I saw a thread on here about how someone said they heard that Ford was cuttin down on costs and that they were not adding the right amount of freon to the system. So I decided to go to the store and get a R-134a recharging kit with a guage on it and see if they were right.

I hooked up the hose to the low side port on a 80 degree day and saw that the pressure was around 25 psi. Since i work in the HVAC buisness i have a chart that shows what the pressure to degrees of the evap traslate to. I looked it up and it said that for R-134a the low side should be around 45 psi for a evap coil resulting in a 38-40 degrees.

I added a full pound to the system and it solved the problem. Now you have to remember that since the compressor is a varible speed compressor you have to have someone rev the engine while you add the charge because at an idle the pressure will read almost correct but then you rev it to about 1200 - 1500 rpm and it will drop to 25 or so.

My dad also has the same year truck as i do and his also took one pound so i would say that you should add a pound but you may need more or a little less.

Now the duct temps reach around 40 degrees. Alot better from before when it was only around 70 on a day that was about 90. big difference!


Hope this helps everyones problems!

 

Thanks for the advice. I'm going to give it a try and I'll let you know if it works.

 

HVAC is not MOBILE AC. Very similar principles,,, but its NOT the same thing.

If you are going to b checking Pressures you need HIGH and LOW pressure readings.
Its best to just simply evacuate the system and charge to the recommended charge weight.

Its REALLY doubtful furd would short the AC systems a full pound (are you referring to a 12 oz can as a pound?) of R134a and the additional customer complaints when they are in the RED.
They'd find somewhere else to save $2 per truck.

 

I recently bought my first ford truck after having a Sivlerado for 8 years. The only complaint I have is that the AC is not cold.

I bought a thermometer for checking the temperature of the AC, the coldest I saw was at idle, on low, on recirc, and it was 45 degrees.

My wife's Saturn Vue was going as low as 37 degrees.

Took it to the dealership, mentioned this, they checked it and came back with readings of 45 degrees at idle, and 50 degrees at 1500RPM.

they said "that is normal, and if it were any cooler, <somepart> would freeze because it was too cold"

I think that is such BS, how does the saturn get so low then?

I got a rental vehicle today from Enterprise, an 08 Silverado, the AC on this thing is so cold, I cant take it. It is even colder than the Saturn's 37 degrees. ANd it doesnt take 20 minutes to get cold, less than 1 minute and it freezes you out. Ill need to get the thermometer on it to verify, but I know it is freezing compared to my ford.

How can a Silverado AC system be so much superior to a Fords?

 

Ford definitley drop the ball on the a/c. I added a lbs of 134-a myself because I didnt want to make an appointment for them to do it. So the next oil change I had them check the system and it was still low. After that it worked good but not as good as all my other cars and trucks.

 

I'm also an HVACR technician (Not Mobile Refrigeration). I couldn't see Ford shorting all their trucks on refrigerant to save money. As for "this car has colder A/C than that car", there are too many variables...outdoor temp. and humidity, sensible and latent heat load on the evaporator coil, etc. to effectively compare A/C systems between vehicles simply by duct temp.

If your system's low, it was either under charged at the factory or it has a leak.

Has anyone cleaned their condenser coil? Do these trucks have cabin air filters?

 

I bought a can of R134a and the connector will not fit the recepticle!?!? I think the low pressure port is the one next to the battery?

 

No cabin air filters

 

I was trying to connet it to the high side
Got it charged, and its cold as it should be!

 

Today it is 75 degrees in central PA. I had a 2008 Chevy Silverado rental and used my temperature thermometer on it, 38 degrees while driving. A friend of mine has a 2007 Nissan Altima, 39 degrees while driving. We got in my Ford F150, 50 degrees while driving. Same conditions, Conclusion: fords suck at AC. This is a major disappointment to me and every time I turn on the A/C, I get mad. Dont see how I can recommend Ford to anyone.

 

what is the recommended low side PSI for a 2007 FX4 F150 SCREw?

 

There is a range of pressures. I charge my stuff to the middle of the high side chart. http://www.autoacforum.com/aacf/ptchart.cfm

 

Sometimes when its hot outside (90* or hotter) my a/c will not blow cold until I start driving.After awhile my thermometer in the vent reads between 37*-40* with the fan speed on #2.

 

Same for my 07 Expy. At idle, the system sucks. Almost no cooling until you start driving. This is a common complaint on the 07's.

 

Since the refrigerant load is weighed in its hard to say what the low side will be. All these folks adding a pound of refrigerant to that small of a system are probably going to regret it. The air may be colder but without checking the high side pressures you may be killing your compressors.