HELP! A/C is short cycling

[GJarrett]

'99 w/SOHC and ETAC.

I just got my A/C recharged and the evaporator replaced and the A/C worked fine for a day. However, now I've lost a lot of the cool and upon inspection have noticed that my compressor is short-cycling. It is kicking on, then off, then on, then off, at about 8 seconds between each change. It is doing it continously as long as I set my controls to ask for A/C.

What is causing my A/C to do this; and what is the fix? We are going on a 600 mile trip tomorrow morning and I would really like it to be a little more comfortable

 

[TheJackal]

Fast cycling is usually an indication of low refrigerant. You might have a leak somewhere. I'd take it back to wherever did your evaporator replacement and have them look at it, they mustn't have checked to make sure everything was sealed up good.

 

[Willard]

Fast cycling is usually an indication of low refrigerant. You might have a leak somewhere. I'd take it back to wherever did your evaporator replacement and have them look at it, they mustn't have checked to make sure everything was sealed up good.

x2

 

[GJarrett]

Thanks you just confirmed my suspicion. I had Firestone do it; I might try to find another one where I am going and have them look at it. Otherwise it may be a warm weekend at the beach LOL.

 

[TheJackal]

I had Firestone do it

I think I found your problem.

 

[Albino 94LTD]

leak down test

Ask them how long the system held the vacume when they evacutated the system. If they can't tell you, you should make them do it again on thier dime.

If the system has been open, they have to put a vacume on it to make sure all the moisture is out and they SHOULD leave it on for a minimum of 30 minutes before recharging the system.

 

[GJarrett]

Yeah they did that part right; I watched him do it while talking with him. It ended up being my compressor was bad too, so I had to replace the compressor. I don't know if it decided to crap out after all the other new stuff was installed, or if I goofed by not fixing this last year when it went out. My A/C went out late last summer and since I didn't need A/C over the winter I waited until now to fix it. I wonder if the compressor seals dried out over time and couldn't handle the new pressures once I did get the A/C recharged.

Oh well, it works now. Thanks for the help

 

[moon lake rick]

a/c

You will never know now. Could have just been a leak and they say compressor job. Then they fix the system when they do the expensive compressor job. I do a/c work and it's so hard to be honest with someone. ut at least it's fixed. Have fun at the beach. :salut USA is the GREATEST

 

[Papa-Raboon]

I have a dodgy aircon as well. Need advice

Hey guys, seems like the a/c systems on Explorers can be a little dodgy at times looking at the multiple threads on here.

Mine is cycling every 4 seconds and it doesn't get cool at all which seems to indicate a coolant leak according to many search results in these forums.

When we got the Explorer about 8 months ago the A/C cycled every 15 seconds or so. Anyway, the cycling causes my explorer to continually rev up every time the compressor clutch kicks in and as a result it stalls occasionally when I am performing slow manoeuvres or waiting at traffic lights or road junctions.

So I was wondering if it is OK to pull the WOT A/C relay (on my 97 explorer it is relay number 4) until I can afford to get the Air conditioning fixed.

It seems to tick over properly if I take the relay out but I have only left it to tick over. I didn't try driving it.

Do the experts here think that would be OK?

Cheers

Paul Randall
Nottingham - England

 

[GJarrett]

Welcome Paul. Your post makes me think a couple of things. Firstly, yes, it won't hurt to pull the A/C relay, at least until you get your problem(s) fixed.

However, your Explorer should not be stalling when your A/C compressor kicks on, so you have another problem that you need to start trying to diagnose.

As for your A/C, it might be prudent to go ahead and try to get your leak fixed. One theory that came out of my experience is that my procrastination cost me more money. Mine leaked last year, but since it was after summer, I didn't need A/C so I waited until this year to fix it when the weather got hot again.

The original leak was not in my compressor. Once I got my leak fixed, my compressor started leaking, and one theory offered was that I waited so long to fix my system that the seals in the compressor had dried out. That's hard to prove one way or the other; but if true, I could have saved the cost of the compressor replacement had I taken the trouble to fix the original leak back when it happened.