can you upgrade your A/C?

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That is what I think too.. recharge it.. My A/C worked but not well. recharged it yesterday and it works great. it was cycling the LP switch afte about 10 seconds, but still able to cool the incoming air...
 
HISSIN50 said:
Scott, nice try but you can't pull my leg that easily. :)

So the thermometer in your vent has been reading 80-85*F lately? That's gotta be miserable.

My a/c keeps leaking the refridgerant. I have to just suffer w/o a/c.

http://www.cchis.com/tips/centralair.htm

A delta greater than 20* indicates a problem with the duct work or insufficient blower CFM. Remember that the a/c can only cool the air that it gets. So as the a/c blows for a bit, the air that comes in starts to get cooler and cooler, which makes the car cooler. This is assuming you have it on recirculate, not from outside air. Which totall defeats the purpose IMO.
Scott
 
I used to live in Jackson, MS and often traveled in south Louisiana with the stang. After ONE summer with a lot of traveling, I couldn't stand the same A/C issue either. Once I got tint and a proper fitting windshield screen (silver), the car never got as hot anymore when sitting under pure sun for hours. Finally, the A/C did a better job after just a few minutes and stayed cooler than ever.

I'm just repeating what has worked for others, but nothing beats shade, tint, and a good fitting windshield screen. Get your A/C checked every couple years and all should be good for years to come.
 
The Green GT said:
My system was evacuated, vaccumed, and recharged when i got my car. About 6 months ago. It gets so hot down here once the air comes out of the vent it it made to room temperature. At night I cant keep it on high for long cause it will make me too cold. During the day I put it on max and turn it up to 4 and I am sweating.

Check the pressure of the system. The mechanic could have overcharged the AC, which is just bad as an undercharged system:shrug: . All you need is the AC vacuum gauge, which you can get at Autozone. I just recently vacuumed and charged my AC and it gets ice cold to where I have to turn away the vents and I live in the DC area where it gets upwards of mid 90s to 100* with high humidity (makes it feel even hotter) - like today. Something to think about.

Another thing are the 2 lines coming of the receiver/dryer cold? If not there could be your problem -receiver/dryer. Also, check the lines at the compressor - the low pressure line (coming from the receiver/dryer) should be cold and the high pressure line (going from compressor to condensor) should be hot. They should not be the same. I think there's either too much freon in the system or a mechanical problem. Remember, if the freon is low the AC clutch will cycle on and off constantly. It should not take 15 minutes to cool the car and definitely not that long to feel cold air coming from the vents - The center vents should kick out at 55*. I can feel the cold air coming from the vents within a few minutes just as one of the posters mention above.


Check out this site it should answer your questions.
www.aircondition.com
 
my a/c gets cold almost instantly, but after my car sits outside in 100 degree weather in the florida sun it takes forever for it to seem cool. if you hold your hand infront of the vent it is cold, but by the time its a foot or two away from the vent its already warm
 
mo_dingo said:
My a/c keeps leaking the refridgerant. I have to just suffer w/o a/c.

http://www.cchis.com/tips/centralair.htm

A delta greater than 20* indicates a problem with the duct work or insufficient blower CFM. Remember that the a/c can only cool the air that it gets. So as the a/c blows for a bit, the air that comes in starts to get cooler and cooler, which makes the car cooler. This is assuming you have it on recirculate, not from outside air. Which totall defeats the purpose IMO.
Scott
Again, the temp delta is not from the ambient air vs vent temps (this was my original point). Comparisons were being drawn between the wrong components.
I was posting for clarification before (not to be a jerk) as your first post read (to me) very misleadingly. Temps at the Evap can be near freezing (one doesnt want to actually freeze, but can come quite close).

And you accidentally posted a link to residental HVAC. There are numerous differences. We've chatted HVAC before and I know you know what's up.
:cheers:
 
HISSIN50 said:
Again, the temp delta is not from the ambient air vs vent temps (this was my original point). Comparisons were being drawn between the wrong components.
I was posting for clarification before (not to be a jerk) as your first post read (to me) very misleadingly. Temps at the Evap can be near freezing (one doesnt want to actually freeze, but can come quite close).

And you accidentally posted a link to residental HVAC. There are numerous differences. We've chatted HVAC before and I know you know what's up.
:cheers:

Yeah, you freaking jerk!!!!! :)

Yeah I suppose I wasn't clearly stating that the delta was between the incoming air temp to evap and the output air at the vent. That is what I mean; sorry for the confusion. Unless you don't have the vent on recirculate, then ambient temp minus vent temp = ~19-25*F.

And I meant to post the residential hvac. I don't see why the two would be any different. They still pass air through a evaporator; the only exception is one compressor runs off of 120V and the other runs off of a belt (and r22/r134a diff). Smaller a/c's on RV's have an evaporator not much bigger than a auto one.

I honestly don't see why a car would be any more/less efficient. Condenser temps on a residential a/c get above 200*, as do a auto a/c. Please enlighten me if there is something I am missing JT; I always love to learn.
Scott
 
Scott, as you know, the principles are the same (for many residential systems). But the packaging and application lead to enough differences that I would reference automotive A/C articles in a thread like this.

I really thought you had an article saved in an A/C favorites file and hit the wrong link. My bad.
 
mo_dingo said:
That is perfectly normal. Your a/c output should be anywhere from 19-26* cooler than the air coming in. That is the critical factor to remember. The a/c system can only cool what's coming in, and if it's 100* out, the air blowing out the vents should be about 75-80*.

Another thing to remember is that as you increase the CFM of air across the evaporator, the temp of the air coming out of the vents increases.

You obviously need to try to keep the car cooler while it's parked. Window tint + sun shade + windows cracked a tiny bit should help a lot. Find some shade if you can too.

Have you checked the condensor to see if the fins are all smashed? How hot does your car run (coolant temp wise).
Scott

Ac should be at least 30 degrees cooler .If not there is a problem in the system. Thats for all cars.
 
Tint is about the only upgrade. Go as dark as legal (or darker if you don't care) and it will keep the sun out of the interior.

Also when you first turn on the A/C roll down both windows and turn it to normal (draws air from outside, which will be cooler than the air inside). Start driving as the A/C is more efficient at higher engine speed and after a lot of the hot air inside is lost, roll the windows up. After a few more mins switch over to MAX A/C which will now draw air from the inside. The interior air will be cooler than the outside air so each pass through the evap will result in even cooler air. It will also dehumidify the air better.

Also, when testing the temp of the air coming from the vents, the longer you wait the colder it will be. In my GT after an extended time of running i can get the temp of the air from my vents down to the low 40's. Of course this al depends on outside temp and how hot the sun is and so on.
 
BPA said:
Ac should be at least 30 degrees cooler .If not there is a problem in the system. Thats for all cars.

I looked for articles relating to the auto side and I couldn't find any...

but since this is still going, and I am stubborn as hell, I thought I would post this.

http://www.glacierbay.com/Darphtm.asp

The graph shown reflects the temperature in the location that the driver would occupy, which also should reflect the temperature that is coming into the evaporator.

darph0%7Bimage7%7D.gif


I should also note that is with the vent speed on high. If you are running the vent on medium then temperature delta will increase obviously. Since a r-22 based a/c system usually has only 2 fan speed controls (high/low), all testing is done in high speed mode only.
Scott
 
Whater you determine to be the problem could you please post the results here so that we, at least myself, would know if our diagnostics were helpful or not. It will also help us and others in the future when we do a search because of similar issues with the AC.

I ask this because when I had AC problems as well as others I search and found many posts but the original poster did not post whether or not the problem was resolved and/or if the diagnositics were helpful and that can be frustrating because you then have start a new post and hope to get help. I think posting results is important here on these forums because it helps others and it's a form of thanks to those who took out the time to help. Just One Man's Opinion.:nice:

Peace
 
Ok about three years ago my whole A/C system was completely replaced. I am in north Alabama where the humidity is crazy! I can turn on my A/C after getting out of work leave the windows down for the first minute or two to circulate the hot air out of the car a little. Then, no more than maybe three minutes the car is nice and chilled. I can't leave it on max for more that 10 minutes even in 95+* heat cause i'll be freezing. I love the A/C in my car its great!