Something weirdly happened...

I turn the dial on my a/c going 0-1-2-3-4 and the blowing air works normal as it should with its respectable strength. As I hit the A/C button, no cool air comes out, but I hear the normal machine sound start running as it should normally when I turn on the a/c before.

So I left everything as it is running, got off the car, opened up the front hood, and try to check the compressor, and it is running fine. Then, I start to notice that there is some really cooling cool air blowing right into my face when I get my face and eye closer to the engine bay to figure out whats happening, and I am in an indoor garage, so the cool air cannot be wind or anything else...

Can anyone here help and maybe tell me whats going on, and what can be done, what are the fixes?!?!

Thanks!

 

That sounds like a leak, my friend. Cold air coming outta the wrong hole? I always prefer and recommend (unless its super obvious your condenser got slammed with a rock) to get things professionally inspected, then save some change by doing the parts shopping and wrenching yourself.

 

Scheduled a guy locally to see whats happened. Hopefully nothing serious!

 

Is the blowing air constant? Because if it cycles with the compressor you're confusing the radiator fan with HVAC air. The radiator fan duty cycles with the AC compressor. Unless you punched a hole in the firewall through the HVAC there should not be air coming back at you. It's not possible otherwise.

I lost an AC compressor relay last May. This relay controlled the magnetic clutch on the face of the compressor. When the AC was turned on the radiator fan would cycle but the compressor wouldn't. $12 of relay later and I had cold air again.

 

Tes, the blowing air is constant and quite strong i would say. Thats whenever i have the A/C button pressed on.

I did research online before opening this thread, and i did find something like you mentioned, the relay problem.

At first, i thought ah-ha, that was it, so i ran to the car and check if im having the same or similar case, but then, the relay problem seems to be happening with the ac compressor not running, but mine seems to be running. (i still cant say 100% i know exactly what im saying)

 

The radiator fan cycles on when the command is given to turn the AC compressor off. The radiator fan doesn't turn back off until the compressor reaches a certain pressure (no idea what that psi is at the moment). So if the compressor isn't getting to the magic psi the radiator fan will never cycle off. That's why it's constant with the AC button depressed.

​​​​​None of the HVAC system sees outside exposure save for the fresh air flap and even if that were the case the fan would need to be spinning backwards and you wouldn't feel air out of the cabin ac vents. I'm 95% sure the compressor is being cycled on but because the duty cycle is never completed the radiator fan spins endlessly.

 

so far....what ive observed:
1) a/c button pressed on, fresh cool air blows in the engine bay. A/C button pressed off, no fresh cool air, off instantly.

2) the wheels and belts on the left of the engine bay are all running smoothly.

3) when i turn the fan dial to 1, and a/c button on, i can hear tissing sound from the vents from inside the cabin

 

Yup. Sounds like a broken relay behind the driver side headlight to me.

 

Got it checked out by a local mechanic, and the problem was described to me as the a/c pressure swtich was broken, maybe due to some road circumstance, that led to the a/c not functioning correctly. Merely a small fix, dropped off and picked up after 2 hours with a bill of AU$150. The car now is all good and running smoothly for a week now.