Air-conditioner light blinking: "compressor problem" according to manual

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Himanshu - 24 Jun 2006 05:52 GMT

2000 Mitsubishi Galant ES V6 (3.0L)

As I was driving today the air-conditioning stopped working, and when I
glanced over to the fan-control knob/air-con switch, I noticed that the
green LED indicator was blinking instead of being solid. Having never
seen that before I didn't know what it meant, but the a/c wasn't
working. Tried all settings, temperatures, cycled it on/off, etc. but
could not get it to work.

Reached my destination and when I restarted the car after about 2 hours,
the a/c worked the first time. No more blinking lights.

Came home and read the manual and it says in 3.0L engine models, a
blinking light indicates compressor problems and I should take the car
in to the dealer! Sounds like bad news.

Since I won't get a chance to take the car in the next couple of days,
I'm wondering if anyone has had a similar experience and what the fix
was? Thanks.

--
Himanshu

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Stewart DIBBS - 24 Jun 2006 12:58 GMT

> Came home and read the manual and it says in 3.0L engine models, a
> blinking light indicates compressor problems

Could be several things.
a) Low refrigerant pressure. Get the system repressurized. All systems leak
a very small amount of gas, usually around the compressor shaft seals.

b) high refrigerant temperature. There's a temp sensor that releases the
compressor clutch if the refrigerant temperature gets too high. There's also
a high pressure switch that does the same. See c) below.

c) condensor fan or radiator fan not functioning. This allows the
refrigerant temperature to exceed design specs, and this shuts down the
system. Low rad coolant will have a similar effect.

Was it very hot when the problem occurred? If so, and since the system still
works, you can probably ignore it, unless it happens again.

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Stewart DIBBS
www.pixcl.com/lancerproject.htm
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