Okay, I'll make it quick. 1997 F150, 4x4, 4.6l. What relay controls the A/C?

For those of you who want to read more:

Last year My A/c began to act up a bit. It had a few periods of not working. When it worked, it worked great. This began to happen more and more frequently to the point that it no longer works at all. The A/C clutch doesn't engage and the compressor doesn't compress. I think there is a good chance that there may be a relay causing this and want to look there first. The problem is that I cannot find a relay listed in the owners manual that has anything to do with the A/C.

 

I know somebody here can help me. I've looked all through the owners manual and couldn't find anything, so I came here to ask the experts. You can't tell me that nobody here can answer this question.

 

There is no relay that controls the A/C clutch. Power to the clutch is directly controlled via the low pressure cycling switch.

Your refrigerant charge is probably okay. If it were low, you'd be getting a short-cycling clutch and/or diminished cooling performance, neither of which you mentioned.

You probably need to either de-shim or replace the clutch. You have described the classic symptoms of an excessive clutch gap.

Try whacking the clutch with a broomstick and see if it pulls in. If so, that's your positive indication the clutch is the problem.

For more info, use the Advanced SEARCH tool keywords "clutch shim" to find previous discussions.

Steve

 

ok, if you whack your compressor, and nothing happens, how do i remove a shim. i removed the bolt in the middle, and couldn't get the front plate off. any help is surely appreciated

 

If nothing happened when you wacked it, then you don't need to deshim the clutch.

Go back to troubleshooting.

Steve

 

ok, no luck with the whacking of the AC.. i noticed that when my AC stops working, my cruise and temp control stops working at that same time.. woke up this morning and cruise worked on way to work and low and behold the AC worked too.. apparently i have a relay problem perhaps?? anyone heard or experienced this problem?? i've looked through the manual and found a relay that controls the two. so i'll check into it.. but any advice would be great.. hope this helps someone else too...

 

I think that is controlled in a fusebox near your left leg. I think its a 15amp fuse....f5 maybe. Anyway I replaced my clutch sometime ago and Im now have i think the same issue you have. In my case I know i had to much gap so I'm fixing that tonight.