96 tahoe...AC stops blowing cold after few minutes

[kblaine123]

Hello....new to the forum, I looked around a bit and did not specifically find my problem.

On cold start, the AC works fine for perhaps 10 minutes or so. After 10 minutes, the AC clutch disengages and obviously the AC blows warm thereafter.....or until the truck has cooled down and the above cycle starts over.

Today, I drove the truck until the AC stopped blowing, came home and left the truck running......I took a small hammer out and tapped on the clutch to see if perhaps it was just sticking. It would not re-engage after several taps.

Any ideas on what the issue is and perhaps a remedy ?

Thanks for any input.

 

[kblaine123]

I think I may have the answer to my issue......I believe the clutch 'air gap' has gotten a bit wide and the magnet is not able to hold its grip when things get heated up. Its my understanding that for this year model the plate is a press fit and I suspect all I need to do is to borrow the tool to lessen the gap.

 

[lesterl]

When it gets hot and malfunctions, what are your pressures doing? I had a clutch cycling switch die on me like that....

 

[kblaine123]

All the pressures seem to be fine.......I've not read anything on or about a clutch cycling switch. But that will be something I can research if the 'air gap' idea does not work for me.

 

[lesterl]

Mine had very similar symptoms, IIRC the switch on the Accumulator was the one that went bad, it was like $9......... nice and cold after that.... just screwed it off by hand and new one back on, schrader port behind switch so only a small puff of freon was lost.