AC compressor internal Failure?

[Bigfwop]

Hello all,

I've recently have been noticing a slight delay in how quickly my AC gets cold. When it does kick on it is ICE COLD.

Recently took a 2+ hour trip and the AC was perfect, However it did take extra long to get cold (5 min). I attributed they delay to the insane heat In SWFL.

Anyway on the way back from this 2+ hour trip the ac did not get cold even once. I could however feel the compressor kick on when hitting the snowflake. I stopped to grab a quick fill up can of R134a with a gauge and noticed the low pressure side would not drop at all. I saw that the clutch assembly on the power steering pump did look intact and fuses 6/76/88 were all good. As you can imagine.2+ hours driving was absolute hell

When I got home. I tried to desperately to get it to work by purging the low Pressure side a tad. Hooked my gauge up again and eventually it did drop between 40 and 50 however it kept moving back and forth perpetually until eventually it maxed out again. There is nothing obstructing the condenser and my fan does come on with the ac so I'm not really sure if the lines are clogged some how My guess is internally mechanical failure but I'm wondering if I'm missing something

Other notes:
I have never filled up the AC.
After purging and hooking back up I saw that It was a tad low and filled up to try and stabilize the fluctuation as soon as I got the chance
Will be taking actual readings of low and High sides tonight to get a better understanding
Its dummy hot outside

Thanks for any input

 

[Bigfwop]

Update:1
Connected some gauges and started up AC
Pressures read
Low: 35 PSI High:205
Outside temp 83 degrees
Ran cool for a solid 15-20 min
Threw in some R134a and The compressor turned off. Seems like the compressor is overheating
or Expansion valve is getting stuck or some sort of obstruction in the lines

Update:2
Turned AC back on and levels normalized again
Filled up to 40-45 ish PSI with 225-250 Hi pressure given Ambient air temp of 85 degress
Has been running cold since
Either my 143a Fill was extremely low from a possible leak or it has been struggling/overheating for a year+
Will update in weeks time

 

[SJ_1989]

Probably just low on refrigerant. You want between 40 and 50 psi I think. Sounds like you have a pin hole leak somewhere. My truck recently did the same thing. Compressor would cycle on and off constantly. Topped off with refrigerant and all has been well for a year even though I feel it not getting as cold anymore.

 

[Bigfwop]

Probably just low on refrigerant. You want between 40 and 50 psi I think. Sounds like you have a pin hole leak somewhere. My truck recently did the same thing. Compressor would cycle on and off constantly. Topped off with refrigerant and all has been well for a year even though I feel it not getting as cold anymore.

Yeah I'm thinking so too. I didn't have the typical symptoms however. It has been Ice cold forever and the compressor wouldn't cycle on and off it just didn't turn on at all. It worked this morning so I got that going for me. We'll see how it holds up