AC not blowing any cold air
 

Hello all,


I have a 2013 FRS with about 150k km on the odo, and the AC has stopped working. It was working fine last year during the summer, blew ice cold AC instantly the button is pressed, and now it blows ambient temp.



So far I've checked all fuses, and swapped the horn and AC relays to no effect.



When I press the AC button, the AC compressor does start to spin and both front fans turn on as well. However, there is no cold air regardless of how long I wait nor how fast I'm driving. I've checked all lines and there doesn't appear to be any damage. The exposed part of the condenser in the grille is a little beat up from road debris and bugs, but nothing major.


Any tips?

Yep, I suggest you take your car into a shop and have them check for leaks in the system and recharge with refrigerant.


humfrz

You probably need a recharge, assuming you have no leaks.

The easiest fix is AC Pro, it does work, again, assuming you don't have any leaks. I' ve used it on lexus rx and it worked great.

But i would do it the correct way with AC manifold and vacuum pump. All can be rented from auto zone. Wear goggles and gloves if you're going to mess with ac system.

NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO


That junk is just shoveling the cost forwards and amplifying it.

1: To properly service, nevermind diagnose, an AC system you're going to need a machine to recover what's in the car, a vacuum pump, a refrigerant scale, a set of gauges and an oil injection gun. An AC refilled with junk in a can will never work as well one that's been properly serviced.

2: To properly leak test a system you're going to need some nitrogen at about 200 PSI and a bottle of soapy water or a high sensitivity ultrasonic mic, or if you're unlucky, some AC dye and a UV lamp if it's a really small leak (like I had to find today on a '12 civic)

3: Any workshop that tests incoming cars with a refrigerant identifier will spot the leak sealants in junk like acpro and instead of paying for just a quick leak test and a service, now you'll be paying for a condenser and a complete system flush before any diagnostic gets done. Modern condensers use extremely fine conduits that get clogged by leak sealers.

4: Refrigerant with stop leak in it is considered contaminated and has to be sequestered and destroyed.

5: Most shops with an automatic service machine will refuse to work on something that has stop leak in it because it gums up the solenoid valves.

Would you DIY your fridge? just take it to a shop, the amount of equipment and expertise needed to do this well is not negligible, and the cost of mucking it up yourself can get astronomically high.

Do you even need A/C up there in Toronto?

Never been there myself... just curious how warm it actually gets there.

Ooh pm me a price I have not been able to play my Jethro Tull Collection for years:thumbsup:

Listen to RZNT4R!!!
There’s a couple reasons why your AC doesn’t work. Taking it to a shop that can recover what refrigerant is left can tell you if there’s any missing but as well it will tell you the pressures of the compressor. If the compressor isn’t within operating spec, then it’s the compressor. If you are missing refrigerant then you will spot a leak either noticeable or not. Start from the compressor and follow both AC lines all the way to the firewall to see if there’s any leaks , if no leak is found, you can put die into the system when you recharge it and it will show once it leaks. Another possibility can be that your blower motor isn’t turning on as well. Best advice, Go to a reputable place you can trust. I’m a mechanic at a dealership and I recommend people to go to people who know what they are doing over anything. Sometimes that means even going to the dealership. But in my opinion it might be more money going to the dealership, but they will fix your problem. Another piece of advice is that you can always have them diagnose it, and then do the fix yourself.

Where in the hell did THAT come from - :confused0068:

I think you went from too much coffee to too much weed - :iono:

:D


humfrz

Same as were you are, except only in summer.
Winter is like the arctic sometimes.
:sigh:

The lowest exterior temp I've seen on my dash is -27°C

We had -40* C in Montana a few times. It was brutal. There was always a couple weeks in February in the -10 to -20 F range. Definitely don't miss that.

The lowest I have seen on my dash is -40C.
The highest I have seen on my dash is +40C.

Twilight zone that was an answer to another thread!

I'm ah starten ta worry bout you, there, Fast13FRS - :sigh:


humfrz

Yup me mum too - crap now i'm turning British :mad0260:

I knew these Japanese cars would lead to No Good! Now I have to drive my Range Rover home to the country (shire) and drive my Jag XF to get over it - Wait I am British :bonk:

You and my almost three year old granddaughter. Her favorite TV show is Peppa Pig, a British children's program, so they speak with an British accent. Many of her words and phrases are very British sounding.


humfrz

Please listen to @RZNT4R, a nitrogen purge and leak test is a must to remove contaminants and non-condensables out of the system properly. Then when they add new refrigerant to properly extend the life of the compressor they should add a compressor refrigerant oil as some of it will be removed by a vacuum pumping process.


6 years and 93000 miles is about the time when certain things start to gain leaks and need to be repaired so do it right. If it hasn't been done before using a condenser cleaner like nubrite and replacing the cabin air filter would help a bit when this is properly fixed as well. You wouldn't repair a HVAC system at your house without a professional so don't start here even though it's a smaller scale.

I have a slightly similar issue but it only blows cold on the passenger side.

Get it recharged and checked for a leak. An under charged system will often only cool part of the evaporator, resulting in uneven cooling.

That's awesome I have been told I have the mentality of a 3 year old!

What can I say - :iono:


:D


humfrz

When the car goes in to limp mode the AC stops working. Have you checked for any fault codes?

The compressor would not run in an overheat/AC disable condition.

His compressor runs, but no cold comes from it. That usually means a system discharged just enough that the pressure switches let it operate, but greatly reduced refrigeration to the point of total inefficacy.

I've experienced an issue a couple of times where my A/C would cut out. It was relatively warm day .. but not too hot.

Situation:

Car was fully warmed up (been driving on the freeway ~15 minutes) and the AC cuts but fan keeps blowing. Nothing is flashing, the AC light is on.
Turning the AC on and off did nothing. I had to restart the car while driving (killed the engine and turned it back on).
I had to do this 2 more times several minutes afterward.

I haven't found out why that has happened.

I suggest you read @RZNT4R 's post. Maybe your system is low on gas - :iono:


humfrz

This was 2.5 weeks ago, its been working fine ever since. :iono:

Just wanted to update


Brought my car in to the dealership, paid for an AC recharge


They tested with a dye and also pressure tested prior to recharging with new R134A, no signs of serious leak in the system


AC blows ice cold air instantly now as before and is now working properly

Define "cleaning the air conditionner".

Cleaning the air distribution conduits? Cleaning the actual refrigeration system?

Both questions have no clear cut answers. You may not have to clean the air distribution system ever, or you may have to do it often depending on how much and how you use the AC, how often you service the cabin air filter, etc. I don't use my AC very often, and when I do I manually afterblow it to dry the evaporator core to keep funny smells from developing on a wet core left to sit. If you live in a humid climate and stop your car with the AC on full blast, you're basically leaving a big puddle of standing water in your dash that can grow algae or fungi and stink up things. If it ever starts to smell, they sell sprays for that stuff that you can shoot into the ac fan while it runs to kills that stuff and get rid of the smell.

Some makers build in an afterblow function into the AC which keeps the fan running after the car is shut down to dry the evaporator. The twins don't have that, just turn off the AC and keep the fan blowing a minute or two before you reach your destination to avoid the problem.

The refrigeration system can go the life of the car, or it may not. normally, as long as it's sealed and contaminants are kept out it'll work as it should. Even if you spring a leak, as long as you catch it quick and the empty system isn't left to stand in the elements with a hole in it, contaminants shouldn't enter and a simple repair and recharge would be all that's needed to return the system to normal operation. If you've got a nasty situation like a compressor that failed internally, then yeah, the system would need to be flushed and condenser/filter replaced to avoid shrapnel from the old compressor killing the new one.

Not so long ago, I faced with a problem like that. My AC'd been serving me for ages without any problems. But then it suddenly stopped functioning. I mean, the cool air didn't blow anymore. I racked my brain, trying to fix the air con by myself. But all my attempts unsuccessfully failed. So I decided to make an air conditioning repair fl. After that case, I always contact the professionals and don't try to repair something with my own hands. I just don't want to take risks and cause even more problems. Of course, someone prefers to save money, but I don't understand that.

Maybe it's out of gas?

:iono:

Welcome to our helpful forum - ;)

Fortunately for us automakers like to install a large and fragile component in the perfect place for it to get pelted with rocks. Instant failures tend to be from a flying pebble making sweet sweet love to your condenser.

It could be a lot of other things too, like a blown mag clutch fuse or bad relay, an open mag clutch coil, a stuck H valve, an AC request denied by the PCM for reasons, a worn clutch with too big of an air gap, etc etc etc.

Seeing how you seem to be on top of things and you've described the issue in detail and we couldn't pinpoint the issue, I think it's time to head to a shop.

Not long ago I replied to a bot post

If it starts blowing hot air, bring it to the off topic threads. Tcoat could use some competition

:slap: It's not nice to talk about old men thatta way.