Air Conditioning over the Years (2010, engine, Ford, Hyundai)

[rosecitywanderer]

I've got an '04 Hyundai Santa Fe with 141,000 miles and it's lived in Oregon its whole life. Our summers here are pretty brief and relatively mild with long stretches of temperatures above 85 being rare. So needless to say my air conditioning gets used but not as much as somebody who lives in the Deep South or the Desert Southwest.

We've had a bit of a heat wave (upper 90s) around here and when I got in my car after work yesterday, I cranked up the A/C to get it cooled off. Despite being a 6-year old car, the system still gets cold enough to make the tips of my ears go numb if I leave it on too long but I was curious as to how much 'oomph' it had lost in those six years. So I stuck one of those probe thermometers into the dash vents, started the engine and blasted the A/C on high fan, maximum cold. Eventually the temperature needle showed that the air leaving the vents was coming out at a chilly 47ºF. But as a baseline, I tried out my sister's car; a brand new 2010 Subaru Forester that shows only 320 miles. The fresh refrigerant in the Subie blew my car out of the water and caused the needle to dip as low 38ºF! The air coming out of the vents actually bordered on uncomfortably cold so I was happy to get out.

[Gimme3steps]

Your thermometer will read even lower if you run the blower motor on low instead of high.

It was nothing back in the Seventies for a freshly charged r-12 system to blow in the 20-30 degree range.

Coldest I can remember getting an AC to was a Ford LTD with a York compressor. It was blowing 17 degrees from the center vent with the blower on low.

[Lux Hauler]

Air conditioning systems are fairly simple and can be kept at optimum performance if properly maintained. Running the AC once and a while during months that it would not normally be used is good for keeping seals and compressor parts lubricated. When you go to pressurize/check the system take note of your values as a reference for the next time you pressurize/check so leaks can be detected. Also make sure that your condensor is free of any blockage and that the paint is good on it (special paint is used for better heat transfer).

If there are no leaks, the compressor isn't damaged and the system is properly pressurized then AC should work just as good as new no matter how old it is.

[wheelsup]

My '95 puts out around 35F air with R134a where as my wife's car with a new compressor puts out around 40F. What matters is if that temp is increasing over time or staying the same.

[rosecitywanderer]

I took the car for about a 6-mile drive to get my pizza and I left the probe in the center stack vent the whole time. Once I got the interior cooled, I left the blower on low as you suggested and whaddyaknow? The needle was flirting with the freezing mark by the time I got home!

[Gimme3steps]

^

[teach1234]

Coldest I can remember getting an AC to was a Ford LTD with a York compressor. It was blowing 17 degrees from the center vent with the blower on low.[/quote]


Oh, yeah, those were the days. My 74 LTD has the aforementioned York, holds 4.66 pounds of R 12 and on the hottest day I don't think you could run the air full blast without getting uncomfortably chilled.

Of course, with R12 costing me 26$ a 12 oz can, and retailing at up to 90$ a pound at some shops, you sure don't want any leaks.

[2RUGGED4YOU]

Originally Posted by rosecitywanderer

I've got an '04 Hyundai Santa Fe with 141,000 miles and it's lived in Oregon its whole life. Our summers here are pretty brief and relatively mild with long stretches of temperatures above 85 being rare. So needless to say my air conditioning gets used but not as much as somebody who lives in the Deep South or the Desert Southwest.

We've had a bit of a heat wave (upper 90s) around here and when I got in my car after work yesterday, I cranked up the A/C to get it cooled off. Despite being a 6-year old car, the system still gets cold enough to make the tips of my ears go numb if I leave it on too long but I was curious as to how much 'oomph' it had lost in those six years. So I stuck one of those probe thermometers into the dash vents, started the engine and blasted the A/C on high fan, maximum cold. Eventually the temperature needle showed that the air leaving the vents was coming out at a chilly 47ºF. But as a baseline, I tried out my sister's car; a brand new 2010 Subaru Forester that shows only 320 miles. The fresh refrigerant in the Subie blew my car out of the water and caused the needle to dip as low 38ºF! The air coming out of the vents actually bordered on uncomfortably cold so I was happy to get out.

If the system is properly charged and working properly you will get different temperatures and pressures according to how much load is on the system. The hotter the day, the higher the pressures and temps. Superheat and sub cooling play a part in this as well. Your suction line temp varies accordingly to these factors. If you check your car today at 85 degrees with a humidity of 40%, it will be different then tomorrow at 70 degrees with a humidity of 30%. See what I mean?

[2RUGGED4YOU]

HVAC tech here BTW!

[AlfredB1979]

Originally Posted by Lux Hauler

Air conditioning systems are fairly simple and can be kept at optimum performance if properly maintained. Running the AC once and a while during months that it would not normally be used is good for keeping seals and compressor parts lubricated. When you go to pressurize/check the system take note of your values as a reference for the next time you pressurize/check so leaks can be detected. Also make sure that your condensor is free of any blockage and that the paint is good on it (special paint is used for better heat transfer).

If there are no leaks, the compressor isn't damaged and the system is properly pressurized then AC should work just as good as new no matter how old it is.

Running the defroster also takes care of that chore. Just an FYI for those who did not realize that the defroster uses the compressor as well.