Summer has arrived with a vengeance in Alabama. My truck cooled pretty good on long trips but around town was just average. I played around with it yesterday, noticing the suction line was cool but not cold. No condensation on it with lots of humidity in the air. Pressure line was hot at the coil but just warm at the service port. I added some R134 and the suction line got nice and cold, condensation just dripping off of it. I thought HOT DAMN, I am ready to go. The inside digital thermometer was around 47 sitting in the drive with the electric cooling fans running wide open. I cleaned up and went for a ride, it was 85 outside and my thermometer showed 79-84 as I drove down the road. I was quite unhappy needless to say. Today I let some of the R134A out till I had 50 PSI on the low side with the engine off. I cranked it up and noticed it was cooling down pretty fast, 83 outside, truck falling to around 44-47. I let a bit more out and checked the lines, suction was cold and condensation on it, pressure was hot at service port area. I knew I was close as for the 1st time I saw water dripping out of the evaporator onto the ground. I never saw water drip all of last summer. Also the radiator fans never went into high speed. I assume the high side pressure reading made the computer speed up the fans trying to lower the pressure. A/C was so simple before electronics became involved!
I will have the service guys check it out when I go in for the tranny re-flash and door recall. I believe my truck was overcharged from the beginning. I just made the symptom easy to troubleshoot by overcharging it more and I knew what I had done.

 

My 2010 doesn't seem to blow real cold. But I haven't had a real warm day yet to really know for sure.

Is your 47 degree reading right at the vents?

 

Refrigerant is added at the factory by weight, not pressure. I mean no offense, but checking the pressure with the vehicle off is the most ***-backwards way there is to check a system. There are too many variables. The ONLY way to check is with a manifold gauge attached to the high and low side with the AC on high. The normal pressure will vary depending on the ambient temperature.

The hotter it is outside, and the more humid it is, the less effective an air conditioner is. When the vehicle is not in motion and idling, it's at it's least efficient. When you're driving, more air is moving through the condensor and the compressor is spinning faster.

That was the long anwer. Short answer is that if you don't know what you're doing, take it to the dealer. That's why we have a warranty.

Stay cool

 

47 Degrees is at the vent to the right of the gauges. Regarding pressure with the vehicle off, I found a chart that gives approx low side pressure with system off as a starting point. Once vehicle is running, manifold gauge set then comes into play. One of my overcharged symptoms was I had cooler air at idle than running down the road. I agree it should be cooler driving than idling.

 

I definitely not getting 47 degrees at the vent with mine. When it gets a little warmer I'll have the dealer check it out.

 

At a 72 degree day, I get 40 degree output. If its 90 out it is about 50 degree at vent not good.

 

I have been studying my A/C a bit, comparing it also to my Honda Pilot.
I believe the issue is with the software used to control the low temp set point.
My truck will go down to 42.7 degrees than rise up to 46.3 degrees when the temp setting is at 60 Degrees or all the way left using max a/c with recirculate on, not auto. I found it not to be as cool on the auto setting. My Pilot will go down to 37.2 degrees before shutting off till it reaches 44 then cycles to cool till 37.2 is reached again. It cycles like this all day. I know it cycles to prevent the coil from freezing. I am going to inquire if there is a flash update for the a/c setting.
It is not broke, it just does not work as well as it could. 5 degree difference between the vehicles is like night and day in feel as well as how quick it will cool the cab down on a hot day.

 

You're banging your head against a wall by comparing two different vehicles. When it is set to 60°, it's no different than turning a **** all the way to cold. With the AC on high and the vehicle idling, the compressor shouldn't cycle. If it is, you're proabably undercharged.

If you're unhappy with the AC performance, take it to the dealer. That's why you have a warranty and people that know what they're doing can look at it.

 

R-134A pressure (as it is with ALL refrigerants) is directly related to temperature. You have no way of knowing how much refrigerant is in the system by reading pressure with the A/c off. Pressure will be constant depending on ambient temperature....regardless. Now that you have added, and then released....ALL of 134A in the system needs to be recovered...then a deep vacuum pulled, then the exact amount of 134A weighed in. Sure, a good tech. can put some gauges on, take some measurements, and get it pretty close. But weighing is going to be the best, and most accurate way now. When the designed amount is back in the system, you will be operating at peak performance...period.

Just trying to help....

 

Last summer I went round-and-round with two dealer service departments. Both said that the 2010s do not cool like the older ones and I just had to live with it. I wrote to Ford Customer service and they had my selling dealership arrange for a field service engineer to look at my truck, in November. Compared to a new one on the lot, the head pressure on my truck was way high. They did a reflash on my truck which brought it down to the level of the other truck which they said would improve the A/C performance. Since then, it has not been substantially over 100°, and I won't know for sure if it's any better until July or August. If the A/C is now software controlled, I can't call that an improvement...unless of course there were a way to calibrate the recycle temp to a lower setting. Mine just starts to vent cold air and the compressor cycles, never really producing cold air for more than an instant. Sure glad I don't drive a black truck!

 

I had my 2010 f150 checked out last summer, because i was not happy at all with the ac performance. They discharged and re-charched it by weight.
That did not make any difference at all. Still no good and by far the worst ac performance of any ford product i had in the past. This is my 19th ford, so i have plenty to compare to.
Other 150's i had would freeze me out of the cab in no time.
Looking at getting a 2012 and i will make sure i try the ac before i decide to buy it.