2003 L200 A/C Problems
 

The A/C is only working when hard left hand turns are made. Sometimes it stays on after the turn, but most of the time it just shuts right back off.

I took it to Midas, and they were saying like 800 bucks or something like that to get it fixed.

They were saying the resistor, cabin air filter, relay, and blower motor.

I want to start with the relay first. Where is the relay located, and how do I gain access to this relay to replace it.

Any ideas are much appreciated, thanks!

Wow! Sounds like a lot of thing went wrong all at the same time. The cabin air intake filter is underneath the cowl at the rear of the engine compartment, next to the windshield

You own a SATURN and you took it to MIDAS ................. thats smart.

ummmm

is it that it doesn't blow cold or is it that the entire AC system (indicator lights and all) shuts off when not turning left?

I don' t see how an electrical relay would be directionally sensitive to the car's motion unless it was a poor electrical connection.

Resistor pack could also have an electrical connection issue

I also don't see why a working blower motor (when turning left) would require replacing

What I think I see is MIDAS asking for 800 to find the bad electrical connection(s) in the AC system

Sounds like you almost got the MIDAS touch (I won't say where cause it's a "bad" touch")

I'm not going to say taking it to Midas was a bad move. Sometimes a chain outfit can do o.k., I will say, the First time I took a car to Midas was to have a set of 4 wheel disc brakes replaced. At the estimate of $1000.00 for having it done, I promptly drove to the dealer, bought a service manual for $80.00 and to CarQuest where I spent $45.00 on parts and spent the next 4 hours in my driveway taking care of things.
Along with that quite frankly was a trip to my Local Saturn dealer to have a previously estimated $350.00 repair taken care of that I could not get to my self. On arrival I was then handed a suggested $3500.00 list of repairs that should be done before I left the dealership.
I will not say I left the dealer ship in a snit, I needed the repairs I orginally went there for done, they were after a bit of a discussion.
A bit later I got the rest of the repairs done, including a really good $6000.00 paint job and $600.00 in upholstry repairs. For $1500.00 in cash and a bit of work myself.
At Midas, I am not sure all things turn to gold except maybe for the franchise.

When it turns on, it blows cold air just fine. When driving at high speeds with the recirculation off, i can feel cold air coming in. When it does stay on, the rate of air that comes in, seems to oscillate. The lights don't turn off or anything when it's not working. The AC light stays lit up as well. On the hard left turns, i mean really hard left turns, it blows cold and like a champ!

Turns usually turn it off or hitting a speed bump will turn it off.

If I make turns like grandma does in July, then it will stay on, most of the time.

Not there, can't see it, never worked on L series. Other than checking for a voodoo doll, if I was looking at it, I'd start by finding the compressor and the wiring harness going to it and then trace the wiring harness physically as far back as I could looking for some place it is either rubbing up against some piece of metal or another thus damaging the insulation or swinging some where in the breeze where it would be stretched by engine movement caused by making a turn or having the suspension move when hitting a bump. Suspension moves, half shafts move, transaxle moves, engine moves, engine mounts broken causes stuff to shift. Never broken my own per say except that piece of crap Lincoln Continental I once owned that broke every engine mount in it the dang thing had. And I bought it new.
Then report back and let a bunch of us try to out think it again.

I'm thinking that the fan speed control switch (and resistor pak) has gone intermittant. This would cause some of the problems (loss of airflow, blower motor) but not others.

I'm wondering - do you have a friend that has a full set of A/C gages? I'd love to see the readings .......

No solutions yet - still waiting for a response as to the pressure guage readings on the A/C ... got a suspicion, but unwilling to throw it out there without seeing the pressures

Okay, I know it's been a long time since I have been here to update this, but it's been a long time since I have worked on the car, and I have great news. All is well and it is pumping out cold air like none other.

I went to Checker and bought a Chilton manual so I can fix things my self. I figured it was the resistor or blower motor. The AC system had a PSI reading of 35. I brought it up to forty with additional charge. This still didn't do the trick.

So I then removed the blower motor, hooked aligator clips to the batter and put them to the blower motor to test it, and the blower motor worked. I cleaned the connections on the blower motor and the car. I also cleaned up the blower motor cage since it was DARK GREY!! The plug on the car, I bent the clips down since they curl in on them selves just to ensure a connections, turned the blower on from the control panel before assembling and it worked.

I put a new air filter in the car for the A/C system, put it back together, test drove it and it worked beautifully. I put it through the normal maneuvers that would shut it off instantly and it stayed on and strong!!