first off i know that air conditioning is really a personal prefference,but this is something that i have been thinking ALOT about over the winter.when my car is running and the a/c is NOT on it really sounds like maybe the bearings are going bad on the compressor(pretty noticeble wherring sound).when i turn on the air the noise really diminishes almost to nothing.with a fresh charge it never really blows cold,but it also stays at the temp that it was at now.i wish i put a thermometer on it to know but i never did,the air does work just not cold like you'd like.does this sound like just a compressor problem or more,because it NEVER blows hot even when HOT outside.it just stays cool.my other question is how much horse power would i gain if i just nixed the whole frigg'n thing. i was so happy with the increase in horsepower i got last year when i added headers,4bbl and elec.ign. will i notice anymore w/o a/c.guys thanx for the input as always!just up contimplating ways to sneek money into,or out of, the ole rag w/o the wife knowing.gettn' real ready to get the car out on the road and out of the garage by the by.i'm sure there might be a couple of other midwesterners ready also after the ups and downs we've had lately in temp!!
The whining is likely the bearings in the compressor clutch wearing out. Poor cooling can be one of several issues, low charge, clog somewhere in the lines, failing compressor to name a few. If you have a meat thermometer, you can put it in the dash vent and run the a/c to see how cold the air blowing really is. They make commercially available thermometers for just this, but they aren't really different from kitchen ones, unless you go with the digital ones. The only way to know for sure is to take it to a qualified a/c shop where they can diagnose the problem. A/c repairs are one of the most expensive repairs you can make so be prepaired. The refrigerant for older cars (R-12) is getting scarce and the cost keeps skyrocketing. Even R-134 has gone up as the tree huggers are trying to say it's bad now. Anything that uses engine power robs horsepower. I'm not sure of the exact stats, but removing the a/c system will show an improvement. Even replacing the engine driven cooling fan with an electric one would help a bit. Both will also help the engine to run a bit cooler as the strain is lessened.
