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A/C cold "sometimes"

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Old Jul 19, 2022 | 11:18 AM
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A/C cold "sometimes"

I just had a garage recharge my 2005 F-350. They said it was down just about 2lbs of freon, but it held a vacuum and they recharged it. Cruising along under light to medium throttle, the A/C is nice and cold. At idle, the A/C begins to get warm. Under hard throttle, its as if the A/C cuts out and returns shortly after returning to normal throttle.
Do I have some kind of fan issue? There are no fan codes in ForScan Lite.

Thoughts?
 
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Old Jul 19, 2022 | 01:12 PM
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I had this issue a few years back where it was cold out of the vents and then not and it ended up being too large a gap between the AC clutch and compressor. I ended up pulling the clutch off and removing one of the shims and all was good after. There is a dimension for this gap and if it is too large the clutch has trouble engaging.

Rob.
 
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Old Jul 19, 2022 | 02:59 PM
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Old Jul 20, 2022 | 03:28 AM
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From: Spanaway
From the 2005 Ford Workshop Manual.
 
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Old Jul 20, 2022 | 07:21 AM
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Thanks guys. Its strange how running down the road, its always fine. Gets cold and stays cold. Idling, it gets warm. Heavy throttle, it gets warm. Maybe somehow the condense is plugged up with bugs or something not allowing adequate airflow through it, but the engine never overheats and you'd think at heavy throttle the AC would be coldest, although I know some vehicle will temporarily declutch the compressor to help provide max power.
 
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Old Jul 20, 2022 | 07:25 AM
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was just goin to ask how yur condenser was. recall reading about blowing em out from the clean side and being amazed at all the crap.
 
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Old Jul 20, 2022 | 07:53 AM
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I'm going to check it. The one in my tractor is constantly getting plugged up by field chaff despite having a screen. I have to blow it out pretty frequently or the AC gets quite warm.
 
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Old Jul 20, 2022 | 09:44 AM
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The desiccant from accumulator comes apart and clogs the orifice valve over time. This very thing was happening to my truck on hard pulls or sustained acceleration, and the pressures seemed OK when checked at idle.

Good luck
 
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Old Jul 20, 2022 | 10:06 AM
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How hard / expensive of a job is this? The accumulator I can see up by the heater box. Where is the orifice valve? Mine also seems to not blow very cold at idle though.
 
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Old Jul 20, 2022 | 10:17 AM
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Not difficult at all, The orifice valve is in the tube where the line goes in to the accumulator (or receiver/dryer depending on what you call it).

Given that your system is leak free and fully charged, the cost would be evacuation, cost of the valve (10.00) and vacuum/recharge cost.

I would definitely follow some of the steps noted above that could be part of your issue as well.
 
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Old Jul 20, 2022 | 10:25 AM
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On FB and other sites a lot of Excursions are having the same issue.

I turn my A/C on recirculating in this hot weather, seems to do better than just running it on the normal setting.
 
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Old Jul 20, 2022 | 10:53 AM
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Thanks for the info. I must have some leak somewhere, since this is supposed to be a closed system and yet somehow I lost nearly 2lbs of refrigerant. Maybe its just a very slow leak. The shop that recharged it added dye to the system and said there was no dye already in the system.
 
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Old Jul 20, 2022 | 02:46 PM
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From: Spanaway
Just tome general info.
New dryers have a dye built into the package. It's a disk that dissolves when the refrigerant is added.
I give you some more PDFs to read.

The condenser is the one that can be the issue when it comes to cleaning the system. You really can't
do an effective flush do to the way the core is built.

To change out the tube you will have to pump the system down and then refill it.

Fun Fact. It looks like they want to get rid of the small cans of R-134a (EPA and Washington State strikes again)

You could get a good UV light and take a look around the system to see if you see any places that glow green.
More than likely, it was a very slow leek. At this point I would just keep it in the back of your mind and check
every now and then.
 
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Old Jul 20, 2022 | 04:03 PM
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Thanks Yahiko…I will read those.
 
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