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so my ac is blowing warm air. I checked that the clutch engages the compressor and it's spinning when I turn on the ac and then disengages and stops spinning when I turn it off so that part works. I have yet to check the cabin air filter.
Question - possible areas are refrigerant leak or a faulty compressor, what else could be wrong? I don't want to be bs'd to when I get to the shop, is an hour of labor a reasonable expectation to diagnose the issue?
Car is 13 years old and has 142000 miles... is this common for the age of the vehicle to lose refrigerant?
Are all cooling fans running with the A/C on? Any leaves or debris blocking the condenser?
A good shop will evacuate the system, see if it holds a vacuum, recharge by weight and then add a leak detector dye. If you're lucky, it's just a dried out o-ring somewhere.
A lot of hack A/C shops out there so do your homework. Many will blindly throw a compressor on without even doing a proper diagnosis.
If It's blowing hot, it could just be low on freon!
I actually have two vehicles to either have the R134a recharged at a professional shop, or try my hand at the Low Side Port method.
Freon (let's skip the semantics here, since everyone calls it freon anyway) doesn't get used. If you're low on it.. It went somewhere. And it shouldn't have been able to get there.
So.. Simply recharging a system isn't really a fix. Might get it working again.. If it's a really slow leak, it might be good enough.. But recharging alone isn't fixing anything.
If, as it sounds, the OP is out of freon.. Where it escaped from is the big question and as for what could be the problem.. The whole system. Compressor could have leaked it out.. Evaporator.. Anywhere the freon goes.
I actually had an old Escort that had a schrader valve that was leaking. We'd sit there charging it and sniff around for a leak.. Never could find one. One day we popped the bottle off and did another sniffer test.. Right there at the charging port it started beeping its' fool head off.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Labonte18
Freon (let's skip the semantics here, since everyone calls it freon anyway) doesn't get used. If you're low on it.. It went somewhere. And it shouldn't have been able to get there.
So.. Simply recharging a system isn't really a fix. Might get it working again.. If it's a really slow leak, it might be good enough.. But recharging alone isn't fixing anything.
If, as it sounds, the OP is out of freon.. Where it escaped from is the big question and as for what could be the problem.. The whole system. Compressor could have leaked it out.. Evaporator.. Anywhere the freon goes.
I actually had an old Escort that had a schrader valve that was leaking. We'd sit there charging it and sniff around for a leak.. Never could find one. One day we popped the bottle off and did another sniffer test.. Right there at the charging port it started beeping its' fool head off.
I had an old 1997 Escort too, that wouldn't cool when really hot out, but worked fine in cooler weather. It turned out to be the relay which on that model was integral to the BCM and over $200 for the part. Most, even older AC units will not allow the compressor to engage if low on refrigerant, because it contains the lubricant and will cause the compressor to burn out. You really need to have an AC specialist or the dealer look at it. Most will charge $80-110 to diagnose, then give you an estimate for repairs. At that point you can decide whether it's worth fixing or not.
If there is a leak, most common is the compressor shaft seal [behind clutch will be wet or if really bad, line of oil under the hood] or the refill valve. The difference between cold air and warm air is about 6 oz of R-134a
so my ac is blowing warm air. I checked that the clutch engages the compressor and it's spinning when I turn on the ac and then disengages and stops spinning when I turn it off so that part works. I have yet to check the cabin air filter.
Question - possible areas are refrigerant leak or a faulty compressor, what else could be wrong? I don't want to be bs'd to when I get to the shop, is an hour of labor a reasonable expectation to diagnose the issue?
Car is 13 years old and has 142000 miles... is this common for the age of the vehicle to lose refrigerant?
You're low on "freon."
You can go to any auto parts store and get a can of it - with a filler hose - for about $20. Some of it will have dye and/or sealant.
If you're AC blows cold again, you're in business - at least for awhile.
*In the car I'm currently driving, I have to add a can of 134a once every other summer. I'm fine with that. But most people aren't that lucky. Usually a leak is much worse, and leads to expensive repairs.
so my ac is blowing warm air. I checked that the clutch engages the compressor and it's spinning when I turn on the ac and then disengages and stops spinning when I turn it off so that part works. I have yet to check the cabin air filter.
Question - possible areas are refrigerant leak or a faulty compressor, what else could be wrong? I don't want to be bs'd to when I get to the shop, is an hour of labor a reasonable expectation to diagnose the issue?
Car is 13 years old and has 142000 miles... is this common for the age of the vehicle to lose refrigerant?
If the clutch activates, then you are not low on freon. There is a safeguard that prevents the compressor from running if there is low pressure.
The other thing that can - and does - go wrong is the valve where hot water feeds into the heater core. If it has gone bad, then hot water ALWAYS feeds into the heater core and your AC will always blow warm.
Get on the internet and see if you can find where your mixer valve is. Lots of cars have them in the engine compartment so that they can be changed easily. Plus, there will be articles that show you how to tell if it's working (it's easy).
can a bad cabin air filter affect this? I have not changed the cabin air filter in a while but I can't see how it would not cool at all if it was a blocked cabin air filter...
Thanks Listener, that makes more sense if the compressor will not run due to low pressure.
i went over 100 thousand miles on my corolla before i even knew it had a cabin filter ,, did not affect the AC..
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