Bought our Expy in July 2002. We're very happy with it and have only expierienced one major problem (besides the brake dust problem ) After travelling at highway speeds for an hour or two, the front A/C cuts down to a quarter of the normal output. The blower motor is still blowing like crazy, but the air flow is restricted. The rear air is not affected.

I had it to the shop last year but to no avail. They didn't have a clue. To me it seems to be a vaccum problem for the venting. The problem seems to "reset" itself after the vehicle is slowed or stopped for a period.

I'm hoping someone may have the answer to this problem. Looking forward to your replies.

Jim in Arkansas

 

Is it blowing on the floor instead? Mine will do that once it reaches temp. It cuts down and blows in the floor for a little bit, then back up on top when it needs to cool some more....

It also may be doing what it will do when the heater is on. After a certain period of time, it'll cut over and pull in fresh outside air. Kind of a nice feature unless you like to sleep and drive at the same time.

It does that to make sure the cabin get's enough oxygen. Oxygen is a good thing!

 

The problem you describe with the AC is probably the freeze protection feature on the condensor. If it senses freeze up it will drop the cooling power to allow it to warm up a bit.

 

always,

You bring up a good point, except I think you meant to say evaporator because the condenser is out in front by the radiator and it's always filled with hot gas from the compressor or hot liquid if it's at the exit of the condenser.

TrueBlue03Expy,

The old style A/C systems that used an expansion valve to contol refrigerant flow would automatically take care of the freeze up because the flow of refrigerant would almost stop and the evaporator would then thaw out if it was frozen.

There are a few reasons why an evaportor will freeze but there may be more.

1. Outside air conditions are just right to create freezing on the coils of the evaporator with the specified inside temperature conditions and thermostat setting. This condition would cause the fan air flowing over the evaporator coils to be blocked due to ice.

2. There is too much or too little of a refrigerant charge which causes the refrigerant temperature to drop too low in the evaporator which will then sometimes freeze the water vapor that is within the air being passed over the coils.

3. There is water vapor inside the refrigerant system which causes a blockage of refrigerant by freezing internally. This particular condition would not affect the fan air flowing over the coils but would cause the air exiting the vents to be less cool and possibly feel warm. I know this is not what you were saying but thought I'd mention it.

Since you say the problem kind of goes away after breif stops, it's possible that if you do have an icing over on the evaporator problem that there should be a considerable puddle of water under the truck from the melting of the ice on the evaporator after stopping. If you have an unusually large water puddle under your truck after you stop and after you notice the air flow blockage coming from the vents, then I think icing of the evaporator is your problem too.

My diagnosis is that there is an improper amount of refrigerant in your system and from what I recall, there is no sight glass on an orfice tube A/C system, it's filled by weight of charge and guessing the proper amount will cause problems like what you describe. There should be a tag or label under the hood that specifies the exact refrigerant poundage to properly fill the system. I'd have to assume also that you have an Eddie Bauer since you mentioned rear air and with that system and the regular system up front, the system charge is huge and more sensative to having an improper charge amount. I too have an EB Expy but fortunately, I've had no problems with my A/C yet.

Later,

~DM~

 

I bought my 03 in Aug. of 02, and have had the same recurring problem when w/ the AC when the truck is driven for about an hour straight. The blower remains at the level it is set on, but the cold almost stops completetly. I have taken the truck in 2-3x to have this fixed, I am about to go in to get an internal AC switch (not sure on the official part name or number) replaced for the 2nd time. My service advisor told me that his manager has had the same problem w/ his 03 Navi. This problem has nothing to do w/ the trim level of the 03 Expys, XLT or EB, both have had this problem. I thought I read somewhere that their is a TSB out on this.

Hopefully they'll get this figured out. Luckily, I don't take too many long trips, and eventhough I am in FL, the AC blows ice cold during my normal short trips, the only time it comes into play is on road trips. My advisors said that the problem is a result of a poorly designed switch that controls or tries to control the "AC system from freezing up". When the problem arises, a short break for "thaw-time" remedies the problem for awhile. I also get a huge amount of water puddling near the rear AC unit, under the truck, I think the amount of water is due to the "thawing" the of the system. Let me know if any of you have had similar issues.

 

FamilyRide,

No, I don't notice it blowing to the floor. When the system cut down, I felt to see if it diverted to the floor or defrost, but it had not.


AlwaysFord,

If this is a freeze protection feature, does that mean that this sort of operation is normal? Or as others are alluding, that though it's inherient in the system there may be a problem with the switch that initiates the system.

Do I just leave it alone?


DaveMan,

Wow, lot's of info there ... THANKS.

So should I take it in and have them check for proper amount of refrigerant? Or dare I let the techs mess with it and possibly compound the problem?

And we are talking about long trips across the Arkansas Delta to SE Georgia. It kindof gets warm inside as the system is warming itself up too. How long should the thawing process take before the system starts cooling us again?


tjgotown,

I feel your pain. No problems for short rides, but down the road awhile and ...

Please let me know if you get yours fixed or if you find the TSB that addresses the problem.

(This is ax XLT with manual A/C)

Thanks for all your posts thus far!
Jim

 

TrueBlue,

When you're on trips with the A/C running, do you set the max A/C or recirc button to on? I almost always set my max A/C button to on and each time you stop and start your engine, you must reset this since it's electronic and also since Ford wants to make sure you don't blame them for too little fresh air. The reason I ask this is because an A/C is a very good de-humidifier and thus after running on recirc, the humidity is much lower inside than outside and the chance of freezing is reduced due to less moisture in the air circulating inside.

If on the other hand, you don't set your max A/C or recirc button to on, then extra moisture from the outside air is always getting in and increases the chances of freezing the evaporator. This is very noticable in areas that are notorious for high humidity like coastal regions or near large bodies of water.

One more thing. Until there is a fix, you can do a few things to prevent evaporator freezing yourself.

1. Cycle the unit on and off manually when the temperature gets down to what you like. This will give the evaporator time to thaw and after a few minutes, switch it back on. I know this sounds stupid but it will at least let you have some control and the unit will not freeze up. I would only suggest this so that you don't have to be uncormfotable during your trip or until Ford fixes the issue.

2. Always switch on the max A/C button and get fresh air at your pee breaks which shouldn't be more than two hours. You might want to crack your windows on occasion to let some fresh air in.

3. Set your desired temperature to the lowest possible temperature and the fan to highest speed. The evaporator gets at it's lowest temperature when the fan speed is set to the lowest speed. Heat transfer or heat removal in this case takes time and a higher fan speed doesn't allow the air to be in the coil area as long as it does on a slower speed. Hence, the loweset temperature from an A/C is when the fan is set to the lowest level. The lowest temperature is what makes ice!

Sounds to me like evaporator freezing is the problem, keeping the moisure down inside is one way to help and again, an A/C is a fantastic de-humidifier but is maximized when the least amound of fresh air is allowed to enter which basically is the only thing the max A/C feature does.

Hopefully nothing that I've said is contradictory

Later,

~DM~

 

DaveMan,

You may be on to something.

I'm thinking that we usually have the fan on the lower settings with fresh air. But on the hottest of days, I'm fairly sure we set it on recirculated (still with lower fan settings).

I'll try to remember next year to test the higher fan / recirculated setting. And let the system rest every now and then.

We'll also keep watch to see if Ford comes out with a fix for it.

Many thanks!
Jim

 

Have the same problem on my 03. Took it to the dealer once,,..... they have no clue. Something freezes up the flow of air after several hours of driving. Airflow is definitely restricted. Let the vehicle sit and a big puddle forms and airflow is increased once things are thawed out. Come on Ford, fix it! This problem is going into 2004's same as the steering wheel vibration problem.

 

I have a 2004 and don't have either of these problems. It was built in Sep or Oct 03.

Maybe they fixed it in production and are trying to figure out how to retrofit existing trucks.

Bob

 

ExpyBob,

I would hope that is the case. Be glad to have this wrinkle out of the armor.

Have you driven your Expy down south on a hot humid day for a few hours and still not experienced the problem?

BTW, do you keep your A/C on recirculating and run the fan motor at other than low settings?

Jim

 

I had a $7 AC switch replaced for the 2nd time to try to resolve the "long drive - no AC problem". I've been a couple 1 hour plus drives, but unfortunately the weather in FLA has been cool, 70's-80's, so I had the AC on, but it was on low and I really wouldn't have noticed a difference. I will keep you posted. Hopefully it is fixed, if not the 3rd time may be the Lemon Law charm!

 

Hi True Blue

I took it for a 3 1/2 hour drive down to south Jersey on a day warm enough (not hot) and humid enough to have it drip in the driveway and it worked fine. I leave the control set on "Auto" so the fan kinda does what it wants. I believe it ran on low since I never heard it running.

I kept my side at 66F while my wife had her side set to 70F.

It was bringing in air from the outside. (Not recirculating)

I don't have any of the noises or symptoms that I've read others have with the earlier 03s. Maybe they got it straightened out.?.?

Hope this helps---Bob

 

All,

Since my Expy was approaching 36K, I took it to the local Ford dealer to talk to them about this problem. There was a mechanic standing by who was now familiar with the problem and told me the workaround.

The problem is ONLY with Expys with rear air (is that just about all of them!). Keep in mind that these units do NOT cycle on and off. They are always running. So it seems under some conditions if you DO NOT run the rear system, the front system is overloaded and freezes. The fix is to run the rear system and set the front system just a notch off of the coldest setting (dial back off the extreme end of the blue area). I don't think it matters whether you are using Max or Normal mode.

So it seems that all I needed to do was run the full system continuously. I did not do this due to 4 kids in the back being COLD. I will now leave their blower on the slowest setting and turn their system up warmer to their likings (and they can close vents too). And like I said, the front temperature control will be a notch off cold.

I haven't tested this yet, so if you don't hear back from me by this time next year, it will probably mean that I haven't had this problem again.

Thanks for all your replys in the past.


PS

We may be giving the 2005 Honda Odyssey a close look. It has all the things we were looking for when we got the Expy ... seating for 8 ... safety ... luggage compacity. We'll have to wait to see just how usable the interior space is once they hit the dealerships. We'd love to have it all and 25 MPG to boot!

 

There is a TSB out for this now.

The dealer should be aware of it. I think it involves changing a sensor switch or location. I believe the take aprt the consol to do it.

You might want to look into it.

Bob