Thread: A/C issue

We lost the A/C in both of our cars this week. Her car is a 2003 Grand Am and it was low on freon. I noticed the clutch would engage for a couple seconds when the car was started, so I took a chance and charged it and now it works well. I think my GP is a bigger problem though. The A/C was on and we stopped at Autozone to pick up some oil and coolant for a car I was fixing. I left the A/C on the max setting and when we got back in the car 10 minutes later, the A/C didn't work anymore. The clutch does not engage for a couple seconds when started like her car did. There is good pressure in the system. My guess is that the clutch has gone bad or there is some type of relay that went out. I checked all the fuses related to the A/C and they are all good. I don't know much about A/C systems and could use some help on this one. Anybody have any suggestions on how to troubleshoot this one? Thanks.

The only other thing that could cause the compressor to not engage would be the low pressure switch...

I took the plug off the clutch and checked it. I was getting about 14 volts with the A/C running. I spun the clutch by hand to make sure it wasn't frozen up and now it works again. ??? I guess there is a dead spot in the mechanism that engages the clutch.