Can someone point me in the right direction or recommend a competent air conditioning shop in the San Fernando Valley? I took a trip out to Vegas this weekend and the AC couldn't keep the cabin cold, it was lukewarm at best. I had the AC system flushed and recharged before the trip and while the AC blows 38 degrees out the vent at highway speeds, the cabin never got cold. At idle while stuck in traffic, the vents were blowing barely cool air if you stuck your hand in front of the vent, 6 inches away from the vent and I couldn't really feel cold air anymore.

I did notice that with the rear AC on, the front vents did seem colder, but nothing as cold as my daily beater or my old Suburban. Outside temps varied from 109-112 and we were all sweating in the truck with both AC's on full blast. I am taking another trip out to Vegas, Hoover Dam, and maybe the Grand Canyon next month and I know that temps are going to be just as hot then. I just don't feel like getting baked in my truck again.

My windows are tinted with 2.5% film with the exception of the front two doors, but that doesn't seem to help with the AC cooling down the cabin. is there anything I should check? The AC shop I went to didn't seem to think there was anything wrong.

 

Are you saying there is not good air flow to the vents? Cold, but not enough flow?

How does it perform in MAX A/C? That's when it recirculates the inside air through the system.

How is it in regular AC, when it takes in "outside air" to cool off instead?

If the flow changes, you likely have a blocked inside air "intake duct". Happens often, when a plastic "baggie" gets sucked up into the intake port under the dash on the passenger's side above the foot well.

If it isn't that, you may have a "Blend Door" problem/ While not real common, it happens.

Have you been looking at the A/C forum here at FTE? Lots of good info about this subject there.

Where in the Valley are you located?

Pop

 

The flow out of the front vents feels pretty weak with the fan speed on its highest setting. I have the AC control unit with a digital display on it, I don't see any setting for MAX. I assume that some Excursions came with AC controls with ***** and others with the digital display? I do however, always turn on the recirc button whenever I have the AC turned on.

I've been reading up on these AC systems here on FTE, everything from the blend door to the clutch gap. It just feels like the hot air from the cabin never gets cooled down and unless you have a vent pointed directly at you, you can feel the heat stagnant in the cabin.

I am located in North Hollywood, anything around the Valley and LA is convenient for me. Or if there's a willing fellow member nearby who's familiar with these things, there's a six pack in it for you if you'd like to help me troubleshoot.

 

Have you looked for yourself to see that the recirculating, "cabin intake port" is clear of any obstruction?

That's the usual cause of weak flow.

Pop

 

I'm still learning about where everything is on my truck. Is this cabin intake port the intake hidden by the glovebox?

 

No. it's at the bottom of the black heater-A/C box that's behind the glove box.

Near your passenger's toes.

If you can't locate it, and you're willing to bring it out to Reseda, I'll look at it for you.

Pop

 

I'll try to dig into it tonight and see if there are any obstructions in there. Thanks!

 

Ok, I was just outside in the heat looking at a few things. I checked the vacuum lines under the hood and everything seems to be in place. The grey vacuum line that connects to the heater line is plugged in and I confirmed that the valve does close when I turn on the AC.

I took off a black panel held in by two screws in the passenger footwell. I can see a plastic mesh looking grill on the firewall. Is this the cabin intake port? If so, I can't see any kind of obstruction there. If I press the recirc button the AC control panel, I can feel tons of hot air blowing out of that port. Is that normal? If I turn off the recirc button, I don't feel any air coming out of that port anymore.I hope this makes sense.

 

When you select floor or floor/dash do you have any flow at the base of the windshield? I had an EATC head unit get flaky, and that was a symptom.

 

I just stepped outside and tried that. There doesn't seem to be any flow at the base of the windshield unless I specifically choose defrost.

 

Anything further?

Pop

 

I haven't found anything else out of place. No obstructions, checked the condenser and it's pretty clean, compressor comes on and cycles on and off just fine. Should the airflow to the front vents increase if the recirc button is pressed?

 

I notice a slight increase in flow when I hit recirc.

Is the rear system putting out air any colder than the front? When you use the front head unit to change the supply zones, are they all correct? Have you cranked the temp all the way up to make sure heating is working correctly?

If the rear system is working correctly, I'd suspect the head unit. They have a self diagnostic feature, but mine was bad and didn't throw any errors. Drove me nuts for a day or two.

 

The rear system seems to be working, but I can't really tell since I am always driving. I do however, notice that the AC will blow colder if I have the rear system on. Is the Excursion's cabin just too big for the front system to cool it down without the use of the rear system? If I don't have any rear passengers, I usually leave the rear system off since it drips water onto my MBRP tip.

In regards to the self diagnostic on the head unit, should it automatically show some kind of code if something has gone wrong?

Heating seems to work just fine if I have the temp cranked all the way up.

 

I live in Vegas and the front system is enough to keep the cabin comfortable. I'll only turn the rear system on when I have passengers back there. I'm more acclimated to the temps though, so if the cabin is 80*, that feels good to me when it 115* outside.

When you change the fan speed selector is there a definite change in volume with every commanded increase? I'm still not clear if you have a problem with discharge air temperature, or volume.

Here's a short vid on the EATC head unit self diagnostic feature. They won't always throw codes when they're bad.

Ford EATC Diagnostic Test (Self-Test) Procedure for Electronic Automatic Temperature Control Modules - YouTube

The dealer that fixed mine swapped in a new head unit to see if that fixed the problem, and it did. I went through all of the pinpoint troubleshooting from the factory manual which involved a lot of vacuum testing(which was very time consuming), and it didn't identify any problems.

You could still have a mechanical problem with the front evaporator, blower, or blend door also. Rule out what you can. Hopefully your charge pressures really are good. Adding the load of the rear evaporator, which then makes the front colder, is unusual.

If you've read the majority of EATC threads you've seen that troubleshooting them often leads down a rabbit hole. That's when an experienced Ford dealer tech is worth every penny you pay them.