bg5 a/c not working...?

[tnrknght]

Okay so when I got the 98 wagon from my brother last spring, he told me he kept the a/c belt. So this year I finally sprung to get a belt, and even a tensioner pulley since he stole that too. I installed them and tried turning on the a/c. Got nothin.

I had a coworker of mine check it out real quick, and it was noticed that there was no activity in the 4 relays for the a/c and fan under the hood, the a/c fuse is fine, and apparently the a/c button is supposed to light up and doesnt. Im wondering if it could be a faulty switch? There was quite a bit of coffee encrusted to the hvac controls when I got the car..

What else do you guys think it might be? Ill be checking for voltage/ground to the compressor and to the switch in the car either this evening or tomorrow. Just trying to get other ideas.

[Yokosilver]

Since you said there was coffee spills, I suggest pulling the HVAC out and cleaning it. Pull off the face plate and clean under there and around the buttons. Just make sure that you don't pull anything off that you don't think you can get back together. Q-tips and rubbing alcohol are good for cleaning electronics. I would check the wires for power - just because the fuse isn't blown, doesn't mean it is getting power. Do you know how long it has been down?

[tnrknght]

I know its been down at least a year, possibly two. My brother said the a/c worked when he pulled the belt, he was too cheap to buy a new belt for the outback he had purchased. Ill be doing an in-depth cleaning tomorrow, and Im hoping to pull a new hvac unit from the bone yard. Ill also be testing for power to the switch.

At first I thought it might need a recharge, I know the a/c clutch wont move unless theres enough pressure in the system. Then I realized, when pushing the button, there is no activity in the fans. I then thought relays. None of the 4 relays were clicking when pushing the button. Unless all the relays are bad..?

[Yokosilver]

It's hard to say whether buying a new HVAC unit or refurbing your current one is cheaper. IF you don't have one already. I say get ahold of a digital one out of an H6 if you can.

[tnrknght]

O.O is that plug and play? Id consider a digital swap to be a worthy modification :)

[Yokosilver]

Yeah, the digital look much better, IMO. I am not sure how it plugs in. Your best bet would be sending YamazakiSubaru
a PM. He has one.

[96LegacyWagon]

How difficult/expensive would it be to install a digital one into a 96 legacy wagon? My air works most of the time, but the lights don't stay on and sometimes the button needs to be held for up to 30seconds to make it stay engaged.

[Wiscon_Mark]

The digital one is NOT plug 'n play. You need a whole new heater manifold to make it work because of the analog temp slide controller's cable operation.

I would go with Yokosilver's suggestion - clean out the contacts on the A/C switch and see if that makes a difference - if not, try to get ahold of a new HVAC control unit and test that. It seems unlikely that relays would fail - that's not a common problem.

[Huffer]

Speaking to the digital thing... the H6 Outback LL Bean model in 2004 had digital HVAC... you could attempt a retro of that unit. That would be pretty slick.