Originally Posted by JimBlake
Most of this stuff depends on what year car you have. Macster33, I looked for that but I don't see where you said what year??
On our '98 the temperature dial on the dashboard is just a control knob. When you turn on the ignition, there's a little motor that actually moves the cable. So I can do what I want with the knob & nothing happens at the valve. Until I turn on the key...
I agree, and I don't quite understand what you wrote down as you already "shut the valve"? It's really not a good idea to move it by hand if the loop is still attached.
So if indeed the clutch is engaging, and you've shut off the water heater valve, and you feel warm air out the vent...then something is wrong such as (yes I know you don't have a leak, neither did I) refrigerant has somewhat leaked out; a good amount had leaked out my accord (1995). It could also be overcharged too...had a backyard mechanic bring in a GMC Jimmy one day with about 2 lbs overcharged. So damn surprised that his compressor didn't implode. He also had a large amount of oil in the system and it literally oozed out the fittings when I disconnected the service hoses off the a/c ports (the a/c machine sucked a large amount out, but there was still quite a large amount in the system still).
At this point, it would need diagnostics by a professional, to check charge level, high and low side pressures, contamination, etc.