geo

The A/C compressor on my 99 Forester is fine, but the thermal protector that is designed to keep the compressor from overheating (consists of a plug-like temperature probe that plugs into the compressor and a connector that is mounted on the top of the compressor) is faulty. It will not allow the compressor to turn on, so I am currently bridging the contacts to bypass it. This arrangement allows the A/C to function properly. I'd rather rest assured that I'm not going to fry my compressor, but unfortunately the part is apparently only sold with the compressor assembly. Does anyone have experience with a similar problem? Any thoughts on how likely it is that bypassing the thermal protector will damage the compressor? Thanks, geo P.S. I also posted a part request in the marketplace forum...

Josh, I was about to take it in when I tried one last thing that was within my technological limits: turns out it was a bad relay. It looked OK when I initially pulled it and popped the cap off, but turns out it wasn't working at all. After swapping it with the horn relay, A/C worked fine, but no horn! The mode of failure makes more sense now: relays either work or they don't, but they can go bad gradually. I hate to pay $40 for something the size of a piece of bubble gum, but it's about the cheapest solution there could have been.

I have a 99 Forester L 5spd. The A/C seems to have stopped working, but it happened gradually, over the course of about 3 weeks. At first, it refused to work maybe 1 out of every 5 times the car was driven; the other 4 times it worked fine. The frequency of non-operation steadily increased until now, when it doesn't work at all. It really seemed to be a binary distinction: either it worked, or it didn't, but the air it output didn't seem to be less cool when it was working. As you would expect, this happened about 200mi past the extended warranty expiration. Other relevant info: In the 2 months before this happened, I drove the car on two 4+ hour highway trips when the A/C was on almost the entire time, so it got a couple of big workouts. The A/C fuse is OK. When I push the A/C button, the idle increases and the second fan kicks in, but I don't hear the characteristic "whoosh," which I'm guessing is associated with the compressor clutch engaging. Any troubleshooting advice would be appreciated. I really know zilch about A/C, not even how to check the refrigerant level.