The AC was working fine, and cold, in my 2003 Bonneville. I didn't use it for a week or so and now it blows no cold air at all. How to I tell if the clutch on the pulley is engaged and the condensor is running?? The AC lines under the hood, near the fuse panel, are freezing cold on one side and warm on the other. It doesn't seem like its circulating. Anything I can check??

If a line is cold, then the clutch has to be engaging...but you can verify if the clutch is engaging, by having someone turn the AC on and off....you will see the clutch is not engaged when it doesn't move.....when engaged it spins with the pulley.....

Really need gauges on the hi and lo sides.....

Have you checked the operation of your temp doors, with the AC off?

Thanks for the info, how do you check the temp doors??

Masher,

One thing you may want to check too see is if the temperature blowing through the vents is different between the passenger and driver side. If the passenger side is blowing significantly colder than the driver side, there are two issues you may want to check into (low freon/ freon slow leak, actuator failure).

With the blower on a higher speed and the engine running, feel the tubes at the firewall. One should be cold and the other should be warmer but still cold after the freon has expanded and absorbed heat from the air.

If you're low on freon, the outcoming freon will be much warmer than normal. In these cars it'* the passenger side of the internal air flow that gets the freon first, so the passenger gets more cooling than the driver.

Because you say the freon near the expansion tube (in the connection at the accumulator tank and fuse box) is really cold, that probably means you are low on freon. It should be full enough that after passing the expansion valve it doesn't really expand completely until it'* into the evaporator core.