Ever since I got my SRT6, on about 1 out of four starts, I would get a weird lope to the idle as if three cylinders were missing. Car would shake for 5-10 seconds and then clear up. Several days ago when it was 105 here, AC gave up the ghost and blowing hot a$$ air. Driving steady speed around 35 mph was "odd". Just not smooooth. I had it scheduled at my dealer for an AC service, but after temps dropped, AC was working again. Just never been as cold as my 04 Crossfire. So, after reading about AC woes here, I pulled battery and cover over the blend door. Guess what, door was open to outside air. No matter what position controls were in, always open. Uh Oh, look at the grey vacuum line under battery. Damn, looks perfectly fine. Has to be something, line connected to manifold? Yep, good there. Run my hand along the line? Bingo, eight inches or so away from fire wall entrance, the line was "limp". Pulled up enough and it bent easily there, felt rough on the bottom. Cut out a two inch piece, and low and behold, the bottom was rotted out from battery acid exposure. Could not see it. So, I put a 6" piece of rubber vacuum hose in for a patch, put car back enough to start and run. Fully functional blend door, AC blowing colder, and a really smooth idle.

So, my advice even if you are not having issues, I would cut out a section of the grey line start about 6 inches from fire wall, and remove 12", and replace with 18" of 7/32" vacuum line. This will ward off any future issues, and just may fix some weird issues you are having. I know the line has been mentioned before for AC issues, but the little vacuum leak may be causing you all kinds of odd idle/start issues.

I still took it to dealer, had AC service ran anyway. System was down about 40%, acid and moisture level up. So was worth it to get system evacuated, all checked out, and new/correct type and amount of system refill. After 7 years and obviously others messing with it, is back to factory specs.

$150 bucks well spent.

 

The ruined vacuum line is a good reason to have the firewall end of the battery plugged and the little catch can on the forward end of the battery.

 

Hi Guys..Thanks for the info...I have been having trouble with my AC..Fully charged but runs warm...How do I get to the Blend doors to check them...Thanks again.

Dax

 

First remove the battery and check the grey plastic line you will see under the battery tray. Run your fingers along the line and you may find a rotted section near the fire wall. If so, cut it out and replace with a piece of vacuum line. Then check to see how AC works.

To see the blend door, you have to remove wiper arms and remove the cover over the cowl area. It is on passenger side just below windshield.

 

Thank you MrMoPar..I will check it out ..all I need is the rain to stop ( Good old Britain)..Laugh...thanks again.

 

MrMopar
I've had problems with my AC for awhile as well. Always blowing HOT!! Checked the gray vacuum line like you suggested and it looks and feels fine on the engine compartment side but after pulling glove box out found a small nick in the same line and repaired that. Still blowing hot. Any other ideas?

 

interesting.
I havent fixed mine yet - but I SLK32's have a lilac line going under the battery into the firewall - I was told it was for the head light height adjustment.
Mine was basically cut going frmo the engine bay to the firewall.

 

You have to see if the blend door is working. The line may look fine, but is the door working?
Does it blow hot when the engine is cold?

 

Finally fixed my issue of only blowing hot air. Whether the temp controls were on blue or red it would only blow hot and no AC. What I did was take the aluminum caps off the heater control valves which are located directly behind the overflow tank, careful not to drop any of the 5 screws. After lifting the caps off I lifted the yellow wrapped magnets off of the valves, which is one piece and then cleaned the base that the magnets sit on. I pulled the valves out careful not to lose the springs sprayed them with a lubricant and reinstalled. Put everything back together and now I have AC and control of my cabin temps.

 

Thanks for the final answer to your problem.
One question, when you take the aluminum caps off does the coolant leak out?
I polished these caps and I did it with them in place as I thought they would leak.

Just as an aside, there is an article that I copied that shows how to repair the actual valves in this unit using Pop Rivets. It would save a lot of money if you did this fix instead of buying a new valve. Click here.

 

No leakage at all. The engine was cold when I took them off. Not sure if that made the difference.
Hopefully they will continue to work if not I'll try the rivet fix.
Thank you

 

I've had mine off, with mixed results. One time when I put them back, they DID leak, I just removed & installed again and all was well.
BTW, I undo the hose from the front pump to them and prop that host up before removing the caps, nothing runs out while the caps are off.

 

Hey guys. My air jsut stopped blowing cold the other day. A few days pror I thought the fan was running a little rougher than usual and contributed that to the extra hot week we were having. Then suddenly, my aC stopped putting out cold air. I have a 04 Coupe and went to a referred AC shop to have it diagnosed (husbands out of town). I received the following list of woes from theh shop:
Condenser shot-$245
Freon-$60.16
AC Oil-$6.50
Discharge Hose-$75
Tension assembly $66.08
Serpentine Belt $61
plus tax and labor for a total of $945.24 to fix.

Help????

 

Condenser shot-$245 - maybe so - could be cause of freon leak
Freon-$60.16 - price is reasonable
AC Oil-$6.50 - price is reasonable
Discharge Hose-$75 - not sure what this is, could be cause of freon leak
Tension assembly $66.08 - probably not necessary, but REALLY good price
Serpentine Belt $61 - probably not necessary, but DOUBLE the price

looks like a shotgun approach on the freon leak by the dealer ......

 

Ok, thanks. Hubby's not too happy with the quote. He will take a look when he gets back home. In the meantime, I am forced to drive his little blue cobalt; it has AC.

 

Any help

Problem
2004 crossfire RHD not giving cold air on a/c mode ... normal cool air not cold

investigations so far:
a/c compressor is engaging and spinning fine
refrigerant psi level approx 40 , mid way of blue
air filter is clean

any advice what to test next ?

 

Sounds like another stuck/failed DuoValve.

Drive the car, get it heated up and if A/C blows hot, pull over, raise hood and check to see if hoses (all 3) on the duovalve are warm or hot. It so, the valve is opening when it should not.
The duovalve is known to stick open at times, if so, it needs cleaning.

Also, If power to the duovalve fails, it default to full open and you get warm air.


Video here of a Duovalve in a Mercedes...

 

Thanks for your reply here’s update

checked the duovalve

so opened it up , pretty clean like in the video
connecting the power to it I hear the duovalve engage
checked electric approx 13 v when cold setting , around 7v when on heat setting

checked blend door

opening and closing when REST button pressed

To confirm I get cold air but not chilly cold with a/c it’s the same near enough as standard cold ... any help

 

I haven't read all of this thread, so I may have missed this detail, but could your fan speed issue be related to the HVAC switch itself on the dash?

I'm mentioning this because I had that very problem, where the switch was messed up and couldn't control the fan speed correctly. The fix was to buy a used unit on Ebay and slide it into the dash. The old switch felt fine, but it was hit or miss how it controlled the fan speed.