I didn't get much charge in because I was trying to be cautious to not overcharge the car since it was properly charged from scratch last September. I have checked and confirmed that every fuse and relay that I circled in the picture is working. I jumped the rad fan from the battery and confirmed that its working, I also I also put a copper wire in the R10 relay which jumped the fan into max speed. I then put the ac on max with the wire engaged and with the fan running it didn't do much to cool the air down. I also probed the A B and C prongs on the male rad fan connector, they all read fine. I then checked if the red power wire coming out of the male plug had 12 v when the car was on which it did. I have no idea what else to check, the only ideas I have is possibly an ac pressure sensor but I think if that were the issue, my compressor wouldn't turn on and engage fully like it is currently. My last idea is the rad fan resistor being faulty. I have checked everything I can on the actual plugs on the resistor and also as I said tested the power wire coming out of the resistor with the car on. I was thinking possibly its faulty internally and even though its outputting power its not giving directions to the fan? I have no idea but I am in desperate need of any leads or help.

 

[RainingSonics]

There's only two things I would suspect. The refrigerant or related to it, and the compressor itself.

Could it be something electrical or something else in the system? I suppose. But you had it working for a short time with the compressor change out. Possibly something wasn't done right with that. If anything is done wrong, its expected to fail. Also, new parts can also fail or have their own weird problems.

You could replace the compressor again and see what happens but that's something you'd have to decide. I can't decide that for you.

 

[Quintana's_Fiero]

I have a 2014 chevy sonic the 1.4L, and I've had it for about a year. I bought the car off facebook marketplace but the thing was a lemon. Since then we have done our best to made the car drivable but the one thing that we haven't been able to fix is the ac. The first thing that we did we put an entire new compressor in and for a while the cold air worked. Soon after, something happened with the compressor and I had to have a copper wire in fuse slot R12 to force the compressor clutch to kick in. This worked at first but had a few issues; car didn't say cool while ideling, and after about an hour of the car running I had to stop and have the car cool down for the ac to continue working. I didn't get to fixing the ac last summer with those issues but during the winter my heat was fine for the most part. The heat worked well when driving highway speeds but lacked when ideling or going slower speeds (I have no idea if this is an indicator of any sorts for how the ac works so im just including the info) Currently, the ac still doesn't work but I've done a tone of diagnostics. Now the ac compressor clutch has no issues engaging and clicks when the car comes on and blows semi cold air. I also noticed that the rad fan engages to keep the car from overheating but does not run whatsoever for ac related reasons, even with ac on max. I tried to charge the car but I didn't get much charge in because I was trying to be cautious to not overcharge the car since it was properly charged from scratch last September. I have checked and confirmed that every fuse and relay that I circled in the picture is working. I jumped the rad fan from the battery and confirmed that its working, I also I also put a copper wire in the R10 relay which jumped the fan into max speed. I then put the ac on max with the wire engaged and with the fan running it didn't do much to cool the air down. I also probed the A B and C prongs on the male rad fan connector, they all read fine. I then checked if the red power wire coming out of the male plug had 12 v when the car was on which it did. I have no idea what else to check, the only ideas I have is possibly an ac pressure sensor but I think if that were the issue, my compressor wouldn't turn on and engage fully like it is currently. My last idea is the rad fan resistor being faulty. I have checked everything I can on the actual plugs on the resistor and also as I said tested the power wire coming out of the resistor with the car on. I was thinking possibly its faulty internally and even though its outputting power its not giving directions to the fan? I have no idea but I am in desperate need of any leads or help.

Have you checked your ambient air temperature sensor??? That was the main thing that kept my system from operating properly i had gone to lengths to vacuum and recharge the system myself. I had tested induviual relays and fuses.

Only to find out that my sensor was unplugged from a bumper swap and not allowing the compressor clutch to kick on.

If that ends up not working for you then my next best suggestion is to hard wire your compressor clutch to a good known power like your blower motor or something of the sort.

Let me know how it goes!!