96 explorer a/c at ambiant temp only, r-134 seems full

[daxb]

I searched and searched the board and I couldn't find out if this topic has been covered. If so, just point me in the right direction and delete this thread. If not, please chime in.

So living in Massachusetts I don't use my a/c much on my 96 5.0, but the last couple of summers have been seeing temps in the 90s and above at times and I got tired of the a/c sucking in my truck. I read some of the posts here, so figured I might be low on 134. I went to Autozone, bought a combined can (with the r-134, 2 oz oil and sealers - it is an older truck) and the hose kit with the psi reader. I hooked up the guage to the low end and checked the psi. It ran in the green, from 25-45 or whatever the temp was for the green between the yellow and red.

Now, is it normal for the psi to go up and down as the compressor clicks on and off? When it came on, it would go up from the minimum amount in the green to the max, shut off, then go through the cycle again immediately. This is normal?

I checked the ambiant air temps with a digital meat thermometer (not the best, but all I had and it registers from 30 degrees f to 180 or so) I measured the ambiant temps with the a/c on max with full fans and if it's say less than 75 degrees out, it seems that the temo coming from the middle a/c ventes (with probe stuck into vents) may be 3-5 degrees less than the ambiant temp elsewhere in the vehicle. Not much different for regular (no max a/c) a/c.

Freon/antifreeze is full and fine.

Any ideas?

Thanks in abvance, y'all rock.

Dax

 

[daxb]

Oh yeah

if it's > 75 degrees, the air temp coming from the vents is essentially the exact same as the ambiant temp in the truck.

 

[BBQ_HotDogs]

You have the good old "Blend Door Failure". Run a check for blend doors and you will find the fix.

 

[daxb]

I thought if it was a blend door problem then the heat didn't work either? Heats works really well.

 

[Glacier991]

Saying it "seems full" without a gauge set on tis a guess at best. I have no idea what the cycle time is, low side pressures the low side runs through, high side pressure etc. More and more I know why that "other" site for AC (www.aircondition.com) asks for hi side and low side operating, and ambient and vent temps. Not enough info to be of much help.

 

[daxb]

I am a little lost. I need to check the high side pressure too? I've seen your comments on the a/c in all the other threads and thank you for all your help; obviously you know your a/c. Can you tell me what I should do next? I keep seeing all these blend door threads and it sounds like 10 hours of work or $1000 to fix. I guess I should pull down my glove compartment and try and see if the actuator (sp?) is moving when I switch from hot to cold? If it doesn't, from what I have read then the blend door IS messed up? Any suggestions are welcome! Thank you.