Any A/C Techs?

[46Tbird]

The a/c in my girlfriend's Hyundai is starting to blow inconsistently. It works fine 95% of the time but occasionally will cut out for a couple of minutes and then start back up again.

It probably just needs freon, but I'd like someone I trust to hook up the gauges and check it out. Thanks!

[Baron Von Crowder]

If it's cold, then not for a short time, then cold again, it's likely something other than being low on Freon.

I sell a ton of heater/ac controllers, for example. My wife's highlander does the same thing, it's the controller in the dash acting up.

[stephen4785]

Does the air stop blowing or does it stop blowing cold?

[BMCSean]

The a/c in my girlfriend's Hyundai is starting to blow inconsistently. It works fine 95% of the time but occasionally will cut out for a couple of minutes and then start back up again.

It probably just needs freon, but I'd like someone I trust to hook up the gauges and check it out. Thanks!

My wife's old Mazda did the same thing, it was the switch relay or something in the panel in the dash. We just got rid of the car, so much easier.

[Captain Crawfish]

It may be low on refrigerant is the compressor short cycling? Whatever you do don't over charge it. All that does is blow out the seals.

[46Tbird]

Does the air stop blowing or does it stop blowing cold?

The air blows the whole time. But it goes from being cold to warm for short periods of time. Also, the a/c doesn't seem to be quite as cold as it should be.

[Denny]

The air blows the whole time. But it goes from being cold to warm for short periods of time. Also, the a/c doesn't seem to be quite as cold as it should be.

That's what mine was doing. Found a leaking schrader (sp) valve and had it recharged.

[46Tbird]

That's what mine was doing. Found a leaking schrader (sp) valve and had it recharged.

Yep, that's my guess at the moment. I just want an honest, qualified tech to look it over. I'm not looking for a freebie, btw - I just want it fixed.

[Chili]

I have a Guage manifold thingy if you want to borrow it just to get numbers to post, just to rule out freon.

http://www.harborfreight.com/a-c-manifold-gauge-set-92649.html

[stephen4785]

The air blows the whole time. But it goes from being cold to warm for short periods of time. Also, the a/c doesn't seem to be quite as cold as it should be.

Sounds like its low on freon but theres no way to tell without hooking a set of gauges up. About 70% of the leaks I find are from the schrader valves. Run the vehicle with the ac on high, take the caps off and pour some water/beer/ over the tops and look at it to see if there bubbles coming out. Another indication is if theres one spot that has a lot of dirt/dust collecting around it. The oil in the system leaks out with the freon and dirt sticks to the oil.

[Gasser64]

Sounds like its low on freon but theres no way to tell without hooking a set of gauges up. About 70% of the leaks I find are from the schrader valves. Run the vehicle with the ac on high, take the caps off and pour some water/beer/ over the tops and look at it to see if there bubbles coming out. Another indication is if theres one spot that has a lot of dirt/dust collecting around it. The oil in the system leaks out with the freon and dirt sticks to the oil.

PM sent

[46Tbird]

Well, her truck eventually "fixed itself" last year but it seems to be acting up again a little more regularly.

Same deal, not looking for a hookup per se, I just want someone that knows what the hell they're doing to take a look at it. TIA

[bonnie&clyde]

what about when it takes forever for the air to get cold, once its cold its pretty cold but just takes too damn long to cool off, I can hear the compressor kick on and off

[Captain Crawfish]

The lines off the evaporator should be getting cold as soon as compressor kicks on. If not it may be low or plugged up. You need to put gauges on it otherwise it's like pissing into a hurricane

[shumpertdavid]

You really need someone with a refrigerant recovery machine to evacuate the system, which will measure what it removes, and determine if it was actually low or not. Gauge readings are not a certain way to tell if it's actually low or charged correct, or overcharged. The pressures are important, I'm not saying that, but R-134-A doesn't always act the way you'd think it would. I had a vehicle the other day that had higher pressure readings that normal when I first connected the machine and ran the car. Something like 330psi on the high side and 55psi on the low side. those numbers wouldn't look to bad on a 100 degree day in texas, but it was closer to 82 outside. I recovered the system and only removed about .6 lbs out of a system that held 1.25lbs. My point is that gauges aren't a sure fire way to determine the charge amount.

Also, I've seen the evaporator temperature sensor cause issues like you are describing. My advice is to have someone check the charge amount first as I described above.