Hey Scott,

Looking at your e-mail, and having been wrestling with A/C problems for a few
years, here's my thoughts:

The low side should be cold, the high side should be hot.  That's how the A/C
cycle works, compress the hot freon and send it to the front condenser to be
cooled off.  The low side comes down through the cabinets to the compressor,
and should be cooler -- it just dumped the 'cold' into the van and is coming
back to the compressor.

The radiator fan comes on with the A/C -- that's normal.  It's cooling the
compressed freon.

I would check and make sure that the gauges are properly attached, and are
correct for your system (ie: r12 or r134).  It happens, especially if you don't
know if the van was ever converted to r134.  If you are having the high side
get hot, your compressor is probably working and compressing the freon -->
pressure exists.

There is an expansion valve in the evaporater (the part in the cabinet that
the fan blows through) that wears out over time, or gets blocked.  That is a
place to look, too.

First, though, you have to find out what kinds of pressures you have.  That
will tell you if you have a blockage, or low freon, or bad exp. valve, or bad
compressor.  Even when cold, your system should have pressure from the freon.
The differences in pressure will show what the problem is.

Best of luck, and let me/us know what you get.

Bill Marshall
85 GL Tiico "Pandora's Box"
Aurora, IL