Dash A/C Help. I have no clue…

[Wyatt]

Ok, I’m not proficient in AC systems. Please follow this thread, I’ll try and be brief, and clear.

Bought our rig in 2019. Chassis AC blew hot air.

Did the evaporator recall. —all was well. Until now.

AC Blowing hot air again—73* outside temperature 70* AC clutch is not engaging at all.

Take it to a local shop. Check Freon. It was 28oz. Should be 44.

Recharged system.

Clutch then engages, and almost immediately shuts off.

Low side pressure goes up to only 23, and then drops back below 20 psi.

Side note, the recirculating system button is dark, (may not be related), even when engaged in the “on” position (see photo-I know the button is off in the photo but even in the “on” position is remains dark, I.e. not lit like the AC switch.

Any thoughts of what might be going on? Where t9 start troubleshooting? Thanks!

[powercat_ras]

Winnebago will have a supplier link to the company they used for the Intent dash air on their winnebagoind.com web site, you might be able to find information on troubleshooting there. They may have a list of recommended service locations.

Assuming it's R134A refrigerant and it's 70-80 degrees, then the low side should have been reading 35-45 PSI if the refrigerant was replenished to the required level. So, I'm not sure the repair tech put enough in when he recharged.

Good luck.

[Wyatt]

Originally Posted by powercat_ras

Winnebago will have a supplier link to the company they used for the Intent dash air on their winnebagoind.com web site, you might be able to find information on troubleshooting there. They may have a list of recommended service locations.

Assuming it's R134A refrigerant and it's 70-80 degrees, then the low side should have been reading 35-45 PSI if the refrigerant was replenished to the required level. So, I'm not sure the repair tech put enough in when he recharged.

Good luck.

Thanks. He said the same thing about what it should be reading. No,I watched him put in the 44 oz. As specified.

What other part might cause this? We know it’s fully charged, and we know the clutch works, just won’t stay on due to low pressure. Thanks!

[creativepart]

Your Auto A/C shop wasn't able to do anything but add refrigerant? You'd think an A/C shop could diagnose the problem.

If it was low on refrigerant then it was low on oil and if it was low on oil I'd suspect the compressor. But I know less than zero about Auto A/C other than to find a good shop and throw good money at it.

[Wyatt]

Originally Posted by creativepart

Your Auto A/C shop wasn't able to do anything but add refrigerant? You'd think an A/C shop could diagnose the problem.

If it was low on refrigerant then it was low on oil and if it was low on oil I'd suspect the compressor. But I know less than zero about Auto A/C other than to find a good shop and throw good money at it.

Yeah, part of the problem is it wasn’t an AC shop, just our local gas station I asked them to check the levels and recharge it. That’s about all he could do.

[BobC]

Originally Posted by Wyatt

Yeah, part of the problem is it wasn’t an AC shop, just our local gas station I asked them to check the levels and recharge it. That’s about all he could do.

You definitely need to take it to a shop familiar with your chassis model. For most of us, this is beyond our expertise to DIY. Sometimes, even an experienced shop has difficulty.

For example, I have a Ford Econoline E350 van with a V10. The AC stopped cooling. I took it for service to a Ford Dealer. Their fleet service department checked it out and recharged it (I'm not sure what else they did). I took it home and it worked fine for several days. Then it sat, unused for a couple of weeks. When I went to drive it after sitting, the AC no longer worked.

I took it back and they eventually found a pinhole leak in an obscure location. They fixed the leak, recharged it and all has been OK. Fortunately there was no charge for the second visit.

[Wyatt]

Originally Posted by BobC

You definitely need to take it to a shop familiar with your chassis model. For most of us, this is beyond our expertise to DIY. Sometimes, even an experienced shop has difficulty.

For example, I have a Ford Econoline E350 van with a V10. The AC stopped cooling. I took it for service to a Ford Dealer. Their fleet service department checked it out and recharged it (I'm not sure what else they did). I took it home and it worked fine for several days. Then it sat, unused for a couple of weeks. When I went to drive it after sitting, the AC no longer worked.

I took it back and they eventually found a pinhole leak in an obscure location. They fixed the leak, recharged it and all has been OK. Fortunately there was no charge for the second visit.

Thank you Bob. He did add some fluorescent dye into the mix, so I can check around after awhile and see under a black light if there’s a noticeable leak. There must be SOME leak, or it wouldn’t have lost 16oz. It 2.75 years, right?

First line of defense is finding a specialized place for AC locally that will at least know what parts would cause this, if not also fix it.

Do you think my 2018 purchased in August of 2019 would be under a Ford warranty for their AC portion?

Last resort, I take it an hour away to a friend who does specialize in RVs.

[BobC]

You definitely have a problem. I have no idea about the warranty, but I suggest you consult with your local Ford dealer before seeing anyone else and especially before having anything else done. I wouldn't take it in at first but I'd go in and have a conversation with the service department about the warranty issue and to make an appointment for service if it's covered. If it's not covered under warranty, you can decide if you want the dealer to take care of it or find someplace else.

Dealers aren't normally my first choice (especially RV dealers), but in your case it would be, especially with the potential warranty issue.

I don't see any reason or advantage to get your friend involved. The dash AC has nothing to do with this being an RV and everything to do with it being a Ford truck. I especially wouldn't do so until the warranty question is answered.

While you're at it, you should locate a good, commercial truck shop that you can use, if not for this, for future problems. I was fortunate to find a commercial truck shop here in the Sacramento area who also handles RVs. I use them for any major "truck" work (there's a shop close to my storage that I use for oil changes, etc.) and they've always treated me well. Sometimes it takes them a few extra days to get things done but I know their priority has to be to get those who depend on their trucks for their livelihood back on the road (the local Ford dealer's fleet department was the same in this regard). I'd think that there are similar shops in your area. Here's a link to "my guy's" ad to give you an idea of what you should look for:

https://www.mikeandsonstruckrepair.com/

[Wayne M]

Wyatt, the purple check is a good idea. Although I have a different RV I was having trouble with it blowing warm air. Took it to the chassis manufacturer and the used the purple juice and found one of the fittings leaking. Replaced the fitting(s) and all was well.

Good suggestion of taking it to a Ford place and let them run the diagnostics.


Rots or Ruck!

[Wyatt]

I want to thank everyone for all their inspirational ideas. I wonder why there’s not a flow chart for troubleshooting AC system somewhere out there? Something as simple as if this doesn’t work then try this if this doesn’t work try that so on and so forth it seems like it should be out there in the Internet universe…

[Wayne M]

Mechanics hate working on AC failures and electrical problems. They have told me it is terrible to diagnose.

[BobC]

Originally Posted by Wyatt

I want to thank everyone for all their inspirational ideas. I wonder why there’s not a flow chart for troubleshooting AC system somewhere out there? Something as simple as if this doesn’t work then try this if this doesn’t work try that so on and so forth it seems like it should be out there in the Internet universe…

The best ones are going to be buried in the vehicle-specific service manual and they're going to be complex and involve the use of specialized equipment. Here are a few links for you to satisfy your curiosity:

https://www.google.com/search?q=trou...hrome&ie=UTF-8

[tim myers]

I had to recharge my system as well. Being a DP the refrigerant lines are close to 40' in length. The system had pretty much fully leaked out. Took more than the specified 40 oz of 134a to get the compressor to blow cold air. Worked great last summer, but leaked down again over the winter. I will have the system repaired at the local Cummins Coach Care facility. There are definitely leaks, starting with the schraeder valves at the test ports.


Your Intent looks very similar to the Fleetwood Storm I had, on a Ford F53 Chassis. I also lost AC on my Storm. Suction line from compressor rubbed against the frame till it wore a hole in it. Royal pain to work through this repair, finally had to have a hose custom made, in the process the backing plate on the compressor was broken which meant new compressor then clutch on new compressor failed and ended up using the two compressors to make one working unit. I finally found a reputable car repair garage that worked on it in their parking lot. Nothing inherently difficult because it is a motor home except they couldn't get it in the garage area. Could not find a Ford dealer that would touch it.


Hope this gets resolved for you.

[Mongobird]

Originally Posted by tim myers

I had to recharge my system as well. Being a DP the refrigerant lines are close to 40' in length. The system had pretty much fully leaked out. Took more than the specified 40 oz of 134a to get the compressor to blow cold air. Worked great last summer, but leaked down again over the winter. I will have the system repaired at the local Cummins Coach Care facility. There are definitely leaks, starting with the schraeder valves at the test ports.

For the leaking valves, you can buy replacement valves, and a replacer tool, which will accomplish the service without loosing much refrigerant. Probably $20-$25 for valves and tools.

[tim myers]

I did purchase valves and a tool, but the tool will not fit into the openings. If I could tighten it up that would be great but opening the system up by removing and replacing would require I pull the system into a vacuum. Technically the fact that it is leaking equals an open system and it needs to be evacuated and tested. I will just have Cummins take care of it. I dumped 32 Oz into it in FL and it was working coming home.

[Jim_HiTek]

I had a slow leak in my AC system after the compressor failed and was replaced. In a DP so yeah, had long hose runs back to the compressor.

Trusted the AC shop implicitly as they'd done work for me before and I admired the staff's abilities. But...even they couldn't find the slow leak with the black light. Not sure where it was but it wasn't in the normal places techs usually look. They ran leak down tests too and the system passed those, tech thought it was cost prohibitive for him to track down my weird leak in such a large vehicle.

So, what I did was take it home, than weeks later, opened the system to exhaust the refrigerant (legal for the vehicle owner to do, it's just not legal for a shop to do that) though much of it had already leaked away, and filled the system with Enviro-Safe refrigerant to replace the R134a. Pumping/evacuating was not necessary as it doesn't need a vacuum to work.

The molecules are larger than Freon so small pin holes don't lose any gas, they have 'Stop Leak' to use with it and I used that too. After install, I was finally able to drive a full day without the system outputting warm air. When I worked on it, I did have to order a special adapter from Enviro-Safe to match my RV's plumbing. I have the Blue and Red plastic caps on the high & low snap connectors and their kit's connector didn't match one of them, I forget which.

Just a suggestion of another way to go. Only reason I switched to Enviro-Safe was because of all the times the Freon had leaked away on me, making some trips in the desert uncomfortable and wanted to avoid having to take it in for recharge 2-3 times per year or pay for a difficult leak detection.

This happened 3 years ago and it's been working fine ever since. And just as cold as a typical system.

[Mongobird]

That's an interesting approach. Hopefully my leak, which requires topping twice a year, doesn't get to that. But if it does that is an alternative, and it has apparently worked well for you.

[Jim_HiTek]

They make 'stop leak' for R134a systems too. Why hasn't any shop you've been to advised using it yet?

It is recommended to evac the system first, add some Freon then the stop leak, then the rest of the Freon. Not that big a deal. Surprised it hasn't happened with your 2 fill ups per year yet.

[HollywoodGT]

Take it to a shop that can evacuate and recharge the system. Start from scratch and then let me know your pressures both high and low. I don't believe they charged the system correctly. We do a ton of ac work and no issues. A lot of techs do not understand how to read the gauges and just charge a system. Also at the time of recharge they should ad a dye to the system

[Wyatt]

Originally Posted by HollywoodGT

Take it to a shop that can evacuate and recharge the system. Start from scratch and then let me know your pressures both high and low. I don't believe they charged the system correctly. We do a ton of ac work and no issues. A lot of techs do not understand how to read the gauges and just charge a system. Also at the time of recharge they should ad a dye to the system

Did all of that. I watched him. Evacuated the system, measured what was in there, and added back the correct 44 oz as per the manual. Also he did add dye to look for leaks.
It was 16 oz low after 2.75 years, so there’s a small leak somewhere.

But once recharged, the low side pressure was down around 20#. The clutch on the compressor would engage, and then quickly disengage.