2001 Chevy Cavalier AC works, but doesn't work

JESPER

MEMBER
2001 CHEVROLET CAVALIER
4 CYL
2WD
AUTOMATIC
54,000 MILES

Okie so for years my AC has been broken, in the middle of winter my computer died and the dealership replaced it(not sure if thats the problem).

But the following summer and ever since my air hasn't worked. I have tinkered around a bit and found that the unit itself works fine, When I jumper the relay under the hood the AC kicks on and pumps out cold air. Though if I try to place the car in drive while I have a jumper in there the car kills. So I know my compressor is working fine, and the heat and every other climate control function is dandy too. Any advice as to what I can do would be great,

Thanks
-Jesper

3 Replies

RHALL77

MECHANIC
3,361 POSTS

Do you know what the AC pressures are

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Monday, June 2nd, 2008 AT 3:30 PM

JESPER

MEMBER
2 POSTS

Honestly I do not know at this point, however, I'm thinking this is more of a wiring / electronic issue than a mechanical one, but I don't have any schematics to look at to check on the wiring and before I go ripping things apart I'd like to be sure.

The biggest reason I am led to believe this is in park it doesn't turn on, unless I physcially override the relays up in front, but doing so causes the car to kill(for whatever reason) when its put in drive. Probably cause I'm not using something that conducts the current correctly and its messing w/ the computer. It was mostly to run tests and see if my AC was indeed still functional and it was. Blasting ice cold air for as long as I kept it on.

Last time I checked the levels I was topped off anyway.