A/c Problems On '90 Ls 400

lexusari · July 3, 2003

Hello everyone, I just wanted to ask about my a/c. I just spent $900 dollars to fix my a/c. The repairman first said I had a leak in my evap. and he need to replace it and the dryer and some "O" rings and then refill my system. Well when I got it back, it blew cooler but not cold like it use to. He then said it was probably my expansion valve because the pressure was 220-230 on the high side which was okay but only 15 on the low side. Well I chuncked $300 more to have the expansion valve changed. Well guess what, still no luck and the low pressure side is now at 10. When the car is at stop light it blows a little colder, but as soon as I accelerate, the air is just cool. He said he found "black sludge coming out of the system, whatever that means( I thought that the lines should be evac. when you put in a evaporator and dryer). He said he cleaned out the system and cleaned the condenser, but I don't know. Is there an orifice tube on the low side line from the evaporator to the condenser that would cause a blockage or low suck. from the compressor? After all these different trip back to his shop he finally said the compressor was bad, go figure. Anybody have any suggestions before I get taken for another $800 for a compressor?

VBdenny · July 3, 2003

The compressor on my 90 400 started making a racket last winter. It was still cooling great at the time. It was winter and I was in upstate NY so I whipped it over to the Lexus dealer in Syracuse and they said the A/C compressor was locking up. I just unplugged the wire to the compressor and everything was fine until it got warm. I found a compressor at Advance Auto Parts for around $600. I'm going to change it myself. I get kinda sick of everytime you take a Lexus in to get fixed that everything is a thousand and then it needs more. The Lexus is a great car but the extremely high repair costs must surely drive people away. I think I'm going to hook that wire back up and see what happens. As for your car, I'd probably try having another shop look at it as your repair guys seems to be trying the throw money at it approach. Good luck. Denny

jzz30 · July 4, 2003

hey try and change the compressor clutch its like 200bucks and it quieted eveything down on mine if it works i hope you can return that compressor!

VBdenny · July 8, 2003

I just might try that. The compressor never actually locked up completely, but sometimes it seemed to grab at the serpentine belt and made a nasty howling noise. The reason I don't believe it locked up was because after examining the serpentine belt I didn't notice any damage which certainly would have occured in the event. I'm kinda at a loss. I had the Lexus dealer in Syracuse check it when it was making the noise and they declared the compressor to be at fault. I have the wire unhooked at the compressor and when I went to try reconnecting it, I can't find the wire. I guess it dropped down underneath becasue I can't find it now. Of course if I had a functioning brain, I probably would have taped it to something it's just that I never lost a wire like that before. I appreciate the suggestion to try a new clutch. Do you need any specialty tools to replace it? and can it be done on the car or does the compressor have to be removed? Denny

jzz30 · July 9, 2003

the only "speciallity" tool i guess would be snap ring pliers. i think you can do it on car just as long as you can get the snap ring off which is a little tricky when you cant see it. i did mine while i was redoing my whole system so the compressor was out. try to avoid disconecting the compressor from the gas lines because you need a recharge if you do and depressurisation might cause problems. the last time i did this was about 4 months ago on my previa van on the car. one thing to be carefull about is that there are shim washers that you need to reuse from the old clutch because the new one doesnt come with them. dont loose them, ithink they are under the first plate you take off. if you have any other Q`s just ask im happy to help :lol: