Toyota Repair: 92 toyota camry Air conditioner, toyota camry, power stearing

Question
Hello Ted:

Reading over some of your responses have been
very helpful. This is concerning a 92 Camry
XLE 6 cyl where the AC just stopped working. I
get a flashing Green LED light on AC switch
about 5 seconds after I turn it on. It sounds
like the compresser wants to start but the
system shuts down.

Recent Prior repair history: I am not sure if
these have any relation to above problem.

* Noticed a whining sound whenever turning....
Suprised to learn that The power stearing
fluid resovoir for  was completely empty.No
leaks, I added fluid and the noise stopped. My
guess the fluid probably drained out during
one of the repairs below.
* Had a water pump replaced.
* !/2 in.Thin rubber tube connected at bottom
of radiator was replaced ( It was either power
stearing pump line or transmission line )

Test performed:

Had a preasure test done by repair shop with
the car running... not sure if the compresser
kicked in or not but the high preasure guage
line was connected to the car in the right
rear of the engine compartment below the wiper
moter.  The technician  stated that there is
plenty of freon in system because the High
side was reading at 120 psi.

Questions:

* Can you please help me narrow this down

* Are there other quick tests that I myself or
a simple tech can perform to eliminate failure
of the major components like the compresser or
the clutch.
***Would connecting compresser directly to
battery verify to see if compresser/ clutch is
good or bad.
*** How would I know if it is good or bad.
***  Where would I connect it and does it
matter - or +.
* If you could please Step me through a process of elemination based on common failures (i.e relays, fuses,compresser)

I would greatly appriciate your response.

thank you

Vinnie Khosla

Answer
You can power up the compressor by providing 12 volts directly to the electrical connector from the positive terminal of the battery and see what happens, the problem is that there is something wrong with the system, the compressor may be seizing up because of an internal failure,  forcing the compressor to operate may cause a total failure and it may seize up but you will have found the problem.
I'm going to make a recommendation, this system uses the
R-12 refrigerant(freon)it is very expensive, about $55 a pound, your system will take about two pounds if needed after the problem is solved.
My advice is this:
Take the car to someone that specializes in a/c repair and that knows what they are doing, the best place is the toyota dealer, after they find out what the problem is, tell them that you want the a/c system changed over to
R-134 freon, it's only about $5 a pound, the kit to change it over is available at most auto parts stores and very inexpensive,this repair is probably not going to be cheap if the compressor is failing, the only way to check it is to hook up pressure gauges and see what both the low and high side readings are, that's the first step of any a/c diagnostic attempt.