Potential recirc issue

[bjustice]

I apologize if this has been covered already, I have looked around to no avail.

I own a 96 LX 450 w/ 154k miles that I purchased last year. It has been a great truck so far with no real issues. I live in Louisiana where air conditioning is king and I'm having an issue with my air that I believe is due to a/c recirculation.

In all other cars I have owned, if I turn the blower off and have the recirc off, I can feel outside air blowing in on me. If I then turn the recirc on, the outside air stops blowing in. I assume there is some sort of bypass that is electronically controlled when that button is pushed to ensure all air is being cycled in the cabin and not sucked in from outside.

In my LX, no matter if recirc is on or off, air is blowing through the vents when the blower is off. The real problem here is that the air conditioner does not perform well at all when at a standstill. If I'm driving on the interstate, the air blows extremely cold and I have 0 complaints, but the second I stop at a light or get stuck in traffic, the air does not blow nearly as cold and sweating ensues.

Has anyone come across this yet or have any advise on what could be causing this? The recirc deal is just a hunch and I've read about the blue clutch fan upgrade and such that can help with the a/c, but due to the issues above I wonder if something else could be the culprit.

Thanks all!

 

[Sc0-]

I have this problem with my '94, at the lowest fan setting the blower IS NOT blowing but I have air flow due to a vent door that is still open. I am sure that your blower motor works on all settings but the door vent issue is the same as yours. I ran the pressures on the AC lines and is somewhat normal for an AC system so the only other cause would be for a vent door to be stuck open or closed. A few threads in the archive reveals some happy owners after they manually open or close a few vents after problems were found... Including one cocky FJ60 owner who commented that KISS was better and that the 60 series had mechanical vents... @#$@% cocky 60 owners....

Best of luck, when motivated I will take a look at my truck to find the problem.

 

[Ebag333]

With the fan off, the only air that flows is from the two end vents (next to the door) in both my trucks.

I believe this is actually by design, the 80's are designed to have a slightly pressurized cab.