Another A/C temp question...

[Jareds 89 LX-i]

Alright this may just be normal and I'm just dumb, cuz I've never had working a/c in any vehicle, but here's what's going on. When I'm sitting at a long stoplight or moving super slow for awile (so pretty much at low rpm's), the air doesn't blow very cold. It's not warm, it's just cool instead of cold. Once you get moving, even just a little bit, it gets cold again real fast. Like on the highway or just when you're moving at a steady speed, it will blow 40 degrees on a 90 degree day (yes I stuck the thermometer in there), but when you come to an idle such as at a stoplight, it becomes noticeably warmer. I thought it may be a slipping belt since I did just install a new belt and new belts always stretch out a little bit, so I checked it and it was a little on the loose side, so I tightened that up. I checked the refridgerant pressure and it's right where it should be, both fans work fine. I just installed a new expansion valve because the old one was completely plugged, but could this one be partically plugged or something, requiring the higher rpm's? It wouldn't suprise me if after 3 years of nonuse that there would be some debris in the system floating around. After I installed the expansion valve, I don't believe the shop that refilled it vacuumed the system before the put the juice in, so maybe that has something to do with it.

It only does this during the day on really HOT days. On cooler days, or in the evening or at night it's perfectly fine at idle and all...ice cold. Is this what everybody always meant when they said R134a just doesn't get as cold? LOL

Someone please enlighten me on your experiences with this

[Jareds 89 LX-i]

Nobody knows anything???

Oh well, I think I figured it out anyways. Looks like another expansion valve plugged up. I must of had alot of debris in the system, so tomorrow I'm gonna discharge it again and get a bottle of A/C flush to really clean everything out, mainly the condenser and evaporator, put the new expansion valve in, a couple more new o-rings, and fill 'er up again Hopefully this will be the last expansion valve! AHHH!!

[ACCORD EX]

thanx for sharing Jared ! i am gonna have a lot of problems with A/C untill i fix it ! so any help from you in my thread will be appreciated !

MIKE

[Jareds 89 LX-i]

Actually I was mistaken as for the reason it wasn't blowing cold. After further investgation, it turned out to be the cooling fans! Keep in mind that the fans keep air moving through the condenser when you're not moving fast in order to keep the condenser cool (which it must be to make the a/c work properly). The large fan isn't spinning at all, and the small one is turning but it's spinning backwards, so it's blowing the hot air from the radiator right onto the condenser. So I'm gonna get 2 new fans at the boneyard on monday, and that should fix it *hopefully* LOL

[Lester Lugnut]

Jared - also make sure the front of the condensor that sits in front of the radiator is clean - free of bugs, debris, etc.

[Jareds 89 LX-i]

Thanks....yea the condenser is nice and clean. I just installed it a couple weeks ago and it was real good. I got it all figured out though.... I cut the wires on the small fan motor and switched them so that one is spinning the right way now (that's just temporary, I'm gonna replace the whole fan with one from an 88-89. That fan is from an 86, and I'm thinking the wiring or the plug may be a bit different, causing it to spin wrong). I discovered that the large fan wasn't working because of a fried relay in the underhood fusebox. I could wiggle the relay around a bit and the fan would surge on and off. Luckily I had a spare relay (exactly the one that fits the cooling fan), so I stuck that in there and it works good as new. The plug on the fan wasn't making a real good connection either, as you could wiggle it and the fan would go on and off, so I bent the springy things in there to make it tighter against the prongs, and now that's fine too. Finally, problem solved! The a/c now blows nice and cold at all times, idleing and all. WooHoo!! I think I've finally worked all the bugs out, almost. Still getting that check engine light I mentioned in the other post