Hot answers tagged ac
20
This is a common problem for all air conditioners (in a car or not), and is caused by mildew growth. In cars it often happens when people run their A/C on the recirculation all of the time, or the drain gets clogged. The system doesn't dry out completely and mildew starts to grow.
You should be concerned about your health, especially if you have allergies. ...
10
The most likely cause is the a/c unit. What may have happened is that debris, pine needles,leaves etc may have plugged the drain allowing an excess amount of water to build up and then it relaesed. Run the a/c unit for awhile say 30 minutes. In a safe area like an empty parking lot make some abrubt turns at slow speeds. If you hear water sloshing under the ...
9
Air Conditioners are run by a belt that is connected to the crankshaft. The engine turning causes the A/C Compressor to move.
When your A/C is not turned on, a clutch disengages the A/C Compressor's internals from the pulley on the belt. This allows that belt to free spin, not adding load onto the engine.
When the A/C is turned on, that clutch is engaged ...
9
Not at all. You may be in some small way reducing the life of your starter, but this would be pretty negligible.
When you start with the A/C switch on, you will be starting with the A/C Compressor clutch engaged, which means the starter must turn both the engine and the compressor; altogether a rather trivial amount of force in comparison to the force ...
6
Yes there is a problem with your cooling system. A car should now overheat in 85 degrees while parked. You will have to inspect your cooling system. Some things to check in order of most likely culprits:
Your cooling fan. (Easy to check this one, once the car gets hot do you see the fan(s) on the back of the radiator turn on.)
If your fluid low or do ...
6
As for the blower only working on max, that screams resistor pack. It's usually in the passenger foot well near the blower motor itself. Sounds like it's held in by two 8mm bolts in your case. Shouldn't be too terrible of a job, but you might want to avoid it if you've got back or neck problems. I usually put the seat back down as far as it will go and ...
6
I'm sure you could manage to measure the amount of energy wasted by your condenser fan, but I promise you it's statistically insignificant. If you're trying to save an amp or two or power, it would make more sense to make sure you don't have any lights on or that you're not carrying any heavy objects you don't need in your trunk.
That said, the most ...
5
I assume that when you mentioned that the recharge only lasted for a month, that was until the a/c stopped working again? Usually a/c stops working when there is not enough pressure in the system due to it being low on refrigerant and given how long a non-leaking system normally lasts without a recharge, you've got a fairly substantial leak in a/c terms.
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5
Basically you have an exhaust leak, it's dangerous (to you in the form of carbon monoxide) and should not be ignored. An easy way to check for the leak is to pull a vacuum line off the intake and suck a small amount (1 - 2oz) of transmission fluid into the intake via that vacuum line. Make sure the vehicle is outside, because it's going to smoke a lot. The ...
5
I got that exact same product!
The hose didn't work very well. I ended up buying a separate hose for $15 or so, with brass fittings.
Also, as Patrick said, a large amount of refrigerant solves a large refrigerant leak. And it won't solve it for long.
So, I recommend either
Go to the shop and get a leak test, and a refill if it's slow.
Buy a quality hose ...
5
If you had the system repaired a ago I would bring it back. There is a chance that a component that was replaced is defective. There is also the possibility that you had a major leak that they found easily and now a small leak that may be more difficult to find. I would give the shop the benifit of trying to fix it for free before attempting anything by ...
5
It helps cool the air faster as it's taking the inside air (already partially cooled) and cooling it further rather than trying to cool the (often hotter) outside air. Obviously there's only a specific range where it works well. I've never noticed a fogging problem using it, but I only use it when it's of benefit...
4
That sounds like condensation from moisture that's already in the system. It's not harmful but that slight smell could be the beginnings of mildew.
You might want to dry out the system. The best way that I've heard of is to run the air through the recirculator with the heater on, trying the defrost, floor and vent settings. If you run hot dry air through ...
4
The blend air doors on the Windstar are vacuum controlled. The default position is defrost (windshield vents), meaning that if you loose vacuum supply it changes to defrost position.
Look for a vacuum hose going through the firewall and trace it to where it hooks up to the intake manifold. It goes through a one way check valve and it teed into a vacuum ...
4
If it were mine and I could get by with one to two charges a season (3 - 4 months) I wouldn't do anything but that, and I can fix it myself. Once it gets worse than that I would fix it.
Get another shop to check it out, play dumb as if you don't already know. Because evaporator leaks can sometimes be tricky to diagnosis. Once more than one shop agrees it's ...
4
This product solves one main problem(symptom), low freon.
The issue with this is that most cases of a car that have low freon is caused by a leak somewhere in the system.
If your car suddenly stopped blowing cold air, then this will most likely not fix your problem.
Your problem is probably one of two things:
A/C Compressor died
Large freon leak
I ...
4
I would check the freon level, but it sounds like the compressor. In my truck when the A/C compressor started to go out that exact thing happened, the air would blow out warm and humid. The easiest thing to check first is to ensure that the A/C condenser fan is working. It is in front of the motor, it blows air across the smaller radiator that cools the ...
4
The compressor is a considerable load on your engine. In order to stop the engine from bogging the A/C usually has a way of raising the idle by letting more air past the throttle body. This function is where I think your problem lies.
This can be a separate solenoid specific to the A/C system with a (fairly hefty) vacuum line to both before and after the ...
4
As stated in the comments, the legality depends on your location, as well as type of refrigerant used in the system. R-12 is only available to professionals, where as R-134a is available at your parts store. If for some reason that R-134a is not available in your area, that would be a good indication that it is illegal there.
This is alot harder to answer ...
4
If it was never converted to use R134a instead of R12, you're not just going to be able to charge it up yourself, since something that old probably came from the factory with R12 refrigerant. You need a license to buy R12 in the United States, and it's not cheap. Since your system is compromised and needs attention anyway, you might as well do the R134a ...
4
You can visually verify if the compressor is running by watching the clutch engage and disengage with the climate controls set to A/C. If it's engaging and immediately dis-engaging on a warm day, the system is probably low on freon. If it's not coming on at all, you'll want to check the relay and the wiring. The relay is in the box on the driver's fender ...
4
Short answer it's not a DIY project. There are many things that need to be checked, specialized equipment, and a mistake can cost you a lot of money.
It's against the law to work on AC without a licence in some areas, so check local laws and regulations.
There are many reasons the AC is not cooling and a little low on refrigerant is one of them. Topping ...
3
xpda has a very good answer. I would augment it with an additional caution: carbon monoxide effects are cumulative, they don't go away very quickly once you are in fresh air... So driving short periods while exposed to CO, with breaks in between, may still be enough to cause problems.
One common cause of exhaust in the cabin that xpda didn't mention is ...
3
I would doubt that you're * intentionally* getting ripped off, and it's possible that all the parts you mention actually did need to be replace.
However, even a competent mechanic may not have the background and experience to diagnose & repair the AC system, especially in modern cars where computers & sensors come into play.
When in doubt (and ...
3
The only real problem I see is damage to the compressor. The system has oil in it that keeps the part lubricated, and leaks sometimes allow for oil to escape. If you are recharging, and not planing on repairing, ask where the oil level indicator is. Ensuring that the system has oil is the key, because as the freon escapes air replaces it, so you are always ...
3
I assume you've checked/changed the fuse first?
If the blower motor is easy to get at, I would go and pulling the connector off and check that you're actually getting power to the motor and only then pull the motor if you've confirmed that you do. It wouldn't be the first time that it's actually the fan switch or something upstream from the blower motor ...
3
I think most pros will tell you not to bother trying to patch a condenser leak, just replace it. While that's not always an option, it's definitely an option you should consider first.
Can you source cheap second-hand unit for your car? Unfortunately condensers and radiators are often damaged in car accidents so second-hand units can be a bit dicey, so make ...
3
The fact that it didn't work and then did with no changes points to a problem in either the electrical or mechanical linkage and it is the type of problem that is the most difficult to figure out. As a rule compressors work or they don't and when the freon is too low they have a tendency to short cycle, which cools but not well.
3
The refrigerant in your Grand Cherokee is R-134a. It won't damage the ozone layer like the old R-12 would, but it's a potent greenhouse gas. See:
http://www.roadandtrack.com/column/a-c-the-ec-and-global-warming
I'm not aware of any part of the car that will be harmed mechanically by ignoring the leak and simply recharging the A/C intermittently.
3
They do work. I've used them often.
If your low on freon, there may be a leak. However, if this is the case use a bottle of stop leak first or a bottle mixed with stop leak. It should seal up an value leakage. Replacing your AC unit is costly, most leaks can be fixed with a stop leak sealant unless the problem is serious.
Save the hose you can reuse it.
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