Air Conditioner issues

rcorder · 09-27-2019, 06:14 PM

I recently purchased our first RV, a 2005 Winnebago Minnie Class C with the Triton V10 and notice when I'm pulling any grade at all the air conditioner cuts out and when I level out it comes back on. Is this typical, or is there something I can do to keep it blowing the whole time?
Thanks.

dwaugh10 · 09-27-2019, 06:48 PM

When you say the ac cuts out, do you mean no airflow from the regular vents or the air flow turns warm? If no air flow from the vents, you may have a vacuum leak. The vents are controlled by vacuum. Is the air flow being redirected to the defrost vents while going up a grade?

David
2017 SunStar 30T

rcorder · 09-27-2019, 07:12 PM

It may be getting redirected to the defrost vents? I will have to check next time I'm on the road. Thanks for the reply.

**creativepart** · 09-28-2019, 07:30 AM

This is common and a feature intended to de-clutch the A/C compressor so that you have full power for hill-climbing.

I believe it is defeatable, but couldn’t tell you how.

If the airflow stops it’s likely a vacuum line or vacuum tank issue.

rcorder · 09-28-2019, 12:14 PM

Thank you for your reply. I will have to check into the vacuum issue.

AzLady · 10-06-2019, 04:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rcorder

Thank you for your reply. I will have to check into the vacuum issue.

We have a 2018 Aspect and our Air goes 'out' on a steep hill climb. It's intended to keep your engine from overheating on steep grades and pulls. We saw a LOT of RV's and some trucks pulled off the side of the road letting their engines cool down. It's a nice built in feature. Better than being disabled on the side of the road.

And as soon as you reach a flat area, the air is back on full force. We would rather be without air for a few minutes than disabled for an hour while things cool down.

Santee2 · 10-06-2019, 04:52 PM

I had an issue very similar to what you are describing and it tuned out to be slipping fan belt. A friend told be about Goodyear "gatorback" belts that don't slip and damn if it it didn't fix the problem and never makes a noise.

rcorder · 10-06-2019, 05:14 PM

Thanks for your reply!

NeilV · 10-06-2019, 09:02 PM

On a 2005 Ford I would be checking the small hard plastic vacuum lines under the dash and the hood if its doing this too often. Yes while it should cut out under heavy load as would most cars which have compressor cut outs to take the load off the engine and make more power available for passing, hill climbing, etc however unless your a real lead foot it should not be a very frequent event.

The hard plastic vacuum lines are not very UV resistant and can end up getting pretty beat up and porous under the hood as can the short pieces of rubber hose they used to transition them to dash pots and vacuum reservoir tanks. On mine the plastic tubing under the hood actually split the entire length where the seam from the extrusion die was left from manufacturing.

It may also take some effort to track down where the vacuum reservoir tanks are located. On my 2001 there were some tucked up behind the front bumper and the rubber transitions from the plastic tubing to the fittings in the reservoirs were crumbling from the ambient light reflecting in that location.

I was not able to locally source all the different colors of tubing or the long lengths that are found on the F53 so I just used colored marking tape on the more common black tubing available to mark the color codes and got a small roll of rubber vacuum line to use for splicing to make up longer lengths and replacing the transitions.

rcorder · 10-07-2019, 01:38 AM

Thanks Neil.

Poppab · 10-07-2019, 09:41 AM

Small diameter vacuum lines were almost completely gone inside the engine area but good shape inside the dash and connected to the a/c selector switch. I was able to pull a few inches from the dash into the front engine area and connect new vacuum lines. The vacuum reservoir, also in the front, looks and size like of a softball. The larger vacuum line from that connects to the back of my GM 8.1L intake manifold and mine was disconnected. Reconnected and put a small band clamp to keep it secure. Problem solved.

rcorder · 10-07-2019, 11:50 AM

Thanks for your reply.

RV Tinker · 10-07-2019, 05:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rcorder

I recently purchased our first RV, a 2005 Winnebago Minnie Class C with the Triton V10 and notice when I'm pulling any grade at all the air conditioner cuts out and when I level out it comes back on. Is this typical, or is there something I can do to keep it blowing the whole time?
Thanks.

Had similar problem on my 2004 Minni (class C). Under load the Air conditioner would cycle from vent to floor to defrost and sometimes no air out at all. Problem found was that vacuum hose from check valve "tee" to vacuum reservoir had deteriorated and was leaking. Found out that vacuum reservoir along with failed hose was very difficult (expensive) to get to. You basically had to remove the air conditioner housing to get to it. Found best solution (online) was to bypass the old vacuum reservoir and install a new one along with a new check valve "t" inside the passenger side dash (plenty of room). Total cost of repair was under $50.

RV Tinker · 10-07-2019, 05:15 PM

2004 Minnie class C V10

Winnie 2000 · 10-07-2019, 07:25 PM

Hello all. I believe your problem is due to a Ford engineering problem with the vacuum system on the F53 chassis. I had the same issue with my 2000 Adventurer , it is caused due to a lack of vaccum pressure to hold the dash vents open when engine is under heavy load. I resolved the problem by adding a additional vaccum canster into the system solving the decreased vaccum . Hope this helps you.