That’s exactly my problem! My dealer says it is NOT normal, but they have yet to find a fix. Mine also completely failed early on.

 

This Ac in my truck leaves much to be desired. That being said, I've gotten the best performance out of mine by using the "regular ac" setting, not max and closing off the outside air by pushing the the recirculate button. You would think this would be the same as the max setting but it cools off the cabin noticeably quicker then the actual max ac setting. The only explanation that I've gotten is that the ac compressors in these trucks are much too small and the max ac setting taxes the compressor too much where as the regular setting doesn't.

 

I've got an 06 Lariat with the electronic climate control. For those that have the electronic control, make sure you have the recirc on. As a design fault, if the recirc is on when you shut the truck off, the recirc light will show it is in recirc mode when you restart the truck, but the recirc won't be, you have to shut recirc "off" and turn it "back on" for it to actually recirc. I thought I had poor A/C performance until I learned this "trick."

As a side note, the A/C performance of my F150 is better than my 04 Ram. You should see all the Megacab owners complaining about A/C. That's because the use the same A/C whether it is on a regular cab, quad cab, or mega cab and it just isn't big enough to handle all of the cabin space of the larger trucks.

 

thanks osteodoc, my new King Ranch is doing exactly what you said. I am going to have the dealer fix this somehow...

 

That seems a little strange, I don't know why pulling hot, humid air from outside would put less load on the compressor versus re-using somewhat conditioned air from the cab.

So far, (knock on wood) I've rarely had to run the AC past level 2 in order to stay comfortable in my rig which is a black Scab and in temps up to about 95F.

If it has been parked in the sun, the first thing I do is roll down the windows for a few minutes to vent some of the super hot air. That is generally followed by about 5 minutes in max AC with high blower, but that cools down pretty quickly, so then I get down to level 2 or 1, but I always keep the recirculate on which really cools and dries the cabin air.

To me, the recirculate is the biggest boost in cooling because you are reusing the cool, somewhat dry air from the cabin as opposed to pulling in hot, humid outside air.

 

That's the thing, there is no fix for it. It kinda sucks, but just one of those things I have to live with. If that is the only thing I have to deal with, I'm definitely not going to complain....too much.

Honestly, it has become almost second nature now. I didn't realize it until my wife asked me why I kept "pushing that button" every time we got in the truck. I should have just told her it was my "special" button and that we have to drive immediately home or back in the woods or..... LOL.

Anyhow, give it a try and see if it helps your situation out. I know it made a night and day difference here in Florida after I figured it out.

 

Low 90s with wicked humidity....my a/c has been keeping my black SCREW 'cold' inside...I have to turn it down periodically, my wife is freezing.

 

I had the same concern with my 06 XL. I stopped after work on a 90 degree day in May. The tech just stuck a thermometer in the vent and said it was even colder than what it should be. I had a 96 Taurus and it would freeze you out on Maxair on a 90 plus day. I was told at the dealership that not all Tauruses were that cold. I have since sold that car and now have a 07 Taurus and guess what... it is much colder than my truck ! I had my Truck in Myrtle Beach in early June and if it sat out in the sun all day it took for ever to cool the cab off. So maybe there is really a design flaw with these trucks.

 

 

The air in my 06 doesn't even compare to the 2000 I traded in. I had the dealer check it and was told it was normal and that the 2000 used a better coolant? I don't know what the 2000 had in it. I never had a problem with it and it would still make your teeth chatter @ 6 years old and 130,XXX miles on it.

Basically, I was told the system and coolant was inferior to what I had in the 2000. All I know is, is that this 06 AC "works" but it sure takes a long time to cool down and even then it leaves a lot to be desired.

 

The system may be inferior, but the coolant should have been the same R134a. It was a mandated switch in auto A/C in 1995. The old R-12 cooled really well, but had this problem of killing the ozone and away it went. Even the newer home A/C units are moving to a more eco-friendly refrigerant 410a and away from the R22.

 

I have an 04 Lariat, and since I owned it (2004), the AC has been fine. No issues with cooling the cab. I live in SE Fla. I just start it off in recirculate mode then switch over.

 

E-fans will take care of the warm-up at idle.

 

I took my truck in a few weeks ago because it seemed like my AC was hardly working. One of the service guys grabbed a thermometer and stuck it in my vent. The temp went down to 39*, which he said was pretty good. Now this was at idle inside the service shop.

Would it hurt to boost up the level of 134a? I have a couple cans of it along with a gauge in my garage.

ERIC

 

Don't do that. Head pressure will go sky high on the compressor.