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Overheating when A/C is on!

J

jsustaita

New CEG'er
Joined
Jul 8, 2007
Messages
5
I just had my a/c recharged and everything seemed fine untill I was headed back home from work. When the a/c started to smell and not blowing cold air I noticed my temp. needle was on the RED. So, I pulled over and waited about 15-20 minutes for it to cool down. I jumped back on the freeway without running the a/c and the car did not overheat.
This morning I did not run the a/c at all but my needle was going over the "L" (NORMAL) and getting very close to the RED and then coming back down between the A and the L.
Does anybody have any idea on what it is that I should be looking into?
I am on a very tite budget and would have to do the work my self.

One more thing, I have not been using the a/c for about 2 years, yesterday was my first time and never had any problems before with it overheating.

Thank you.
1995 Contour
 
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what engine does your car have?

also are the fan(s) turning on when you turn the A/C on? do they run with out the A/C on? sounds like they do if you said the temp came down.
 
It is a 4 Cylinders 2.0L SFI DOHC.
I have not check if the fan runs when the a/c is on. I will do this right after work.
 
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This may sound really dumb, but check your coolant level. Your not totally overheating so I don't think you have any part problems (like a WP), but you may have a coolant leak. At the LEAST your coolant level should be on MIN. My '96 is JUST below min and I'm not having any problems with my car going over the A. The thing about running A/C, is that the temperature has to be kept in "equilibrium," more or less. What is happening when you turn on your A/C isn't that you're COOLING your car, you're actually REMOVING heat, and it therefore some of this heat is ejected back into the engine bay. Rather basic thermodynamics for you :p haha. But that would be why you're car is having the tendency to get into the red zone when it is on.

EDIT: When my car was leaking coolant not too long ago, and I got below half-full in the tank, I started noticing that my car was creeping into the red area if I was doing city driving.
 
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I had a similar problem. It originally had to do with the fan not coming on at all. I fixed that and it was fine, until my WP went. Once I had that replaced, my car has been fine since. I run at the "m" most of the time and cooler.

Not saying that you WP is going bad, but it is a possibility.
 
Okay, I know that my coolant level is fine because I just had the liquid levels checked (and oil change) by the mechanic last week, but I will check it again. I will also check if the fan is running when I turn the a/c on.
By the way, what is the WP part?

Thanks for your help guys.
 
Okay, I checked my coolant level and it's about 1 inch above the Maximum line (when cool), and my fan does work when I turn on the a/c.
Any ideas?

Thanks.
 
are you sure it was overheating or the guage was just reading in the red? the temp guage isn't overly accurate ... if you haven't changed the coolant and thermostat in awhile that might be a good idea.

also to verify the temp since you have a 95 and can't get it from OBD use a infered thermometer and check the coolant hoses and such for temp and see what it gets to ...
 
Definitely sounds like you need a flush, fill and new thermostat. Pretty easy to do yourself if you feel like it, biggest problem I had was getting to the damned petcock!
 
BrApple said:
are you sure it was overheating or the guage was just reading in the red? the temp guage isn't overly accurate ... if you haven't changed the coolant and thermostat in awhile that might be a good idea.

also to verify the temp since you have a 95 and can't get it from OBD use a infered thermometer and check the coolant hoses and such for temp and see what it gets to ...
Click to expand...

Maybe the temp sending unit for the gauge is on the way out? When it goes to the red is it all the way over as much as it can go?
 
I believe I'm having similar overheating problems on my 00 svt. I guessed at some of the issues brought up here and just got back from having the coolant flushed (also an oil change and my second ac recharge; was quite low on refrigerant).

On the way back I smelled the same thing and it went away when I turned off the ac. The problem has been recent and I think it was made worse by a 700+ mile trip I went on this last weekend which involved several very long climbs/descents (engine braking) and lots of spirited mountain driving in hot weather. Temp gauge did and always has read exactly the same once the engine is warm, tiny bit below halfway (I can't say I trust it!)

One thing I'm curious about, OP: if you have AC/defrost on and the car is revving high, does a hesitation in power occur? Mine has an effect almost exactly like when you turn AC on for the first time, only it happens every roughly 10 seconds while above 4k rpm.

Damned odd!
 
Avey said:
Maybe the temp sending unit for the gauge is on the way out? When it goes to the red is it all the way over as much as it can go?
Click to expand...

I have only let the needle go upto about the midle of the RED. As soon as it touches the RED I turn off the a/c and seems to help.
I will do a flush and replace the thermostat this weekend.

Thank you for all your replys and I will keep you posted with the outcome.
This forum is the BEST!
Thanks again :)
 
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