it's labeled as item five in the diagram directly below"general description" http://www.thirdgen.org/techboard/co...n-diagrams.htm ^^ Thanks member Reid Fleming this post is very helpful! I think mine is bad, but if I take it off, will this "open" my AC system and leak all of my refrigerant out? with the switch plugged in my ac compresser will not kick on, if I jump the terminals on the plug, it will, so either the switch is bad, or it's not getting a correct reading.

Are you sure you're not low on refrigerant? The switch, when functioning correctly, is designed to not allow the compressor to run if there's not enough refrigerant in the system. The compressor will burn up if it continues to run when the system is low, so that's why the switch won't allow it to engage without enough refrigerant/oil in the system. That's why you use a paperclip to jump the terminals on the electrical connector when adding more refrigerant, as this allows the compressor to engage and take in the refrigerant you're adding. However, if you're sure your system isn't low, you can safely remove the cycling switch and replace it without losing much because there's a schrader valve behind where the switch screws on to the accumulator. I just put a new accumulator on mine yesterday, and when I removed the cycling switch from the original accumulator, I noticed the schrader valve behind the switch.

well, I found out about an hour after I posted this thread, that I had no refigerant to lose! Now I plan to just rebuild/repair the systen and recharge with R-134a. anything I should know before I begin?

Vacuum the system after it's put together. Use POE instead of PAG oil. And flush your compressor by hand while dribbling oil into it before the compressor goes back in (if you're using your original compressor)

Both PAG and POE oil are way more sensitive to moisture than R-12's Mineral oil. The difference is that POE is about 100x more moisture absorbing while PAG is about 10,000x more absorbing.

Keep the POE oil container sealed as much as possible. Although even new sealed PAG/POE containers will have a certain amount of moisture already inside. Not much you can do about that.

Living in Florida, I don't think you'll be too happy with an R-134a conversion. It just doesn't cool enough to really soak the humidity out of the air. New cars can deal with R134a easily enough. But they have oversized condensors and faster fan speeds. We don't.

I'd say fix the leaks and go R-12 again.

I don't know of anywhere to get R-12 around here, any ideas?

Ebay. Get your EPA 609 license (open book test, $20, valid for life. It's a good read anyways.)