How do you check if your AC Compressor is working?

How to tell if an AC compressor is working. Welcome to Mercie J Auto Care, where compassion and craftsmanship come together. I'm Rick Smith, master certified technician. So first of all, I’m going to cover two things on this. Question one is how do you know if it’s engaging and secondly, how do you know if it’s working? So in most cars, this is an AC compressor and you have a pulley that’s run by a belt. Now what happens is you have a magnetic clutch and when this clutch applies the center part of this compressor turns. So if the center part of this compressor is turning while your engine is running and your AC is on, you look down there with a flashlight. Then you know that you’re getting electricity to the compressor and it’s engaging. Now that’s a start, because we have a 2006 range rover right now that the compressor is engaging but it’s not working properly. The only way you can tell if it’s working properly as you look at the pressures. On this particular car the low side pressure is too high and the high side pressure is too low. Meaning the compressor can’t suck the refrigerant or pressurize it. So I hope that answers your question. Take a peek with a flashlight and that tells you if it’s engaging, other than that you have to have some equipment to know if it’s actually functioning. Thank you for all of your questions. Until next time, safe travels and blessings to you.