# AC is cool, but engine dies when idle or reverse



## drock (Apr 18, 2004)

My AC works just fine when I am driving, but when the car comes to a stop it shakes and sometimes the engine even stops when I tried to take a reverese from a stop or something..

What could go wrong ? The IAC valve clean up or something ? Or is the alternator ? Or is the battery (I have a poor battery with worn out terminals and often it dies) -or does the AC needs recharging (its cool though.. and works fine when car's running).

I thought this would be a common problem but I couldn't find anything using search - probably I am using wrong search strings.

The car runs fine otherwise, even the idle without AC is smooth.. Can anyone help ? Thanks !


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## Nostrodomas (Jun 15, 2002)

1st clean the IAC valve. Its cheap and easy to do, and should be done once a year. 2nd fix your terminals, and battery problems.


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## drock (Apr 18, 2004)

Nostrodomas said:


> 1st clean the IAC valve. Its cheap and easy to do, and should be done once a year. 2nd fix your terminals, and battery problems.


Cleaned the IAC valve (it was kinda clean anyway) - changed battery terminals.. still the same problem. The AC works fine for 30 mins, but after that the car vibration increases to a limit where it sometimes even stalls..even while running (at a low speed)... the engine just simply died when I was about to park the car and was driving at 10mph..

What can be the problem ? Fuel filter ? Fuel pump ? Or anything with the AC ? It's obvious that the engine is not able to power up the compressor, but how do I get this extra power ??

Thanks for any reponse !


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## no1see2me (Oct 1, 2004)

Might be something as easy as a tune up. no need to charge the AC. I have found in a few cases, not all, when you put a load of a engine such as running the AC and it is rough at the low end that there is a problem with the disturber cap and rotor where it had a very fine crack and a carbon arc. replacing them resolve the problem. Very hard to see unless you have a trained eye for seeing this stuff. A black light will show this if it does exist, another is plugs and of course wires last.


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## Nostrodomas (Jun 15, 2002)

Check out this thread it might help you out.


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## drock (Apr 18, 2004)

Thought I should update the post with the solution of my problem.

Cleaning the IAC valve fixed the problem. I actually didn't clean IAC valve earlier, cleaned something else for not recognizing the part properly.

Today I did a complete tune-up with spark plug, wires, cap and rotor and changed the fuel filter but the car still kept on dying on AC. And then I cleaned the IAC valve (the right one) with carb cleaner and now everything's fine.

Only problem is, the air comes from the vents only when the dial is at 4. For 1, 2, 3 - there's no air coming. This thing used to work earlier. But now, for heat, AC, normal .. for all modes, the vents ain't blowing any air at 1,2,3. Anyone know why .. how ? I'll anyway look into this tomorrow in detail, but if you guys know of something common let me know pls. 

Thanks!
Sam.


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