Need help with my AC - CEG Archives

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When I turn on my AC it takes several minutes before it cools, but it doesn't cool as good as it used to. Also, the drivers side vent doesn't seem to blow any cold air, but the rest of the vents seem fine. My AC was recharged a year and a half ago and my condensor was replaced. The car has 67k miles

I really want to find out what's wrong. Any ideas would be appreciated. Thanks.

Could be a blend issue.

Read this thread

It could be a number of things.

Suspects include charge level, system refrigerant restriction, weak compressor or clutch, airflow disruption, and the list goes on.

The first check has to be a refrigerant pressure check, both low and high side. After the proper test setup, readings should be taken and the center vent and outside ambient temps have to be noted.

Without proper data, the only thing you'll get will be guesses which may or may not (more likely) be useful.

A quick check that can be made is to hand-test the temperature of the inlet and outlet evaporator lines to see how much temperature differential is present. A vehicle with a correctly charged and operating system will exhibit temps on both sides that are similarly cool, usually in the 35-45 F range. A system that is low on charge or has certain other faults will have an outlet line that is substantially warmer than the inlet.

Steve

I'll try to check these things out when I have time. I just hope it's not the compressor.

Let me add this: Usually when my I turn on my AC I can hear the exhaust getting louder in a steady sound, but now that my AC is having issues the exhaust gets louder and promply gets quieter; constantly changing from loud to quiet. Back and forth. It's suppose to always sound loud without changing back to quiet.

Originally posted by PacificTourG:
..., but now that my AC is having issues the exhaust gets louder and promply gets quieter; constantly changing from loud to quiet. Back and forth. ..

Your a/c is cycling on and off.

Originally posted by PacificTourG:
I'll try to check these things out when I have time. I just hope it's not the compressor.

Let me add this: Usually when my I turn on my AC I can hear the exhaust getting louder in a steady sound, but now that my AC is having issues the exhaust gets louder and promply gets quieter; constantly changing from loud to quiet. Back and forth. It's suppose to always sound loud without changing back to quiet.

Sounds like the problem I had. Open the hood and see how the compressor clutch works. If it starts and stops all the time it could be that the system pressure is low. Theres a safety cutoff which makes it do this.

Update:
It turns out I was low on refridgerant, but the reason was because I have a small leak in one of the pressure hoses.
After they put new refridgerant in, the A/C started cooling normal as usual and that's when they noticed that one of the hoses was dripping. My A/C doesn't cycle on and off anymore, but I still need to replace one of the hoses that has the leak. I'll get around to that soon.

Was it dripping oil? If it's just water, that is normal.

Originally posted by PacificTourG:
Update:
It turns out I was low on refridgerant, but the reason was because I have a small leak in one of the pressure hoses.
After they put new refridgerant in, the A/C started cooling normal as usual and that's when they noticed that one of the hoses was dripping. My A/C doesn't cycle on and off anymore, but I still need to replace one of the hoses that has the leak. I'll get around to that soon.

You will never see refrigerant drip. It is invisable.

Originally posted by Big Jim:

Originally posted by PacificTourG:
Update:
It turns out I was low on refridgerant, but the reason was because I have a small leak in one of the pressure hoses.
After they put new refridgerant in, the A/C started cooling normal as usual and that's when they noticed that one of the hoses was dripping. My A/C doesn't cycle on and off anymore, but I still need to replace one of the hoses that has the leak. I'll get around to that soon.

You will never see refrigerant drip. It is invisable.

That's because when it leaks, it's a gas and is, as you ovserved, invisible.

Steve

I think it was just water dripping, but is it normal to lose most of the refridgerant since it was recharged less than two years ago? I don't drive very far.

Originally posted by PacificTourG:
.. is it normal to lose most of the refridgerant since it was recharged less than two years ago? ..

No.

You have a pin hole leak in the system. Some of us have a 10 year old car with no leak (not yet, anyway

)

Or you may have collapsed "O" rings.