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AC Issues. I'm stumped.

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Old Mar 21, 2011 | 06:27 AM
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AC Issues. I'm stumped.

For some reason my A/C has been working intermittently most of the time it stops working when it idles for a few minutes. If I'm headed down the highway most of the time it works fine. I just replaced the fan clutch so I know that's not it. I also tested the cycle switch it works fine. And the pressures are fine. So I don't know what it is. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks
 
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Old Mar 21, 2011 | 06:30 AM
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Is your EGR valve installed and plugged in?
 
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Old Mar 21, 2011 | 08:23 AM
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There is a vacuum valve on some motors controlling water thru heater core it is on the passenger side in engine compartment close to firewall..small tube running to it sometimes falls off just slip it back on..might be your problem..
 
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Old Mar 21, 2011 | 08:36 AM
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The Egr Valve is plugged in but the cooler is deleted and I'm pretty sure the Tuning shuts off Egr function. Also I replaced the vacum heater valve as well. I'm not sure what's it's deal is. It's done it for the last year or so. I just don't know a whole lot about A/C and I didn't want to just start throwing parts at it. It does have 250,000 miles on it so maybe the compressor is wore out.
 
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Old Mar 21, 2011 | 08:41 AM
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Have you checked your vacuum pump and vacuum lines might have a leak..
 
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Old Mar 21, 2011 | 09:10 AM
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Yea they seem to be working. My vac pump runs for 5 seconds every time I start the truck and shuts off and holds vacum. I've recently replaced the 4wd Hub vac switch as well. It was leaking bad for a while.
 
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Old Mar 21, 2011 | 09:28 AM
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Your description sounds like it could be just a hair low on freon. These systems are very finicky. More touchy about pressures than any of the earlier ac's that I've worked on.
 
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Old Mar 21, 2011 | 06:13 PM
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Originally Posted by 69cj
Your description sounds like it could be just a hair low on freon. These systems are very finicky. More touchy about pressures than any of the earlier ac's that I've worked on.
You got that right Mike. Even with the correct amount of freon in mine I found that a set of gauges seems to have better luck at getting the system to cool properly and pulling a vacuum on it prior to charging is critical.
 
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Old Mar 21, 2011 | 08:50 PM
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Thanks guys. I'll try adding some freon to it. I think I'll go ahead and replace the cycle switch it's only 17 bucks. We'll see what happens. Thanks again!
 
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Old Mar 21, 2011 | 09:06 PM
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Have you checked your pressures with a gauge set? My AC was going warm at idle and my high side pressure was getting high enough to kick the compressor off. It worked normally once you were moving. I never did find a problem, I thought the fan should work off of the AC system, but I didn't get an answer.
 
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Old Mar 21, 2011 | 09:48 PM
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That is exactly what mine is doing. So you never got it to work right?
 
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Old Mar 22, 2011 | 05:49 AM
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Originally Posted by 77-250
Have you checked your pressures with a gauge set? My AC was going warm at idle and my high side pressure was getting high enough to kick the compressor off. It worked normally once you were moving. I never did find a problem, I thought the fan should work off of the AC system, but I didn't get an answer.
I had the exact same issue with high side pressure even though the freon amount was supposedly correct. Had it charged manually with gauges and it works great now.

The engine fan has a LOT of different things the PCM looks at to make it work. It's a pretty complex operation.
 
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Old Mar 22, 2011 | 06:03 PM
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Yeah, I evacted the system, it showed a tiny bit low by weight. I didn't pull a full vac, but charged it full by volume of system. Same problem as of now......
 
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Old Mar 22, 2011 | 06:33 PM
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You need to pull a vacum to get all of the moisture out of the system. Atmosphere by its nature has moisture in it.
 
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Old Mar 22, 2011 | 07:02 PM
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Originally Posted by 69cj
You need to pull a vacum to get all of the moisture out of the system. Atmosphere by its nature has moisture in it.
Yes, that is correct. My system was full before I removed the refrigerant. I had about 20 in of vacuum before I added refrigerant back into the system. I was still seeing my pressure getting too high when there was no air flow through the condenser.
 
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