Aircon

Swedishmoose · 13-03-2009, 05:49 PM

Hi there...

is it normal that on humid days ( temp arround 25 C° ) you can see like steam coming out of the air vents in the centre console of the dashboard when the aircon is on or is there a leak somewhere ?
First I thought it was something got sucked in from the car in front of me, but it wasn't.

It doesn't smell and it is slightly visible.

Thanks for any ideas or advice

The Moose

Swedishmoose · 13-03-2009, 07:09 PM

............

sorry for the double post...but I forgot something....

what also irritates me that the aircon sometimes doesn't deliver cold air for a few minutes and than suddenly the cold air kicks back in .
When I start the engine and turn the aircon on, everything is fine ( ac works nicely and cold ) . Then I drive arround and after roughly five minutes the air gets warmer and it feels like the aircon turned off automatically . After a few more minutes the cold air kicks back in.
Do I just have to refill the aircon or is is it just telling me that the aircon is about to die ?

Thanks again for any ideas and sorry again for the double post....

The Moose

P.S. do you have to remove the dashboard with the AU if you want to replace parts of the aircon or can you reach from underneath (like the passenger foot room or drivers foot room ? ) without taking it out ?

NC1183 · 13-03-2009, 09:02 PM

My ute was doing both those, heating up then not cooling back down properly, after i had the A/C Compressor changed, after three trips to workshops after the change it was diagnosed as to much oil in the compressor.system.

What causes the mist from the vents is apparently the evaporator ice-ing up because it gets to cold, mine stopped this when i fixed the blend door wire.

Umineko · 13-03-2009, 09:44 PM

I had a similar issue with similar symptoms on my old DL LTD and that turned out to be a pinhole leak in the evaporator coil, the mist was the A/C gas escaping, the end result was having to tear out the whole dash and replace the evaporator... not at all fun

Swedishmoose · 14-03-2009, 03:07 PM

Hi there...

the question is now how to test if it is just the evaporator being too cold and icing or if there is a pinhole which causes the gas to disappear....
I really don't want to take the whole dash out because it is a lot of work and usually you scratch it somewhere. If you bring it to the shop, they charge you an arm and a leg.

Is there a way to fix it without taking the dash out ?

Thanks again...

The moose

Umineko · 20-03-2009, 05:15 PM

for sure, take it to an Aircon place and have them check the gas level, if that's ok you can rule out pinhole leaks, if not they'll run a leak detector over it which sould find the problem, I don't know if it was a std thing but my LTD has a little sticker informing me that a UV trace dye was added to the aircon gas. if yours has this you can find any leak yourself with a UV lamp. if the system checks out ok then it could be an icing issue, a couple of things can cause this. not enough airflow over the evaporator core caused by leaves etc blocking the core or a dodgy fan motor, or too much gas in the system. you didn't say whether you have climate control or a standard system if you have climate control then a little animal called the blend air door could be the problem.
unfortunatley you will have to remove the dash to make repairs to the interior components of the a/c system as access is near impossible any other way though from memory you can get enough access to clear leaves and debris from around the fan.