i turned on the a/c yesterday and noticed that it was not blowing too cold. I checked the cabin filter and it was pretty clean. it is always set to recirculate and it has always been consistently cold at 38 degrees i know this because I always keep a thermometer in the vent. i noticed that the compressor has been kicking in a lot more frequently too and the air temp is at about 55 degrees. the air is dry but just not as cold as it should be.

any ideas? thank you so much.

 

first of all, how long have you had this car? if you constanly use the a/c on cool (like me), it's maximum lifetime is about 3-5 years depending on your usage for the refrigerant fluid.. my advice if the filter is still clean, go to a stealer and check your refrigerant level. if it is low, then add it. if it is already full, you might want to check the condenser whether it is still working properly, i.e. filters and lines are not blocked.

hope it helps

 

kodok i have had this car for 7 months..... its a 2007 but the a/c was perfect last week until that one day. i had not hit anything that may have drained the freon in fact the car was parked when i turned it on. the system seems to be still blowing dry and cold air conditioned air however its not as cold as it should be and the compressor seems to kick in way to frequently. is there a way to reset the system? perhaps a fuse or relay that might cause this?

 

first of all u sure it's the compressor kicking in, and not just the electric fan? the compressor kicking in usually results in idle up kicking in as well. if the compressor kicked in, i hardly think there is anything to do with fuses, since as far as i know, the broken fuse will result compressor not kicking in at all..

i'm no expert in this, but i can think of a few posibilities:
1. there are ice buildup in your pipings and blocking the refrigerant fluid. how to remedy: run the a/c on hot in free air mode for a few minutes, preferably while driving with your windows open. you will clear the blockage and the filters. then try to set it to cool again. If that doesn't work then:
2. check that your condenser is still working properly and not blocked. how to know: you need to disconnect the pipings going to and from the condenser, then try to blow manually into the pipe going into the condenser. if you can still blow through a little (it's hard to blow into the condenser), that means it's free... if not at all, then it's blocked, you need to clean the condenser filter and clear any blockage in the cooling pipes. I suggest you go to a professional for this... screwing up at this point might damage your a/c unit... (oo, and don't try to blow compressed air through the condenser, i'm not sure whether it will not ruin the filter)
3. if your condenser is in tip top shape, then you might want to check the pipings to check whether there are any air seeping out especially on the rubber pipe part. But this is extra hard to do. most of my friends just go and exchange the a/c lines with new ones.
3. after no2 and 3 're done, you will still need to check and refill the refrigerant fluid again, since openings the piping might result in loss of fluid.

that's all i can think of, and still if step 1 doesn't work, you might want to consider going to a professional, unless you know what you're doing.. i won't be responsible for any damage to your car.

 

kodok thank you so much for this. I do know what I am doing but I dont know if i wwant to go through all of this with the risk of messing up the car or the system for that matter. anything else I can do short of any of these methods?

anyone else having this problem by any chance???

thank you in advance

 

it needs topping of refrigerant/air con

 

Have to agree - first thing is to have have refrigerant pressure checked, bring it up to spec.

 

try to have refill the refrigerant to qualified/ car air con specialist, they might do a check for the leaks as well. I refill mines evry year or so dependent on ac usage.