Lexus LS430 AC Problem

[cakehead93]

I recently had a AC man come out to regas my 2005 LS430 he found a hole in the rear of the pipes by the tyre wall, the common problem 🙄 so obviously couldn't have it gassed up till that was fixed or rear AC deleted. I would go back to him but he is completely unreliable

Being a handy man my self i took it upon myself to fix the pipes with new ones so i could still use rear AC and the fridge, I then went to get the AC gassed just to see if it holds the pressure which it does 🤙, but now still no cold air I only had it gassed up at Halfords as i wanted to see if it did hold pressure the same day and the guy who gassed it didn't charge me as it didn't make the AC work which was nice as I only wanted to see if it held pressure and ended up with free fluid, He only had a canister with a needle saying full or alert so no actual amount seen of how much went in.

The problem would now seem to me is the compressor clutch? It looks as though it never disengages which i've never seen on a car before no noise when AC is  turned on or off and the front of the compressor all spinning together, is it supposed to do this on the car or am i right in thinking it is jammed? If so where do i go from now, I've also read that not enough gas makes it not engage the clutch so i'm left her scratching my head thinking either the guy didn't add enough or the clutch is jammed or its a different problem entirely.

Please let me know if you have any ideas.

 

Thanks

 

[ColinBarber]

There is a pressure sensor, if the pressure is low the clutch won't be engaged. If the clutch is jammed, which I doubt, you should get cold air as the system will be running. 

[cakehead93]

Thanks for the reply, 

The front of the pully on the compressor doesn't stop spinning so is it a internal clutch? or is it always supposed to spin on this car?

[The-Acre]

My understanding is that the clutch will disengage and re-engage constantly with climate control, but if the system isn't working correctly, or there's insufficient gas it will keep running.  Halfords I'm afraid would be my last choice when it comes to having my system even glanced at. I had an LS that went to them some years ago for a re-gas and they made a real pigs ear of it. I would take it to a specialist for their opinion. Colin has given good advice above so I would be looking at something other than the compressor at this stage.

[cakehead93]

Quote

My understanding is that the clutch will disengage and re-engage constantly with climate control, but if the system isn't working correctly, or there's insufficient gas it will keep running.

 

Thats is exactly what i wanted to here, Thank you for the reply and sharing your knowledge. Halfords was the only place i could think to goto when i finished work to see if the pressure was held never intended on keeping the gas they put in, in the car just a check for pressure being held i will now get it regased properly and go from there.

 

[steve2006]

The compressor pulley runs all the time the engine is running, drive to the compressor is by a “Magnetic Clutch” which is a coil that when supplied with 12 volts engages the compressor drive and the compressor begins to run.

When you do have the system rechecked they should first empty the system, then purge it with nitrogen dye to check for leaks using ultra violet light then if all good add the correct amount of gas and Pag oil.

[Haylands]

The later 430, post 2005 doesn’t have a clutch on the front of the compressor, it doesn’t work like 99% of other ones... All the magic works internally... so no way to tell if it’s engaged or not.. find someone with Techstream and they can read live values for all sorts... 

If you google LS430 aircon test you can do a diagnostic yourself IIRC it’s press recirc and auto button as you turn on ignition... top center console display then gives fault codes... google is your friend..!!