I've brought this up before but I need a little more info on air conditioning.

I have the original R12 system. I have a small supply of the stuff and I had a friend who knows how to charge auto AC's and showed me how. My system needed a little bit of R12 but not more than one of those small canister you used to be able to by, so at least I know its at the proper level.

I still think I have a problem because I idled it for about 20 minutes and the flood that shows up under my truck with the AC on indicated I must be freezing up. I know you at times should see a little condensation but this is as much as a cup of water..It dripped all the way to the street 30 feet away. I've cleaned out the box under where the glove box is with a vacumm real good. No leaves or dirt in there anymore.

I was timing how often the compressor cycles and it cycles 20 seconds on, 15 to 20 seconds off. When I first turn on the air it is very cold. But after about 15 or so minutes it gets warmer.

I remember some of you responded that there is a switch on the firewall that goes out and needs replacement? I thought that since I could hear it cycle and hear the rpms go up and down that that is what the switch is for?

If there is something I'm missing please let me know before I let some person I don't know charge me up the ying yang and tell me I have to replace everything! Like I said it blow ice cold in the beginning.

If it is some switch that could have gone bad, where is it and if you have a part # I could go to the nearest part store and change it, I will try that?

I don't want to have to replace the charge of R12 and or convert to 134 or something else if replacing a potential part would cause me to lose charge.

Any detailed suggestions? Since it works great at start up it should't be much of a problem to solve?

thanks for your ideas,

Brad

 

Mine leaves a good size puddle too. Depending on temp/humidity that is normal. As long as it blows cold I wouldn't worry about it.

 

oops just saw where you said that it was running 30 feet and getting warm. My bad. I should have read it more carefully.

 

The water is good. It shows that the evaporator in your truck is getting cold enough to condense water. Look at your compressor. There are two hoses mounted to it. With a full charge and the a/c on you will notice condensation on the low pressure hose (marked with a s for suction). This is the hose that comes from the inside of the truck. It is also the larger diameter of the two. If there is no condensation on this hose at the compressor after 3-5 minutes you may need more freon. If you have gauges the low pressure side will run about 40lbs.
The item in the truck that keeps the system from freezing up senses the evaporator temperature and cycles the compressor off.The other thing that causes the compressor to cycle off is the low pressure switch. A low charge causes the low pressure switch to cycle the compressor off as the compressor fills the high side.
good luck -RATCHET-

 

http://members.tripod.com/~jbabs714/autoac.htm

Perhaps this might help you, the cycling switch keeps coil from freezing as was said, the low pressure kicks compressor off at 20 psi i believe. either of these can fail, its common. We really need to know the readings before a lot of help can be given, they tell us everything we need to know.

 

I heard that the clutch fan could cause this problem? I would think that at 60mph there would be plenty of air over the condenser?

 

in most circumstaces 60 mph would work, but its up to you to make sure air can cross over the coil unrestricted, ie is it stopped up ? are lot of fins damaged ?is the fan working well? it sounds like head pressure may equalizing, only way check is with gauges. uhm ok ill explain,,,the compressor can wear and when it does it allows the high side to bleed over to low, so instead of say 40/200 psi it will look more like 140/140. there is no repair you can do at home cept replace it.

so get gauges turn a/c on record the readings when its working and again after it gets warm. cheap gauges are 30 bucks at autozone. i'll be happy to help i just cant diagnois with little info.