For about 6 months, my AC has been making a ticking/clicking sound. The AC also seems to go through a cyclical surge and fade pattern when set at the 3-4 settings (most of the time). Yesterday, when I started my car I got no AC whatsoever. Tried to turn it on a few different times during the trip and got nothing. This morning, when I started my car, I initially had no AC, then it came back on after about 1 minute and worked somewhat fine (little bit of surge and fade) all day. Any ideas?

Thanks in advance.

 

Your car is probably over heating. The stock temp gauge does not show real information.
Get a real temp gauge. OBD2 gauges work nice.

 

Rote8...............your comment about overheating is not implying that the cause of A/C issue is caused by engine overheating, but that overheating might be as a result of what you think might be the issue or cause of the A/C right?
Or am I just completely lost???????

 

I am a little confused, too, yet intrigued.

 

My car is 05 AT with 32k on the clock if that helps.

 

I'll offer 4 guesses:
1). Failing AC Amplifier - there is a TSB for this for the older Series I vehicles.
2). Intermittent connection on the circuit board for the AC controls on the dashboard - there is a nice DIY for fixing this on this site.
3). Loose connection in the wiring harness to the AC compressor or elsewhere in the AC system.
4) Failing AC compressor - mainly thinking this could be the magnetic clutch on the compressor.

If the clicking your hearing is coming from the front of the AC compressor, this might help further isolate the issue. Could indicate that either the AC compressor clutch is failing or there is an intermittent connection in the connectors/harness to the compressor that is fluctuating current to the clutch.

 

Could also indicate a low freon charge.

 

Im having a little bit of this also...

But my a/c compressor engages and disengages even when the a/c is turned off but the fan is on. is this normal?

 

^..........Hmmmmmm...........I wouldn't think so............guess I'll have to go see to tell you for sure?

 

It does that when using the defroster.

 

I had a similar problem, and it turned out that the climate temperature sensor was malfunctioning.

 

OP, let us know which of the above was your problem when you find out. I have a similar problem, I'm not sure if mine clicks though, I'll have to check. Do your rpms change with the surge when you're at idle? Mine does. Lately it's almost felt like the engine might choke since the rpms drop from 750 to 500 at idle when it surges.

I have an A/C charging tube with one bottle of freon and one bottle of the oil. Which should I use, or use first?

 

Haven't had a chance to take it in yet, but I will report what I find. May be a couple of weeks. Hopefully it is something cheap.

 

Just my two cents, but i had the same problem with my car about a year ago.
I took it to my dealer and was surprised to find out my 8 needed a new heart. Do you experience any power loss or the car acting kinda sluggish?