Air con is weak, drops idle ~300rpm, makes ticking noise

[MoonSha]

I'm sure only a little while ago my air-con seemed good and strong, then the heat hit and now it seems to do nothing.

I've always had this idle thingy though, when I hit the air-con while the car is idling it drops about 300 rpm to 700 and the car shakes a bit, sometimes it makes a very loud ticking noise, metal on metal type noise. I think it might be something hitting the fan that starts to spin when I turn on the aircon (white one on drivers side). In my friends' cars when they put the aircon on their idle drops for a sec then re-adjusts back up, do the ED's not do this or am I missing a sensor/fried fuse somewhere?

[bubblecivic]

your compressor mate...

since its reaching the end of its life... your air con may seem to not work now cause its probaly only working like 50%. sourcing one from a wrecker should do the job. once that's done, just get a mechanic to adjust your timing to suit the air con etc and your idle should be right.

[Eclipsor]

There is an aircon boost solonoid attached to the carburretor I think. Maybe it's dead. I have the same problem with the revs. Also mine makes a noise like there is a dieing imp in the system when the aircon fan turns on or off.

[MoonSha]

Do I need to feed the imp? How can I tell if this solenoid is dead.

[Limbo]

Ticking is usually due to compressor dying. Prob has a few months or yr left.
Could also be running low on gas. But if your gonna replace the compressor you need will loose all the gas. But i think the air con solenoid may be gone also. Get a mechanic to look at it.