A/C suddenly quit

[ktb973]

Hi all!! Hope you can help me. I've never worked on an ac system before so I can use any insight.

The A/C was working fine the other day and we stopped to get gas and when we got back in it wasn't working. Upon further inspection I realized that the compressor wasn't kicking on. My first thought was the fuses and relays and I checked all of those they were fine.

I've done some research and realized that the compressor will not engage if the coolant pressure gets too high or too low. I thought it must be too low so I decided to try to add some but when I put the recharger on the low side the gauge is maxed out over 100 psi!! The car was running with the ac on max and doors open with fan on high.

My guess is that without the compressor running I'm looking at static pressure in the system and in order to see the real pressure I have to get the compressor running. Is there a way to fool the compressor into running so I can see what kind of coolant pressure I have? Or is my assumption all wrong on why the pressure is so high?

Normally I'm not opposed to tinkering quit a bit before giving up but I know that I could really damage my ac system if I make a mistake.

Thanks for any help