Well, I got almost exactly 16oz of refrigerant in there (range is 14.8 min -16.4 max) and it's not great, but it blows 48 degrees while driving, and 52 degrees at idle with recirculate on, fan on medium high, and 97 degrees outside. Strange thing is, it got down to 40 degrees at idle once I had only 12 oz in there. I seriously doubt the specs on the under hood sticker are wrong, though.
Is my AC cold enough?
- Thread starter Jonas
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News to me. Source of that info? Wife’s dad vibe has denso ac compressor, same as the matrix. After 15 years had first recharge. Blows 39f when 90+ outside. Good enuff for me
Yeah, there's just something wrong with mine. I don't get it. Too much oil? I have no idea really, but it's not good enough to keep me from sweating in my car :-(
I'm still trying to figure out why my thermometer went down to 40 degrees while I was charging the AC once I had 12 oz in. Then I added another 4 oz and it went up 46/47 at idle, fan on low. I'm tempted to let some out until it gets cold again, but it makes no sense to me since it is just under the proper charge limit.
Another thing is when it gets below 90 outside later afternoon/early evening and driving around for a while it cools down quite a bit and is comfortable. It's just once it gets above 90 and the sun is out, it won't go below 50 degrees and it's miserable in traffic.
The illegal way. I also pulled a vacuum and charged it with gauges and a scale.
Nick1994
$100 site donor 2024
Is your radiator fan maybe a little weak?
Is your condenser dirty or do you have debris buildup between the condenser and radiator? Does your fan come on when the AC is turned on?
How cold is your low side hose or line? I'm personally ok if my vent temps are in the 40's when the outside temps are in the 90's.
How cold is your low side hose or line? I'm personally ok if my vent temps are in the 40's when the outside temps are in the 90's.
Could be. Lack of airflow seems to be the problem. I thought maybe it was because we had a thunderstorm and the outside temp dropped 20 degrees, but the vent temp still rose back up to 52 degrees while sitting in a parking lot.
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I'm not sure if they're dirty, I will look closely. I can see and hear both fans-they're spinning fast enough for me to feel a blast of hot air when I open the hood. Low side line feels like a glass of ice water. The vent temp sometimes gets up to 55 degrees. It depends on how long I'm idling/how little I'm moving.
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Most of the systems I've checked blow somewhere between 40-45* air. If yours is only blowing 56* air on a hot sunny day I'd suspect you're low on refrigerant. It's not uncommon for a/c systems to lose some refrigerant during winter months.
I thought so too, but it is properly charged and probably was before I re-did it. I recently discovered it's freezing cold when driving on the interstate and it barely works at idle. May be an airflow problem.
It does sound like an air flow issue and is why I asked if you have any debris between the condenser and radiator as well as how clean your condenser is. Also check to make sure a lot of your fins on the condenser are not bent over. With your low side lines being that cold, I think your charge is pretty close to being correct.
Like others have said, the only right way to charge is to specific weight and if you still aren't getting good vent temps, you have an issue somewhere else. No blend door issues that you know of?
I have one vent that hardly any air comes out of, but the other three are fine and will blow my thermometer out when set on high. The condenser looks clean to me and I gently sprayed it with a hose and no crud came out. The fins look fine too, a few aren't perfectly straight, but none of them are bent over. If my fans are weak, do they wear out over time or is it more likely a fuse/relay/electrical problem? My coolant temp is always a little lower with the AC on than off and the condenser fan is always spinning whenever I look. Maybe too slowly?
It's hard to say whether or not your fans are spinning as fast as they should be. My experience with fans are either they work or they don't.
You could still have a blend door issue where the door that directs air for the heat or the AC is not functioning correctly, is stuck, or can't close or open all of the way which means you could be getting a little bit of heater air instead of all AC air. With one vent not working correctly, it's possible you have other issues under the dash.
If you spray cold water on your condenser with the air on, does it affect your vent temps?
You could still have a blend door issue where the door that directs air for the heat or the AC is not functioning correctly, is stuck, or can't close or open all of the way which means you could be getting a little bit of heater air instead of all AC air. With one vent not working correctly, it's possible you have other issues under the dash.
If you spray cold water on your condenser with the air on, does it affect your vent temps?
What are the pressures at idle? Then revved up around 2000?
Your temps seem fine to me- a 50 degree differential while driving and slightly under that while stopped I would consider fantastic.
Exactly how cold do you want the car to be? Is 45 degrees coming from the vents not comfortable? Understand that when stopped, your AC performance will drop some, that's normal. I question the accuracy of the measuring instrument used by anyone reporting temps in the 30's when it's 90+ degrees out.
I think the issue might come down to expectations. Maybe time to tint some windows?
I would invest in some gauges and you will get a much better idea whether the system is performing normally.
Exactly how cold do you want the car to be? Is 45 degrees coming from the vents not comfortable? Understand that when stopped, your AC performance will drop some, that's normal. I question the accuracy of the measuring instrument used by anyone reporting temps in the 30's when it's 90+ degrees out.
I think the issue might come down to expectations. Maybe time to tint some windows?
I would invest in some gauges and you will get a much better idea whether the system is performing normally.
I spend a lot of time stuck in traffic and the vents put out about 55 degrees at idle when it's 95 outside. I'm sweating in that scenario. On the interstate, they get below 40. I would think a 15+degree difference indicates a
I'll try the water thing, that's interesting. The blend door may be a little off, but would I be able to get 15-18 degree cooler air while on the interstate vs. stuck in traffic if that were the case? The vent furthest from the evaporator is a tad warmer than the others but I thought that was normal. That may be part of the problem, though. There's no reason to think it's just one thing.
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