Car AC advice

[Scratch]

We bought a 2005 suburban and the ac doesn’t work. The previous owner said there was a slow leak and he just bought one of those auto parts store cans with the built in gauges every summer and it worked… I had my doubts.

I’m no stranger to auto repair, Im in the middle of my 4th body off frame restoration right now. I’ve replaced a dozen or so engines in my 50 years, and have replaced an ac clutch before too.

He did have a brand new can of refrigerant in the back so I hooked it up. It said it did not need any refrigerant and was full. Then I noticed the ac clutch wasn’t spinning with the compressor pulley.

The belt was spinning the ac pulley, but not the clutch with it. I checked the fuse… good. I found but did not check the relay, (not sure how to check it) Then I pulled the 2 wire connector going to the clutch. I hooked up a positive and negative wire to the connector completely bypassing the wiring harness, and I could hear and see the clutch engage.

I started the car, turned on the AC on the dash, put it in recirculate mode, and connected my two wires again, the clutch started spinning like normal, but I am not getting cool air from the vents.

I’m pretty sure the seller was lying about the leak as the gauge did say it was full. I know something’s wonky with the electrical, maybe it’s the relay, but shouldn’t I be able to bypass the harness, get the clutch to spin the compressor and move that refrigerant to get cold air out of the vents? I guess the compressor could be bad too but I’m not sure how to test that. I don’t mind replacing the compressor but I was just really hoping to not have to bring it in to recycle the refrigerant.

Any ideas?