My 07 blows cool, sometimes very cool, but it never gets cold. On Friday I rant it by a shop and watched as they hooked up the guages. Pressures are spot-on - low side at 38 and the high side at 180 on an 85 deg F day. Also, the low side line gets very cold. Not enought to frost over like a low-refrigerant situation would cause, but still very cold. If I were guessing without actually measuring it, I'd say somewhere in the 38-40 deg F range.

The correct pressures and cold low side tell me that the refrigerant/compressor stuff is probably working properly, leaving an air handling problem as the culprit. Could it be the blend door may not completely shifting into the 'cool' position? Is there an easy way to tell short of tearing into the dash?

Suggestions? Hints? Bueller...?

Thanks in advance!
Brad

 

I am Not sure what the correct pressures should be but they do change with outside temp. I too have an 07 F150 and was never happy with the overall cooling function of A/C system. I added the shut-off valve into the hose that runs to the inside heater core, shutting all HOT coolant from passing through it during the summer months. Made a big change. It is nothing more than a ball-valve that goes inline with the upper heater hose that runs from the top of the engine to the firewall. I know if you search in the HVAC section long enough, there are photos.....

 

Friend of mine who does HVAC work says it sounds like a classic case of contaminated refrigerant, likely air introduced into the system during some previous attempt at charging. He's offered to draw the system down and refill with virgin refrigerant this weekend. All I have to do is buy the parts and the beer .

In everyone's experience what's the best brand of dryer and orifice... factory replacements or a particular aftermarket brand? Rock Auto has a Motorcraft dryer/accumulator for $99 and I have a discount coupon. I was thinking of going that route unless someone has a better suggestion.

Brad

 

i also installed the ball valve shut off on my upper heater hose. made a big difference in how cold the ac is. the cab gets freezing cold now!!

 

Brad Johnson, Consider the Ball Valve after your repairs. I have read that it will reduce the temperature as much as 10 degrees. I can't say I have seen a 10 degree change but it is much colder with the valve in the off position vs the on position.... Let us know how you make out....

 

My 2007 is the same way. I actually had a problem with the controls not working, and they replaced the whole compressor on the system (they said the clutch on it wasn't working). I'm not sure if they had to replace the refrigerant or not in that process. But regardless, it never got icy cold before they did the work, and it never gets icy cold now. It gets cool enough to keep me from sweating but it's not very good. By contrast my 95 Mustang, the A/C was so cold you had to turn it off every 10 minutes or you'd be shivering.

I figured that all new car a/c was just lousy since the government made them change from freon to whatever they use now. It never occurred to me that it could be contaminated. Of course now I'm out of my 3/36K warranty and don't want to pay for them to look at it again.

 

Your Mustang had the same 134a system your 07 truck does.

I'll know more after the weekend. An HVAC buddy of mine is supposed to draw down and recharge the system for me this weekend.

Brad

 

I've seen several threads that guys say the heater sore is circulating all off the time. I'm not sure what Ford did on those year models, but you're probably going to have the same problem after you do this fix. Some one would have really screwed up to get that much moisture in the system.

 

Not moisture, air.

Anyone know the refrigerant capacity of an 07 system? Some helpful soul was nice enough to have pressure-washed the underhood sticker off. I need to take it with me when I head over to my friends place tonight.

*Edit to Add*

Events conspired against us and we didn't have time to evacuate and recharge the system. I did, however, get a thermometer for the vent so I could register real-time readings. Non-recirc vent temps bottom out at around 55 deg during while driving. They will hover at 60 deg when in slow or stop-and-go traffic. Recirc vent temps stay at around 45 for around-town, and will hit 42 after extended road driving (45+mph for at least 5 minutes). All these temps on a 95 deg F day. At night, with ambient temps hovering at 80 deg, the Recirc vent temp will eventually make it to 39 deg, but only after ten or fifteem minutes of 45+ mph driving.

As for the hot water shutoff, I tested that. With the truck stone-cold on a 75 deg night (not running for at least 4 hrs) I cranked it up, went straight to max, and hit the highway at 40 mph. Even with the engine temp guage barely registering the vent temp still never dropped below 42 for the first couple of minutes, eventually dropping to the aforementioned 39 after several miles of level, constant-speed driving.

I have the refrigerant. Now all we need is the time to make the evac/recharge happen. Since we're pulling down the system anyway I'm going to put in a new orifice tube just because.

Brad

 

Did this resolve your problem Brad?

 

Any one have pics for the ball valve shut off? My 2002 is not cold enough...

 

My 1994 F150, setup not used for 8 years. Just got it running 4 months ago but still have a few issues that I can not fix. Mainly my AC, it blows good but is not cold. I can not get it below 80 degrees.

I have put a compressor on it, if filled it with 24oz of EZ Chill refrigerant Plus oil. A buddy of mine had gages and came to conclusion that I had to much oil and not enough refrigerant. We drain system and put 1 can of oil and 2 cans of freon. Still will not get below 80 degrees.

Also, while filling the cooling system in M/ac it was fine, but when running down road when put in max air blew thru defrost. What is up with that? Any help would be grateful.