air conditioning problems

[lil drummer boy]

Yeah, yeah... I know, I know. Most of you are probably saying, "air conditioning? ...BAH!". Well summer is closing in and the air conditioning in my '97 Mustang GT stopped working almost a year ago and I figure I should really get it fixed. I'm curious if it's something I can fix on my own or if it'll require a mechanic. When I turn the A/C on I can hear and feel the engine bog down a tad like it normally would. Everything seems like it's working fine except I get nothing out of my vents but hot air. It's not just my air conditioning either. I can put it on vent, defrost, floor... anything and it's still nothing but hot air out of the air vents no matter what I set the temperature to. Something else I noticed and I don't know if it has any relevance to the problem, but when I turn the temperature dial it still clicks except there used to be a little bit of a resistance... almost like a springy feeling in the dial. Now it doesn't do that anymore. The dial still clicks, but there's no resistance when you turn it. I'm sure other mustang owners would probably know what I'm talking about. Any help with this problem would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[Maroon 5.0 LX]

First thing you gotta do, is put a set of gauges on it and see if there is any refrigerant in the system. If it's low, the low pressure switch won't kick in, thus saving your compressor from self destructing. If it's low, you have a leak that should be repaired.

Then have the system evacuated, and recharged.

[lil drummer boy]

Is this something I can do myself or is it too difficult?