I’m having AC problems. I have checked to see if the duo valves are working properly, they are. AC condenser and compressor seem to be working fine.

I had some repairs done on my car body wise and while that was being done, I also had them replace my ICP. Is there any reason or lines that could have come loose or maybe something else I’m not seeing. I say this as when I took it in the AC was cold, but didn’t use the AC until about two weeks after leaving the shop and it did not blow cold after. I did notice the AC had been left on at one point at the high position but the car was off as I was just getting something from the car that I needed. I turned AC controls back to the off position with the car off, as the battery wasn’t connected with all the work that was being done to it.

I have to take it back shop for another reason as they had the passenger door panel off to repair a dent and I also had the whole car repainted. They forgot to attach the inner door handle lever line or it just broke when my passenger tried getting out I’m think it is the first suggestion. That info has nothing to do with this problem just that I’ll have the car back there in a week. But I’d really like to take care of this AC problem myself as it’s hot as hell here in OKC. It just doesn’t make sense over the two almost three weeks they had the car my AC would just stop blowing cold air anymore.

BLEND DOORS is where I’m onto next. So after the line that’s under battery goes into the firewall where does it go after that and what should I look for? I haven’t found anything on the forum on how to replace the doors or too fix the doors if it’s stuck open to outside air. Sorry for the long winded post just trying to let everyone know what’s happened with/too the car when it blew cold air to not blowing cold air
at all. Thank you all in advance for future response.... If this needs to be moved to another part of the forum by all means move it.

 

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Just to 'throw it out', did they remove the A/C head at any time? There is two connecting rods behind the head that matches two blending door shafts behind it for directing the air.


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Not that I’m aware of. There would’ve been no reason for them to disassemble anything inside.

So has there been cases of blend doors being stuck open or closed for any reason? The heat blows hot when on the heat setting like it should but when it’s selected to AC it’s just ambient air. So is there a possibility that my AC blend door is stuck open for outside air? If so how is that fixed? At this point I’m stumped.

 

The heater water coming out of the firewall goes through two valves and becomes one pipe going forward, with full AC selected that hose should be cool as the valves should have stopped the flow of hot water.

 

Well I’m pretty pissed off at myself because I’ve made this thread which I think could be useful as I’ve never heard the specificities of the blend doors. I’m pretty sure that’s not the problem at all though. So I apologize for this being misleading now.

But I’ll be damned if I don’t look down and my compressor is not engaging at all. For some reason when I looked before I saw that the belt was spinning and I was just out of it I guess and figured it was fine. 🤦🏼‍♂️Low and behold though the clutch was not engaging the compressor. I’ve checked all fuses and everything looked good. I need to look at the RCM and see if any of those relays control that AC compressor functions.

 

Don’t lose any sleep over it, I frequently do stuff like that.

 

One thing I noticed is when I turn the car on and then turn the AC on the fan does not come on as I'm pretty sure it should. The fan will come on when the car reaches the temperature in which too cool down the engine. Ive read so many damn posts about this my head is spinning, as I saw where one guy pretty much replaced everything to do with the cooling system and still had problems. Talk about insanity lol reading the same problem but from 20 different perspectives. I feel like this has seriously become the hardest problem of the car to diagnose the exact cause and fix for. It's also lovely that 100F is right around the corner. It'll be 93F in Oklahoma tomorrow it might as well be 110 with the humidity.

 

Two things, are you positive the system has a charge? It has a low pressure switch that could be holding the compressor clutch off. On another note, see ( https://www.crossfireforum.org/forum...ion-check.html ), if the low pressure switch isn't holding it off maybe something here can help (yeah, I know, more 'reading'?).

Good luck, stay focused, one thing at a time will keep you on track! BTW, the low pressure switch, IF it is reading as an 'open' across the two terminals, it is not going to allow the clutch solenoid to engage. While you have that low pressure switch unplugged, check the actual solenoid on the compressor for continuity (remember do not have the car running when your testing the switch or the clutch).


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Thank you I appreciate it much. I'll be going out here in a little bit and start with what you recommended to check.
Do I need a multimeter for checking continuity? I need to get one regardless if I need it for this
or not.

 

The fan comes on as soon as the AC is turned on but if the AC clutch does not engage then that probably stops the fan from coming on.

 

Thats where I am at the moment with everything. Will check what GG suggested and also check relay in the divers side engine fuse box as well. Someone on Facebook just had that go and caused some similar problems.

 

Just to update this thread I started, as I can't stand it when someone asks for help and then doesn't bother letting anyone that helped them know that they either fixed it or found out the problem.

Apparently my car had no freon at all which is what caused the clutch to not engage. They did a vacuum test and everything held like it should. There's a dye that was put in it and I will take it in next week to see if we can find out why it was empty. It's definitely nice to have cold AC as it is the hottest day of the year so far for Oklahoma. Heat index of 110 today. Will report back with any findings.
Thank you guys for all your help and now we know for sure that the clutch definitely disengages when there's no freon in the system to prevent from damaging the system. Again thanks fellas

 

Alrighty, so just two days after having the system charged it was empty again. I certainly knew there was a leak but not this severe just because of what I was told by the shop. I went to drive the car just two days after having it at the shop and when pulling out of my garage, I turned on the AC and the fan kicked on air was cooler but not cold for about a minute and then back to ambient temps fans off, clutch disengages and back to where I was before. I called them as it was Friday the 3rd and was planning on taking the car down to Lake Texoma for the 4th. Not if the A/C wasn’t working though. Knowing that they put dye in the car and was told the leak had to be very “small” for it to hold vacuum and not seeing any signs of leaking before they gave the car back to me, I figured they’d get me in to at least see if it could be fixed or at least know where the leak is. Welp no. So I didn’t take RIO down to the lake. No AC in 100+ heat is a no go for a three hour drive in Oklahoma... Soo I took it in and it’s the AC Condenser which in all honesty makes the most sense. When it was getting repainted, both front fenders and the front bumper assembly were removed. So the condenser was exposed for however long they had them off. Mind you the AC blew ice cold and had not one problem since owning the car before I took it to the body shop. It could’ve just been coincidence, or something else could’ve caused it. Who knows, shops have so much traffic a number of things could’ve happened. The car also at that time had a new center drag link put in along with steering dampener, left spindle knuckle, front camber bolts, and new right side fender liners put in. So in those few weeks something happened and now here I am. Soo my question is has anyone changed the AC condenser themselves? Also what brand did you go with? FCP euro has the MB for 149$ and the Nissens for 94$. I’ve used a Nissens before on my Volvo C70 and 960. I’ve searched threads on here and have found no How To’s on changing it. Looks like to the Manual I go. Before though I want to see where this leak is and how bad it is just for reference. Oh I was quoted 340$ by the shop just for the condenser lol. Yeah not happening fellas. Any pertinent info you guys feel I should know please share and thanks again, sorry this one had some ranting in it. 🤙🏼

 

Depending on where or why it leaks maybe a residential a/c repairman could silver solder it.

Edit, the more I think about it the replacement part is pretty reasonable, probably not worth a repair attempt.

 

Yeah, I’m just going to buy one of the mentioned condensers and have the shop put it in. They have all the proper equipment for all this. Sucks that I just paid 135$ though to have it charged, only for it to leak out in a day. I’m sure they’ll tack another 135$ to charge it again. Seriously not too happy about that.

 

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I hope the new condenser coil fixes your issue. Sounds to me like they (the body shop) caused damage to the system (given your description) but that would be hard to prove. The guys that charged the system, they should have made sure there was no leak after they charged it and ran it for a few minutes doing that system check (with a UV lamp), any tech I know would have done that after charge BECAUSE the charge was missing in the first place.. I believe you mentioned they injected dye, it would have been prudent to check that before giving you back the car since the reason you brought it there was to confirm a leak (or not) and charge it up. If they require you to pay a second charging after this, I would change shops. You do know replacing the condenser is within your capability, then you'll have just the charge to deal with (if the diagnosis is correct). Your original description below, a successful vacuum check would not be the 100% done deal because (I have heard of) a compressor shaft seal leak that might not cause a vacuum loss but will allow a pressure loss (after it is run and then pressure tested). They also should have checked both Schrader valve stems for debris as a routine lookover (again, because of the original loss of Freon). So, good luck with round two on this A/C issue!


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