Last year the air conditioning was working on my 2000 protege LX and now not working at all, just hot air comes out. We only have about 39,000 miles on it. I also noticed several months ago when I turned on the defroster button a squealing noise coming from the car too and as soon as I turned off the defroster it stopped the noise. Was wondering if we could use the air conditioning recharge kit and if it is worth trying or not? Was looking for a do it yourself fix.
Any ideas/suggestions? Thanks.

 

They have DIY recharge kits at the parts store. But there is usually a reason that your ac is low. The squeal is usually from the belt slipping. U might have a bad compressor. You will have to install manifold gauges to tell if it has R134 still in it.

 

 

The squealing scares me and you should get someone to look at and give you an estimate. As racer says, it might be a belt OR an expensive compressor.