So I've been having issues with my AC the last couple of years. I blew my head gasket a couple years ago when my car overheated (and had it replaced) so I'm wondering if the heat did anything to my AC system (just a guess).

Anyways here's what I've experienced before and after I recharged the system.

Originally what would happen, is when I would start the car and turn on the AC, the compressor seemed to turn on just fine as I would get cool air (pretty cold too) for about 5-10 minutes. Then all of a sudden the compressor would turn off and I would only get blower air with no cooling for the rest of the time I am driving (seemed to occur most in the morning when it was cool, the rest of the time if it was really hot the compressor would just stay off).

Last summer when it was really hot I was fed up with it, so I went and bought a recharge kit. I followed the instructions and the kit showed that I was low so I filled it up. After filling it up, now for the first 5-10 minutes it will do the same, compressor is on and cool air (even colder now). Now however, after the 5-10 minutes like before, instead of turning off, the compressor will rapidly cycle on and off about every 0.5-2 seconds (with a loud click) continuously. Then if I try to turn it back on later, it might do the same thing, or begin making a noise that sounds like a loud hiss.

Not really sure what is going on here, looking for tips to troubleshoot this issue as I would really like some AC in my car this summer.

 

This is a common problem. Clutch gap is too wide due to clutch wear. Once the coil gets hot it doesn't have enough magnetic force to pull the clutch plate in.

Remove the clutch plate and take some / all of the shim washers out and reassemble. This is done by taking the center shaft nut off the compressor, slide the clutch plate off the shaft. You will need to keep the shaft from turning while unscrewing the nut. There is a special tool for that, but bridging a screwdriver across two of the big rivets for the clutch springs will usually suffice.

The gap should end up small, about 0.010 inch. Any gap that doesn't drag when the clutch is off is OK. The clutch can be taken apart with the compressor still on the car and the system charged.

You may be overcharged now due to using the recharge kit that you didn't need. Best way to get a proper charge is to have a shop pull it all out and then recharge it by weight. Total capacity is only about 18 oz, so one 12 oz can has the potential to lead to a substantial overcharge.

 

Is it possible to do this without removing the compressor and belt?

Just to be clear I took a video to show you exactly what it's doing. You can see the clutch plate spin and then stop and repeat. Is the hissing noise I hear perhaps the clutch plate being pulled in slightly and the clutch slipping but not enough to engage completely?