AC tweaking.

[elwesso]

im still sort of battling my AC... doing one thing at a time, i dont wnat to make a huge deal out of this because my AC does work.. Dont get me wrong, its cold, but its not as cold as i think it should be.

I have not checked my pressures yet, i will try and do that very soon, im sure my tech atthe local shop would put the manifold gauges on the car really quick... I think autozone/o'reily's rents them as well. The AC has just been recharged to the perfect weight, right on the money. Not all in haste, the AC is working better than it used to be, the evaporator freezing no longer occurs..

I guess im trying to beat around the bush before i decide to flush the condensor and the evaporator.... I should just pony up and buy a vacuum pump and one of those flush tools so i can DIY, then recharge at my mechanic.

My discharge temp at about 80F wiht 70% humidity is about 38F at max AC at medium fan speed... so thats pretty dagum good if you ask me.. However when i set it at 70F on the display it doesnt keep it as cold as i think it should... I think the AC probably works fine, because when i flip it onto max and manually control the fan to 2 blades its pretty cold... I hear that set at 70F on the highway, the Q should keep you cool at only one fan blade.

In the FSM it refers to adjustment of the expansion valve and the thermal valve... however it never tells you how to do that... Does anyone know how to adjust these things.. One would surmise that if the FSM mentions adjustment you can adjust them... Maybe im crazy?

[AlabamaDan]

Wes your thread post is too technical for me and I have no help for you, but perhaps I could add to your thread.

My AC doesn't blow cold for about 10 mins after turning it on full blast. Do I just need to go have some freon put in it or is it more complicated?

[elwesso]

That would certainly be the first place to start... Have your pressures checked and if necessary evacuate and recharge...

You may have a bad comrpessor.

[Q45tech]

Remember the automatic part of system adjust the blend door oening to maintain.

An interesting test[ac off] is to measure the vent intake air temp at cowl and the vent output temperature at center vent to see how much heater heat is leaking past the blender door and recreated by blower motor.

Varies by fan speed..................5-7F hotter than cowl.................also graph vs coolant temp [heater core temp].

Install thermo probe at inside return port and measure delta vs center vent..............how much is ac heating [fan motor] then cooling, then reheating from heater door..........

The FSM does list any temp below 46F center vent full fan recirculate so you are in uncharted territory..................the coldest I have ever seen on low fan is 37F and 43F at full fan.

[elwesso]

Tech... im leaning more toward my "problem" to being either electronic or the sun ... I put my AC on 67F today and it kept it like a meat locker in there and kept blowing ice cold air with 2 fan blades at highway speeds... at 71F as set on display it would blow at 2 fan blades but would not blow ice cold air, which made all the difference in the world...

Fred had the tint on the car removed soon after he got it. I wonder if by removing the aftermarket tint it somehow removed some of the UV/infrared protection the windows should give..... Because compared to other cars, theres a ton of sun heat....

When you measure the center vent temp, what do you use?? My shop used an IR thermometer, shoudl that be enough?

[Q45tech]

Buy a radioshack remote outside thermometer with 20' of wire.........high/low/min/max storage..............great for measuring things under hood..........usually freaks out above 150F but not damaged.

http://fantes.com/thermometers.htm

They have wired and wireless units that will go up to 500F.

Many of wired units can be redesigned with multi rotory switches to look at an unlimited number of sensors.... Cowl air, inside recirculated and each vent output.