1989 camry a/c light flashes

It sounds very much like the gas has reached a low level, then the head-pressure switch shuts the AC down, then re-starts because the AC button is still selected,..then shuts down,.so the cycling continues. Do you live in a cool climate? Head-pressure monitors sense under and over pressures.

Jason

Flashing A/C light (button) in a Toyota means there is a fault in the A/C system somewhere. Usually it is Low Refrigerant, but not limited to this. The button will flash under many conditions.

Same thing happened to my 2002 Camry 4 months after I bought it used with 95,000k on it

Apparently the double hose that goes on the A/C unit had a very minor leak above 100 PSI. when the contents of the A/C unit reached 100PSI , no more leaks but light flashed and unit wouldnt get cold.

Intitialy the leak was so small it couldnt be detected by a sniffer.

After the unit was refilled with new refrigerant , oil and dye, it went down again about two months later and they used ultra violet and the sniffer to find the leak,it still didnt show up on the sniffer but the leak was detected with the ultra violet light.

Also the relay that initiates the start of the system was defective.

There are no aftermarket hoses or parts sold here in ontario for that model year Camrys A/C unit so I had to go with Toyota parts .

Hose price $396.00 Canadian Relay price $96.00 Canadian Labour+taxes 14% +

Total with both visits to shop about$800.00 Canadian.

So far so good .This was in February.

I suspect this MAY be the problem with your A/C.

Another place would be the speed sensor on the magnetic clutch. If the speed at which the compressor turns varies too much from the engine rpm, then the light will also blink. It's one of the many faults that causes the AC light to blink as mentioned.

If this is the case, the magnetic clutch may be bad or the compressor is binding (from age, lack of lubrication, or high back pressure, etc). You can do a visual on this.

My 1988 did that when the belt was loose... Check it. It's the least expensive fix too. :)

Yeah, a loose belt won't turn the compressor at engine RPM. The RPM mismatch between the two will make the AC light blink.

I had the same problem on my 1991 Toyota. The engin had a small oil leak and it was causing the compressor belt to slip, which caused the light to come on.

I fixed the leak and resolved the problem.

Goood luck

Mel