AC Problem 02 Explorer

[kware1]

Hello good people,

The AC in my 02 Explorer keeps blowing warm air after about 1/2 hour of driving. at first it was just blowing warm air. Then I added refrigerant. It starts out excellent, then before I get home from my afternoon commute, it starts blowing waprm. If I was to turn the car off for a short while, the AC works fine again.

Also, of is extremely sluggish on acceleration when the AC is on. Merging on the expressway can be horrifying.

Any help is.appreciated. Thanks.

 

[jayton]

Hello good people,

The AC in my 02 Explorer keeps blowing warm air after about 1/2 hour of driving. at first it was just blowing warm air. Then I added refrigerant. It starts out excellent, then before I get home from my afternoon commute, it starts blowing waprm. If I was to turn the car off for a short while, the AC works fine again.

Also, of is extremely sluggish on acceleration when the AC is on. Merging on the expressway can be horrifying.

Any help is.appreciated. Thanks.

I would start looking towards things like the A/C compressor clutch or the clutch relay. Maybe someone that knows better will post, or maybe you can do some more searching on those two. I think that a bad A/C Clutch could be overworking the engine by requiring more torque off the belt, but I could be totally wrong.

 

[kware1]

The clutch should be engaging and disengaging right? I assumed it was because I do get AC in the beginning. But I can check. Thank you.

 

[jayton]

The clutch should be engaging and disengaging right? I assumed it was because I do get AC in the beginning. But I can check. Thank you.

That is correct, it should engage and disengage. When something in that clutch system goes bad, it can disengage and not come back. You said that if you turn your vehicle off and back on, it will work again. Turning the engine off is not necessary. If you turn the A/C control off for a few seconds, and then back on, it will come back as well. Sometimes you can click the A/C on and off back and forth quickly a few times to get it going again. However, like I said, I'm not an expert on A/C. For all I know, it could be temp sensors going bad or something else electrical.

 

[jayton]

Advance Auto Parts calls it an A/C Clutch Cycle Switch:


http://shop.advanceautoparts.com/we...Air_18892127-P_431_R|GRPACPTAMS_611776925____


I'm not suggesting that throwing money at a problem is a good diagnostics strategy, but the thing is only $13 bucks and its functionality seems to describe what your system is lacking.

 

[thylacine33]

If it is pulling a lot of power from engine, I would put money on compressor. I fully agree with always checking cheaper stuff though. It would be a good idea to beg,borrow, or steal an ac manifold gauge and thoroughly check sys out. if you have some how lost most of the oil in the sys, your compressor may be seizing up slowly. hopefully not!

 

[kware1]

Okay. Thank-you. I'LL check those out.

 

[jayton]

Okay. Thank-you. I'LL check those out.

Did you ever get this resolved?

 

[kware1]

Actually, I.was gonna post today. I never had a chance to check it out. We had a cool spell up here and I really wasn't using it. Anyway, just yesterday the radiator sprung a leak. 6 am, on my way to work. I had no option but to have to it towed to the nearest repair shop. In any case he installed a new radiator. On the way home (40miles each way) I had the AC on and it seemed to work fine. Usually it stopped working a few miles before reaching home. I'm wondering if the radiator could have.been the culprit or was it just a coincidence. Also, it was warm enough for AC, but not extreme as it has been when I was having the problem.

 

[jayton]

Actually, I.was gonna post today. I never had a chance to check it out. We had a cool spell up here and I really wasn't using it. Anyway, just yesterday the radiator sprung a leak. 6 am, on my way to work. I had no option but to have to it towed to the nearest repair shop. In any case he installed a new radiator. On the way home (40miles each way) I had the AC on and it seemed to work fine. Usually it stopped working a few miles before reaching home. I'm wondering if the radiator could have.been the culprit or was it just a coincidence. Also, it was warm enough for AC, but not extreme as it has been when I was having the problem.

I'd be willing to bet that it was because it was not an extremely hot day it was working better.

I'm experiencing all the same symptoms on a 1993 Grand Marquis with a 4.6L SOHC. During extremely hot days, it is cool at first, and then goes out. I can turn the a/c off for a minute and it will come back on. If I keep the fan speed on low, it will stay on. I don't think that the flicking the A/C on and off back and forth quickly like I mentioned earlier does anything to help.

In the evenings and mornings when it is not too hot, it works just fine.

I hope someone that has experienced this will chime in. I have been too tied up with issues on my Explorer to try the clutch relay. I will let you know if I figure something out first, and you do the same. It looks like you may be off the hook on this one until next summer if the weather up there continues to cool off, but I still have a few weeks of summer heat down here.

 

[kware1]

Lol. Yeh, off the hook on that one. Now on to these rear springs. A new problem every month or so. Thus far, it's still been cheaper than a carnote. Lol

 

[wrecker03]

I have this exact same problem only I think it's getting worse. We had a real hot spell back in July and it's when it started happening only when the air would get warm, very shortly after my temp gauge would spike up to hot.

The first time or two that happened it would all of a sudden come back down to normal and the air would get cold again. Then it got cool and I didn't need the AC for a couple of weeks. I took it in to get checked out and they couldn't find anything unusual and blamed on the really hot weather. They ended up doing a flush and fill on the cooling system and replaced the thermostat...just because at 162,000 miles it's probably due anyway.

Yesterday it was around 90 and the same thing happened again. It was ice cold for about 30-45 minutes of driving then the air started getting warm again. I got home before it overheated though. About 15 minutes later me and my son went out and I didn't make it a mile before the ice cold air went warm and the temp gage spiked again, and something smelled like burning rubber however I didn't see any smoke or anything when I shut it down and opened the hood, although I could smell something.

This morning outside was humid and around 75 and drove my 45 min drive to work with the air on with no issue. I know that shops usually need to be able to repeat the problem to fix it but with my temps spiking I don't want to do any serious damage. If anyone has some insight I'd really appreciate it.

I'd love a new truck......just don't want to pay for a new truck

 

[kware1]

Yes, mine would spike on hi temp too. I don't know, ever since I replaced the radiator I haven't had a problem. I use the AC everyday almost. It hadn't been extremely hot, but enough for AC. I may not know until next summer.

 

[wrecker03]

I thought my problem was cured also when they did the system flush and thermostat, but first time over 90 with a decent amount of drive time since I had the service done and the problem came back.