I'm familiar with the general concept of how the compressor works but I need someone to briefly explain it to me in detail and how it works if they could.

I have a 96 civic and the ac was blowing warm air so i tried to charge it but it wouldnt take come to find out the pressure was off the charts.

Took it over to a friends house and jumped it directly from the battery and the clutch finally kicked on. However, I took it to a repair shop and after hooking it up to the ac machine the clutch kicked on and off like a broken recorded and wouldn't stop. Also after turning the machine off and turning the ac on again the compressor began building tremendous pressure again. A leak of R-134a was noticed below the compressor after this was done.

So I'm assuming I need a new compressor? Which is the best way to go as going to a junkyard vs. brandnew and doing it myself if its not too complicated?

Thanks a lot for your help!

 

"Tremendous pressure" usually is because of overcharging, or the condenser fan doesn't work. If the compressor doesn't always engage when power is applied to the clutch wire, the clutch gap could be too wide. That can be adjusted by taking the clutch plate off and removing some shim washers from the shaft.

 

I'm sure the contents were vaccumed out of the system after it started building pressure by itself. What does the condenser fan do?
Also we checked the fuses and relays and everything was fine. AC worked perfect up until a few months ago when it started blowing warm air.