Hello, is this the correct place for AC questions? My 2008 g37 coup was in a minor accident. A deer hit me right in the driver side headlight. It destroyed the headlight(completely missing), front bumper, hood, and fender. The air bag and seatbelt retractor were also fired. I made a quick assessment of the damage, determined that the radiator/evap core were not damaged so I continued on to work. On the way home, I realized that the AC was not working. I’m not new to cars and was once a mechanic. I have the tools to test/repair the AC, but I can’t find anything wrong. I have more than the minimum freon pressure for the system to come on. The only things wrong with the car is the crash data in the SRS ECU, the seatbelt is removed(sent off to be rebuilt), the airbag is popped, and the driver side headlight is removed. Here are my questions:
1) Is there anything on the software side of things in these cars that turns the ac off after an accident? The compressor is not being turned on. I’ve thought about hot wiring it just to see what happens.
2) does any part of the AC get power/ground from the headlight wiring? The only thing left of the headlight was part of the harness so I just unplugged it. I’ve checked fuses/relays/wiring ect..
Any help,would be greatly appreciated. I’ve diagnosed/repaired just about every normal AC issue there is, but I can’t find anything wrong with this system that should prevent the compressor clutch from being energized. Thank you

 

I know you said you checked "fuses/relays/wiring" but double check to make sure that all of the wiring in the damaged area is intact. The harness in that area also contains wiring for the:

1) compressor magnetic clutch;
2) refrigerant pressure sensor;
3) ambient temperature sensor. and
4) compressor ECV (Electronic control valve).

amongst other systems.

There is nothing to my knowledge- nor in the FSM- that indicates HVAC gets deactivated in the event of a collision.

 

Thank you, knowing the software isn’t keeping the system off lets me know I’m not wasting my time digging through to hardware

 

Please let us know how you make out...

 

will do. I’ve got some body work to deal with first. I’ve got to get the drivable (ac not included) before I have to be at work Saturday and I’ve screwed around way too much.

 

Hey, I finally got around to digging further into the problem. The harness that travels up the driver side fender was indeed hit (hard) much higher up the harness than I thought. I had to cut all the tape and pull the harness out of the conduit to to find it. There were three wires that were cut nearly all the way through. I cut out all the damaged wire and soldered in a two inch extension on each wire make the repair. Have not been able to confirm repair due to air filter box being broken but I’m confident that was the issue. Thanks again for your help