Rewind to July 2008. I bought this truck with about 94,000 Km on it and promptly drove it from Vancouver Island to the interior of BC for a holiday during a hot spell. One day during my trip I stopped to get six of my favorite cold beverages and left the family in the truck with the A/C running. When I came back out they were sitting with the doors open melting in the heat which was somewhere around 35 to 38 degrees C as I recall. My lovely wife clearly and colourfully reported that hot air had started pouring from the vents shortly after I got out.
When I got home I took the truck to the dealer and they checked and said everything seemed fine, vent temperature was within parameters and sent me on my way.

The problem just re-occurred so I thought it might be helpful this time to have some facts to present to them so I made a few notes. Excuse the mixed scales, the truck reads out in celsius and the meat thermometer I have stuck in the vent is marked off in fahrenheit.

A/C check July7, 2009
9:07 AM
• Temperature in vent 90 degrees F
• Temperature set to 16 degrees C
• Sun roof open to vent position
• Outside temperature approximately 20 degrees C
9:17 AM
• Temperature in vent 64 degrees F
• Outside temperature reading 22 degrees C
• Closed sunroof
• Set to recirculate
9:30 AM
• Temperature in vent 64 degrees F
• Temperature set to 16 degrees C
• Outside temperature 23 degrees C
• Cabin temperature observed at 79 degrees F
• Sunroof still closed
Note that clicking sound every 10 seconds during test in engine bay ( a/c clutch?)

Dropped off truck at Glen Oak Ford in Colwood at about 9:50 AM and spoke with Blair at length and left copy of these notes.

Diagnosed leak at compressor relief valve and o rings nearby. Replaced entire manifold assembly on my customer care plan.



Sunday July 26, 2009

2:50 pm
• After restarting truck in ferry line up a/c failed to blow cold air.
• Outside temperature approximately 26 degrees C
• Vent temperature approximately 80 degrees F

When I got home I left the truck idling to check (set controls to manually select vent 16 degrees C)
6:35 PM
• Vent temperature 58 degrees F
• Outside temperature 28 degrees C
6:45 PM
• Vent temperature 68 degrees F
7:00 PM
• vent temperature 70 degrees F
• Set to recirc
7:05 PM
• vent temp dropped to 60 degrees F

This mornig I once again dropped off the truck and left a copy of these observations. I said mechanic would need to not plan on seeing the failure because it is intermittent. Suggested I though that the leak, while it needed to be fixed might not have been the cause of intermittently losing all A/C and suggested maybe it was control system or blend gate/door assembly at fault
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I'm in the middle of trying to get my A/C sorted out and thought I 'd post here to see if I could get any input that might be helpful when dealing with the service centre folks. They have been pretty decent so far and since I accidentally copy and pasted names of the dealership and service person in my original post I feel compelled to state that I have no complaint with them, just looking for information is all.

 

First thing Monday morning (July 27th) I took the truck in to the dealer with the reported facts from my last post. Heard nothing and wasn’t able to get any one on the phone in service in the afternoon. Finally at around 4:15 PM left a voice mail to call me to let me know what was happening since I was walking and needed time to get there. Left shortly after and got a call while I was walking. They had checked the truck throughout the day and said it was blowing cold air and no problem apparent. When I asked how cold I heard him asking mechanic and reply was “in the 40s”. I arrived and when service person started my truck the coldest vent temperature at idle was 69 degrees F outside temp was 32 degrees C. Both service people saw temp and when I pursued the issue about what they would do next I was told they would need to do so research and maybe call the Ford hotline. I drove the truck home. I am now inclined to demand they start replacing the A/C system until they get the problem solved. I bought the customer care plan so I wouldn't need to worry about this stuff. Am I being reasonable?

 

I don't think your being unreasonable at all, esspecially considering you have the customer care plan. Here's what I would do, first continue to document everything as you already have. I would present this data to the dealership, and if they are not able to fix it, then elevate it to the service manager. I've found that at that point, dealerships generally work quickly to fix things. It also helps if you remind them that you do regular business with them, and therefore it is in THEIR best interest to help you.

As to what you can do right now, I would buy a can of R-134a and top off your refrigerant. Somethimes these systems, even though they are supposed to be "closed," leak and just need to be topped off. This is a down and dirty fix that generally takes care of things. If the problem persists, then it elimenates a low refrigerant issue. Other possiblities are that the AC system works fine, but either the computer control has a bug or the temperature sensor is bad.

 

Tom,

Please let us know if you're able to get this resolved. I've had the same issue with my wife's '06 KR. Dealership gives me the same run around you've experienced. My 2008 250 blows air like it's ice, my wife's truck feels like the heater's on. It seems to be more prevelent during cold startups (not temperature, but after long periods of rest).

 

Both of yall are describing something i went through. Here is something to try. Unhook battery for coule of minutes to clear computer. For the next few days DO NOT USE THE AUTO BUTTON. Follow this procedure for a/c usage.
1. Hit vent button
2. Hit a/c button
3. Hit Max button
WHEN TURNING TRUCK OFF, FOLLOW IN REVERSE ORDER,then off. Make shure to follow these for a couple of days, DO NOT USE AUTO. If you see that ac comes cold on start ups and no more clicking on off every 10 seconds of compressor, it is the ac panel itself. Unfortunatley i played the same games with dealer, freon level is fine,blah blah and ran out of warranty. Not saying this is ur problem, but sounds exactly like mine.