Discovered my ac not working, always a pleasant one you know? Took a peek at the compressor when I opened the hood, and saw everything spinning, so assumed ac clutch was engaged. Put on my manifold set and as far as I could tell the pressures had equalized about 150 psi. (lower gauge was pegged it doesn't go that high) So now I'm thinking ac compressor is shot, it won't compress, and of course might as well change the condensor as well right, the rav is a 2011 with original ac equipment. In fact, I've never even topped off the refrigerant since I bought it in 2013.
Thank god for this forum. As always, decided to do some research on what changing these things are like before I tackled this, and discovered a couple of things:
1) the ac compressor in my vehicle is most likely a "clutchless" compressor. I had no idea these were even a thing.
2) there is something called a flow sensor on it, with a required minimum voltage to allow the compressor to run. And, you can do things like trick it with a magnet temporarily (for me although some others do it permanently which I don't think is a good idea)
So, now armed with this info, I go back to the rav, and hook up my software (auto enginuity with toyota package), and measure the flow sensor voltage: 3.70 volts, whether vehicle running or off with key on. Well, that is certainly below the minimum which is 3.84 I think. But really that little amount is going to cause the ac not to work? So now I make sure AC is off, and start and idle the engine. And pay real close attention to things when I turn on the ac. No stutter in rpm, no sound like a load is being applied, the AC compressor is clearly not turning on. Well that is interesting. Turn everything off.
Walk inside to my kitchen, and pull a magnet off of the fridge, go back out to the car and just lay it on top of the flow sensor. It's a little tricky to reach in and do that but possible. Turn key on but not running and measured the flow sensor voltage and sure enough I was staring at 4.29 volts! I have to admit I was a little skeptical about this but there it was staring me in the face. Rip off a piece of duct tape, and tape that battery right to the compressor so I can run the engine with it bouncing around into the serpentine belt or cooling fan. Turn on and idle the engine, and turn on the ac. Rpm's slow down a bit and you can tell a load was applied to the engine, and sure enough cold air starts coming out of the vents!
So thanks guys, appreciate all the comments on these. Ordering a new sensor soon to be on the way.
Thank god for this forum. As always, decided to do some research on what changing these things are like before I tackled this, and discovered a couple of things:
1) the ac compressor in my vehicle is most likely a "clutchless" compressor. I had no idea these were even a thing.
2) there is something called a flow sensor on it, with a required minimum voltage to allow the compressor to run. And, you can do things like trick it with a magnet temporarily (for me although some others do it permanently which I don't think is a good idea)
So, now armed with this info, I go back to the rav, and hook up my software (auto enginuity with toyota package), and measure the flow sensor voltage: 3.70 volts, whether vehicle running or off with key on. Well, that is certainly below the minimum which is 3.84 I think. But really that little amount is going to cause the ac not to work? So now I make sure AC is off, and start and idle the engine. And pay real close attention to things when I turn on the ac. No stutter in rpm, no sound like a load is being applied, the AC compressor is clearly not turning on. Well that is interesting. Turn everything off.
Walk inside to my kitchen, and pull a magnet off of the fridge, go back out to the car and just lay it on top of the flow sensor. It's a little tricky to reach in and do that but possible. Turn key on but not running and measured the flow sensor voltage and sure enough I was staring at 4.29 volts! I have to admit I was a little skeptical about this but there it was staring me in the face. Rip off a piece of duct tape, and tape that battery right to the compressor so I can run the engine with it bouncing around into the serpentine belt or cooling fan. Turn on and idle the engine, and turn on the ac. Rpm's slow down a bit and you can tell a load was applied to the engine, and sure enough cold air starts coming out of the vents!
So thanks guys, appreciate all the comments on these. Ordering a new sensor soon to be on the way.
