A/C issue (1 Viewer)

[80seriesnut]

I am on a family trip in Wyoming from Iowa and my A/C seems to not want to run all the time. Before we left I bought a recharge kit and recharged it myself. Now when you first start it up it blows ice cold but eventually turns warmer. After it sits shut off for a couple hours it runs cold again. Any ideas? It's a 96 80 series.

 

[madragoran]

I had the same problem. Per advice from this great forum I replaced the expansion valve. New drier, pulled vacuum, recharge, and now my AC blows nice and cold.
Lots of good info on here if you search.

Mike

 

[Cruiser Kid]

Look for my recent post about "mechanic getting rich off of my AC", tons of good advice. Same thing is happening to my wife's 80 and she carts around two babies. Unfortunately, you are probably S.O.L for this trip that you are on. Any good updates would be appreciated since I am searching for correct solution as well.

 

[neal0124]

Does it work fine while at speed? If it works at speed and then shuts down while stopped then you should look at the fan clutch. If the ac condenser isn't getting enough airflow it will shut the ac off until it the system cools down to appropriate levels.

I replaced most of my ac system, the pump, drier, and expansion valve. While I had the system pulled apart I also ran 2 cans of condenser cleaner through the condenser and one can through the evaperator, I then blew compressed air through them until they were clean. The system was vacuumed and charged and now works great, while at speed. Turns out my fan clutch is crap and at slow speeds/stopped it isn't pulling enough air to properly cool the condenser core.

 

[gotmud]

You may have overcharged the system. If this is the case, your high pressure switch may cut the compressor out. Although not common, overcharging could be making the evaporator temp too cold causing the thermistor to shut things down until the temp increases. This could also be the case if the humidity is high and you keep the A/C system on recirc.

 

[80seriesnut]

Really not any humidity here in Cheyenne. Just took it down to Walmart and it blew cold. I turned the recirc off and it blew even colder. Every vehicle I have ever had the air runs coldest on recirc. But anyways I got into Cheyenne at about 7 this morning and the air was not very cold. Just went down to Walmart after it had sat all day and now the air runs cold again. So should the recirc be on or off

 

[half k cruiser]

Isn't this exactly what happens when your expansion valve goes out ?

 

[gotmud]

Even if the humidity is not too high, condensate can freeze on the evaporator. This happens even here in Phoenix where 3-5% humidity is common.