just one person's vote but i can assure you the AC in my current 97 XLT supercab far exceeds the performance of the AC in my son's 04 regular cab.

 

LSU,

The electronics are such that everything shuts down automatically when the starter is engaged. There is no need to shut off the A/C or radio when you park. My new '04 will not allow to you engage the starter if the vehicle is already running and I assume they are all that way, pretty cool!

 

03f150man and others......

The reason your older vehicles have such outstanding air conditioning performance is because the older systems used R12 refrigerant (now illegal).....which produced substantially colder air (and more quickly) than the newer model vehicles which are using the federally mandated "environmentally friendly" R134 refrigerant.

For the newer vehicle R134 AC systems to cool like the older R12 AC systems.....the AC equipment under the hood would have to be 1/3 the size of your engine, or larger!

Fred

 

Fanman,

I hate to do this to ya buddy, but the 97 F150's have R134! I just ran out and looked under the hood to be certian. I don't have my digital camera with me or I'd snap a picture of the sticker that's over the fan shroud that describes the vac lines and belt routing.

I should clarify that my 97 is a regular cab so that does explain some of the situation since my 04 is a Scab. However, if my 04 would cool just half as well as the 97 I'd be happy.

toreador... 55degree air doesn't cut it, simple as that. I did say that it was blowing this 55 degree air sitting at idle. Once I get up to highway speeds it does cool a little better, I'll take a thermometer with me tonight and see what kind of reading I get. I'm willing to bet that the vent temperature will not read below 45 degrees. Still that's not cold enough for me when I've got a 97 F150 parked right beside the 04 that I know for a fact will blow 34 degree air out the vents ( on the same thermomter I'll be using tonight). True, I dont' have any facts to back my claim I'm just venting about this A/C issue like many others vented about vibrations. Thank God I'm not one of those that have both the vibration and A/C problems. I'm not trying to belittle the F150 like others have, but I do think that for a 2004 truck it should have an A/C system that is capable of getting cold enough that I (me) have to turn it down to be comfortable. I've read a few posts where you brag about how good your A/C system is in your truck especially out in the middle of the Arizona desert with temps well over 100. Well I'm happy for you, but isn't it true that while you may have blistering heat the humidity is pretty low? That makes a huge difference for an A/C system, try driving down to Georgia where we've got 95 Degree days with 95% humidity, it's like running into a brick wall (back me up here south Texas ppl, I know you have the same thing). Furthermore, I wouldn't make such an issue of this if this wasn't my 2nd truck in a row from Ford with a crappy A/C system. I had this very same issue with my 2001 Super Duty, just an OK A/C. I work in an environment that's 48 degrees all day long, which once you get used to it is very comfortable. Why should I have to come out and ride in a vehicle that isn't capable of cooling to that level? Obviously Ford was able to do this way back in 1997, why not today? But go ahead and do one of your silly little polls if you wish, maybe there will be some corelation to A/C cooling ability and cab quietness? I know, the Lariat will be the quietest because it has more "sound proofing" therefore it has more insillation which explains why you have a superior A/C system.

Why can't we just have compressed ammonia and be done with it? Thats cold enough to freeze anything.

 

When I got my truck, the guy doing the walk-around told me that you should shut off your AC a little before you get to your destination. Then just let it blow out the vents. This allows the blower to dry up the exaporator and keep the mildew and the smell to non noticeable levels. The moisture builds up in the box and can lead to the funk. I've been doing this and it seems to help out, plus it does make sense.
Brian

 

ultramax21--good post & amen. i'm dealing with the same thing here in Ks. about 45 degs on the road is max cool.w/ manual a/c unit. it's within specs but not great for new. you've probably read the other thread "is ford going to fix the a/c problem?'' lots of comments on this and humidity. so i don't really don't know what to think.

 

If heat and weather conditions dictate that you have to use MAX A/C, then use it. But if it's not necessary, then you should use regular A/C. The air inside the truck can become too stale and dry when using MAX A/C for too long a period of time. Here in the Arctic (okay, Western New York: same thing...), we rarely have to revert to the MAX setting!

 

ALL Fords ran R-134 after 1993.

 

I usually start off w/ the A/C on normal w/ the windows cracked a little to get the initial heat out. As soon as it starts blowing cold I switch to max, this way I'm not cooling the inside air until it is below outside temp. I've only been in 2 04's, but neither performed anywhere close to my truck (99 4.6 ext. cab) A/C wise. The kicker is that my truck is dark blue (hotter) and 1 of the theirs is gray the other is white, the white one even has tinted windows. I do get remarks how well my trucks system works often and it's the best I've ever had, but you would think w/ all of the insulation the news ones have it would work better.

as for the smell, turn it on max and spray under the dash into the return air duct, afterwards let the truck run as-is for a few minutes w/ everything closed up. I use Ozium and it works really well. the bad smell doesn't return, but I usually do this every month or so just to keep it fresh anyway. Ozium is amazing stuff-works and smells better than lysol ever could.

 

OZIUM is the BEST spray out there for disinfecting and killing bacteria.

Stuff works amazing on smoke odor too!!