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AC issues

Old Jun 22, 2022 | 08:34 AM
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AC issues

Currently traveling and all the sudden the truck stopped blowing cold air. My assumption is the compressor stopped working. About 5 min later it started working again for about 30 seconds.

it’s doing this type of cycle occasionally.

when it’s on its really cold. So I don’t think I’m low on refrigerant?

Im camping this week (and it’s going to be super hot in Ohio - ugh).

And common reasons for this happening on a Superduty? What would then next step troubleshooting this be?
 
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Old Jun 22, 2022 | 09:00 AM
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What year is your truck, which engine and which AC system (auto-temp or manual) do you have?
 
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Old Jun 22, 2022 | 09:02 AM
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2018. I’ve got the manual temp ***** not the digital temp.


Originally Posted by redford
What year is your truck, which engine and which AC system (auto-temp or manual) do you have?
 
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Old Jun 22, 2022 | 09:11 AM
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I'm not an AC expert, but I would start by checking the airflow through the condenser/coolers/radiator package behind the grill. Is anything blocking or restricting airflow?
 
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Old Jun 22, 2022 | 09:13 AM
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Cycling issues can be caused by many things. You really need a set of gauges to start diagnosing it and ruling out possible causes.
 
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Old Jun 22, 2022 | 10:42 AM
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Sort of sounds to me like a trinary switch going bad.
But, yes, need a good diagnosis, no common quick easy fixes.
 
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Old Jun 22, 2022 | 11:58 AM
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Thanks all. It stayed off for the last hour of the trip. Truck sat for 1.5 hrs. When we got going again, the AC was on again and stayed on for the rest of the trip. (30min).

will see how it goes until I get back home. I’m leaning towards it NOT being a low refrigerant issue - right? Since it’s perfectly cold when it does work. Or does a low situation just trigger the compressor to not engage if it was hovering right around that cutoff point?
 
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Old Jun 22, 2022 | 03:30 PM
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Well, so far pressures look good. AC is working for about the first 10 min. Then stops.

seems like it may be a sensor issue or something else

 
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Old Jun 22, 2022 | 09:27 PM
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Yes, high or low pressures will cycle the compressor off. To protect it from grenading. Only way to know for sure what’s going on is to hook a set of gauges up to it.
 
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Old Jun 24, 2022 | 08:52 PM
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plot thickens!

so it works at idle and low speed. Anything faster then about 50-55 and the AC stops working.

if I slow back down for a while, it will work again. Reproducible. What’s odd is that the engine rpm doesn’t matter, which I would expect would as pressure would increase.

65mph on highway at 1600rpm = no AC
30mph forced in a lower gear to be at or above 1600rpm = YES AC

heading home this weekend so I’ll finally be able to get gauges on but this is new to me!
 
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Old Jun 24, 2022 | 09:20 PM
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TSB #22-2089.. a/c evaporator is freezing up.. Needs a heater case. I have one ordered for a f-150.. Back ordered seal as of now.
 
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Old Jun 28, 2022 | 11:14 AM
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Took it to a shop. They said there’s an open ground for the compressor and will have to find and fix that first before they can proceed, since the compressor won’t engage at all now even at low/no speed.

edit - it started working as they parked the vehicle in the lot for me to pickup. ugh.

But, from what I can tell, the compressor is going on and off. Makes me think it's a sensor, and not a bad wire somewhere. Video posted soon
 
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Old Jun 28, 2022 | 12:11 PM
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Here's a video of whats happening on the low pressure side. AC is ON.


Compressor was working fine, then went off. Gauge stays up in the yellow. Then compressor kicked on and then cycled back and force as pressure would shoot up and then drop.
 
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Old Jul 1, 2022 | 01:05 PM
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About to head out to get gauges. Turned on truck this morning, and it's not cycling :/
Hooked up forscan and all looks good there. Evap temp is 8-6 degrees C. Pressure on low side was in the green, but would drop into low as I reved the engine. forscan shows ACP_PRESS around 2200 kpa to 1690kpa - 319psi - 246psi.

AC pressure sensor voltage is 2.37v.
ACC_CMD and AC-Req both on/yes together. turn off AC and request changes properly as well as cmd.

ACC_LOWSW is open and AC_MED is also open.

"no fault" on AC_MSG_F

Will update with gauge reading this afternoon, and then probably a drive at speed with forscan hooked up to see what happens when it turns off at highway speed (assuming it still does)
 
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