Toasty Warm A/c...

[mrbutz1]

Thanks SK for the pinned codes and FAQ. I will check for error codes when I get back out to the car after work.

In the meantime a couple questions as I am leaving on a 1400 mile road trip on Thursday to blazing hot Florida!!:

1994 ES.

a/c light steady ON.

good air flow.

compressor turns on and off (can tell by engine vibration/tach movement)

but air is barely cool.

Do I just need a recharge? If so, I'll just take it to Midas or some such place.

OR...does this sound like something worse??

Thanks, I have to get this fixed before Thursday when I leave! :)

[dcfish]

Thanks SK for the pinned codes and FAQ. I will check for error codes when I get back out to the car after work.

In the meantime a couple questions as I am leaving on a 1400 mile road trip on Thursday to blazing hot Florida!!:

1994 ES.

a/c light steady ON.

good air flow.

compressor turns on and off (can tell by engine vibration/tach movement)

but air is barely cool.

Do I just need a recharge? If so, I'll just take it to Midas or some such place.

OR...does this sound like something worse??

Thanks, I have to get this fixed before Thursday when I leave! :)

It sounds like a recharge to me. I am no expert in the a/c field though. Just by experience over the years.

[wwest]

Thanks SK for the pinned codes and FAQ. I will check for error codes when I get back out to the car after work.

In the meantime a couple questions as I am leaving on a 1400 mile road trip on Thursday to blazing hot Florida!!:

1994 ES.

a/c light steady ON.

good air flow.

compressor turns on and off (can tell by engine vibration/tach movement)

but air is barely cool.

Do I just need a recharge? If so, I'll just take it to Midas or some such place.

OR...does this sound like something worse??

Thanks, I have to get this fixed before Thursday when I leave! :)

It sounds like a recharge to me. I am no expert in the a/c field though. Just by experience over the years.

If the compressor cycles on and off then the refrigerant level is not so low as to lock out the compressor to prevent damage. And the off cycling means that the high, liquid, side is reaching a high enough pressure level that there should be sufficient cooling.

If you move the temperatur esetpoint to max cooling the system will bypass ALL sensors and simply move the reheat/remix servomotor door/vane control to the maximum cooling position, I.E, NONE of the system airflow should be reheated. Another test you might try is running the A/C before the engine coolant gets hot enough for the reheating "path" to be effective. If it cools at first and the warms as the engine coolant heats up then the reheat/remix servomotor is definitely at fault.

If the latter case you could go to Home Depot and buy a manual water flow shutoff valve to install in the engine coolant line to the heater core so you at least have cooling throughout the summer and then open the valve when it turns cold enough. You can also make your normally operating A/C drastically more efficient, improveed FE, for cooling via shuting that valve.

[CUMan]

The mid-90's ES models are notorious for expansion valve problems. Usually, you have good cooling when you first start the car, but the cooling stops after a while. The problem is most common when the outside temperature is pretty hot.

This problem has been discussed numerous times. Do a search.

[mrbutz1]

The mid-90's ES models are notorious for expansion valve problems. Usually, you have good cooling when you first start the car, but the cooling stops after a while. The problem is most common when the outside temperature is pretty hot.

This problem has been discussed numerous times. Do a search.

$95 a/c recharge at a local CarX store and I'm chillin' again. No leaks detected.

Thanks for the responses.

Off to Florida!

[dcfish]

The mid-90's ES models are notorious for expansion valve problems. Usually, you have good cooling when you first start the car, but the cooling stops after a while. The problem is most common when the outside temperature is pretty hot.

This problem has been discussed numerous times. Do a search.

$95 a/c recharge at a local CarX store and I'm chillin' again. No leaks detected.

Thanks for the responses.

Off to Florida!

Stay cool and have a safe trip