I didn't get to work on it any this weekend. The wife made me help paint the kitchen [:@]. I do think the hissing sound has more to do with the problem. I am hoping to go to my dad's house some weekendsoon because he knowssome about A/C repairs and together we may be able to at lease diagnose the problem.
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention in my last post that there was a pretty decent sized spot of water right beneaththe compressorwhen I pulled out of the parking space after I had driven it for about 15 minutes and it had been parked for about an hour. I know (or have been told)somecondensation is normal for the high humididty down here (I live in Mississippi), but I didn't think there should be that much.
There seems to be moisture coming out of the vents as well. The A/C almost makes your handfeel wet if you put it close to the vent. Ifthat makes any sense. I also remember last summer sometimes water would drip on the passenger side floorboard, but it hasn't done so recently.
I just wanted to throw the condensation issues in there since I forgot earlier.
I will let you guys know when I get it to my dad's and we try to diagnose it.
Thanks guys!

 

Condensation is normal. The evaporator gets cold & acts as a dehumidifier. The moisture that's sucked out from the air drains thru a tube onto the ground. Same with the vapor coming from the vents.

I live up north, but if it'sreally humid sometimes the vents will blow some 'fog' just like that.

Use a set of AC pressure gauges to check for a partly clogged expansion valve. High side is too high, and low side is too low. Unfortunately, I don't know what the proper pressures are supposed to be...

 

Thanks. I'll try to find out what the pressures are supposed to be. If my dad doesn't have pressure guages already, I might as well go ahead & try to buy some for myself. I've seen different posts where people say they are definitely worth buying.
I will keep you updated. Thanks again for the help.

 

Ok... I'm going to my dad's house this weekend to work on it. It has been hot this week and my wife drives the car (she won't learn how to drive a 5spd so I couldn't let her take mine) and she has been saying the A/C has not been working at all until the car has been running for a good 15 minutes. Then she gets about 5 minutes of A/C and by then she is home.
Does anybody know where I can buy an A/C Kit with pressure gauges? I checked autozone online and o'reilly online and couldn't find anything.

 

Ebay is your cheapest option. Just search A/C manifold. Should cost less than $50. O'Reillys sells them for $100+.

 

I picked up an A/C kit with pressure gaugeat Autozone for about $40 the other day.
I hooked it up todayand the freon pressure was low.
I added 1 can of freon.
Voila! A/C blows ice cold with no noises anymore. Drove around for about 20 minutes and it's still working.
I don't think any freon has been added in years, so it was probably just in need of a recharge.
Just wanted to let you guys know how it went.
Thanks for all your help!

 

So you are telling us the system was low on freon at least 12 oz ????,, well that system only Holds around 20-23 oz .. so if indeed it was that low there is no way, taking it from your opening statement , that the a/c could have worked fine and blowing cold ( not with only 8-10oz freon in it )
and only being low of freon will not make the a/c system cut in and out ( blow cold than hot )
But the main thing is that according to you it is fixed and working properly ... I hope that's all it was