Aircon not engaging.... and weird fuses

OK guys i need some ideas.... my AC wasn't working, light came on but the compressor clutch wasn't engaging, no biggy i thought so ordered a new one, spent two hours following my own how-to :D and try it out feeling all smug and the bastard still doesn't engage?! All the fuses appear fine, the AC light comes on but the clutch won't engage... any ideas?

Secondly... are there different versions of the fuse box? Mine is numbered the same as the owners manual but i have fuses in places there should be nothing according to the manual and no fuse where there should be things... but everything in the car works (well except the AC). Should i grab some fuses to put in the spots where there 'should' be things even if those things work?

My understanding is if there’s no gas in the system the compressor won’t engage, also if the tx valve has failed and it’s over pressure the clutch won’t engage. If the light comes on i think that means it has power but you never know with these, maybe throw a multimeter on it to see if it’s getting power?


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So auto elec isn't my specialty... i can build/rebuild anything on a car but electrics lose me lol I tested resistance over the new coil and it's the same as the old coil so that confirms i didn't need to replace it! Testing the plug to the coil i can't seem to get any voltage but if i remove the AC relay and manually short it out the coil will click on and off so everything after the relay is working, and the fuses are fine so i guess dodgy relay?

Shiiiiiit... so thought i'd test the relay i took out just to check.... tests perfect, clicks, resistance is fine. FML. Guess it's a trip to the aircon shop or a auto sparky.

Yep, aircon is a proper head funk! I think youve ruled out what you can so yep specialist time unfortunately. Good luck!


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Took it to aircon place today... they did a re-oil and re-gas, said it didn't take much gas and they couldn't find any leaks with the dye (but still slugged me the full $165!) so they weren't sure why it might have triggered the low pressure switch but it all works now?! So i guess it was worth it? LOL They did say it was the cleanest Barina they'd ever worked on though so that was nice haha

At least it works now, and you got a compliment! Winner winner!


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****... back to not working. Should be fun with 35 and 38 today and tomorrow.

Pressure switch not working?


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They don't know, said take it to an auto elec. Mucking around with it today, put a new relay in it, no difference. If i short out the power for the clutch it does engage but doesn't seem to engage strongly so maybe a bad earth somewhere? Where do you draw the line dropping it off at a sparky to take guesses at while charging you $100/hr on a $1000 car?

Can you bypass the pressure switch? Not sure if they’re normally open or normally closed but at least you can rule it out.


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Not sure... i'm already beyond the limit of my electrical knowledge lol

Locate your pressure switch, will be a hobb switch, should have two wires going to it, unplug it and try your aircon, if that doesn’t work then bridge the wires in the plug (i use a piece of wire just like doing the paperclip test) and try it again. Hopefully you can then rule out pressure switch, or you can get it working.


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Hopefully sorted now... took it to the nice local auto elec and said just to spend 1hr looking at it and if he couldn't solve it i'd deal with it, told them everything i'd already done. Come back an hour later... everything fine electrically, no gas in it, suggest you take it back to whoever re-gassed it last week. Nice guys wouldn't take any money for it. Went back to the aircon place, gets out his fluro light 'oh there's a big leak where the pipes go into the compressor, i would have seen that last time'. Uh huh, perhaps if you'd looked you might. So he's changed the two washers in those pipes and re-gassed if and only charged me for the washers ($40) and said after that they didn't look too bad, maybe it was the strain of moving the compressor when i changed the clutch coil that caused them to leak. Yeah... except it wasn't working before that which is why i changed the clutch coil! Guess we'll see over the coming days/weeks if it still keeps working! The missus certainly didn't enjoy sitting in it for 90mins last week in peak hour traffic and 38C!

Oh FFS.... was working last night, now not working except this time the clutch IS engaging with the compressor but it's only blowing hot air?!