Chrysler Repair: 99 concorde a/c stopped working, ac drive, refrigerant

Question
My ac stopped working.  never had problems before.  when i turned ac on made a hissing noise and steam/smoke came out from the engine, both stopped when i turned ac off, tried again same thing, still blew cold air.  let car cool off for a couple hours turned ac on, no hissing, no steam/smoke, but blowing hot air.  dont know where to look under to hood or what to look for.  Please help

Answer
Hi Josh,
It sounds like you may have lost some or all of the refrigerant in the system. It depends upon whether the hissing and smoke was escaping refrigerant or the AC drive belt slipping on the pulley for the compressor because the compressor had seized up. In either case, the system has probably self-protected due to loss of refrigerant; it has a sensor that will shut down the compressor drive clutch when that happens. You could look for the AC drive belt and then see what happens when you try the AC with the engine running. It may just sit there and spin because the clutch won't engage, or you might find the belt is broken/missing. That is about all you can by inspection. The compressor is at the front of the engine, mounted to the side, and has a drive belt going around its front end.
I think this sort of issue requires the service of an AC shop to understand the state of the compressor and the charge level of the refrigerant. It is not the sort of problem that a non-experienced person can do with the likelihood of success or not doing damage. So look for a good independent AC shop and let them diagnose the problem.
Roland