rockypointers

Found this forum and it's pages as a result of two "failed" trips to the dealer to fix the a/c on my 2010 F150 5.4L V8 Triton 4x4 Supercrew. I am the original owner with 61K miles....on the truck, not me.


Trip to dealer initiated by a "hum" when then a/c was on as well as the air temp being warm at best and then while idling at stoplights, the air flow from the vents varied. Also noticed the air coming out of the vents on MAX and high speed wasn't as strong as it was before the issues above.


Took the truck to a dealer near my home here in Phoenix. Here are the dealer comments and what they found and repaired under warranty:


"Verified concern, outlet temp high at 58 degrees F, ambient temp at 81 F. No TSBS or SSMS found. Inspected for leaks, found large leak at the expansion valve. Recovered the A/C system and replaced the leaking expansion valve. System was 8oz low. Charged to spec and retested, air outlet OK at 45.2 degrees F, ambient temp at 103 degrees F. Test drove vehicle, operation normal at this time."


Regarding the "hum" noise, Ford dealer says:


"Verified concern, noise confirmed from the blower motor. Removed Motor, no damage or debris found. Replaced blower motor and retested, operation normal at this time."


(as a sidenote, the seats also were not cooling, and they replaced the passenger cooling module...this is useful info later...)


When I picked the truck up 4 days later, I was disappointed in the volume of air coming out when the fan was on HIGH and still didn't feel like it was all that cold...although the hum was gone. When my wife sat in the seat, she noticed and felt that it was extremely loose and actually rocked. She verified the poor A/C performance and confirmed my suspicions, that it wasn't near normal.


Agitated, I called my advisor and told him I would be bringing the truck back to fix the seat and that I was unsatisfied with the A/C performance. Upon return, I checked in with another advisor and explained the issue. He felt the air and even mentioned, "yes, it doesn't seem to be blowing all that hard". Regular service advisor then came out and said that everything tested normally, they hooked it up to the computer and found no error codes and that there was nothing they could do.


I asked to speak to the service manager and he came out. I said that in the same way they didn't need a computer to see that the seat was broken (it just needed to have a bolt tightened, no biggie)...I didn't need a computer to tell me that the A/C wasn't working as well as it was.


The Service Manager said that they submitted the issue to Ford, who returned their email stating that the characteristics of the vehicle are unique to the vehicle and are within specs. I was also welcome to seek a second opinion from another dealer to see if there is something they come up with and gave me the "hey, I would love to find something wrong so I could get paid from Ford to fix it" line.


Here's where I cry bull***t. I am the original owner and I know what I know. BEFORE the hum, that thing blew COLD and HARD that I would have to turn it down because it would dry my eyeballs out. Now, the fan on high barely hits my face and is cool at best. When the fan is on low, there is hardly any air coming out of the vents at all.


Long story short....too late now, right....should I seek help from another dealer? I am seeing all kinds of other A/C issues on this forum with advice ranging from Freon issues, insulating the lines, the 6th dealer was the charm, to suck it up and just pay to have someone else fix it. I paid my $100 deductible (thank God for extended warranties) and just got rid of the hum. I'm now at a point where Ford is slapping their hands together saying that this is "normal". I'm not convinced, since I remember the performance from the moment I drove it off the lot compared to now and it's like apples to magazines....not even close.


Any advice is appreciated. Is there something that this dealer may have missed that another dealer may see, or are all dealers linked to a main system and VIN number? I suppose, if anything it would verify or contradict my opinion that the performance is less than optimal.

5.0GN tow

Sounds like a blend door part way open or closed. Is there air coming out anyplace other than the dash, say floor or defrost? Or does is sound like the blower is running full speed but not still not blowing much air? Our mercury mountaineer did this and it was a broken actuator on the blend door. Dash removal required to replace it. I "fixed" it by permenently setting it to the recirculate position. The door for defrost to to vent etc still worked but it was essentially always on max ac. I was able to do this by removing the glove box to access the door. Not a correct fix but it was out of warranty and they wanted about 1k at the dealer to fix it. Not sure where the door is on your truck but you could at least use that to rule out other issues

rockypointers

Thanks 5.0. Defrost comes out the top, floor comes out of the floor....buttons pressed still direct air to where the button says. It does sound like the blower is on full bore, but just not pushing out much air.

crewsn

you may have an evaporator partially blocked from dust and dirt. since there is no cabin air filter these things suck in all kids of stuff. i had an 09 f150 work truck do this with a little over 70k. good luck

shortride

iTrader: (1)

It can make a difference if the recycle switch is on in extreme ambient temperatures. With the recycle switch off it only pulls in outside air. This can make a difference in how long it take to cool the cab off. Especially if your truck has been sitting out in the hot sun for an extended period.

rockypointers

Real world test. Today on my 30 minute commute in 100 degree temp outside. Calibrated thermometer, fan on high, max ac, recirculation on....

The lowest temp out the vents was 50/51. While idling at a light, temp crept up to 58/59.

All the while not seeming to be blowing hard at all. Maybe time to try a new dealer for help with these new results as a baseline.

inane2

Hey Rocky!

I was having a similar problem. I started discussing it on this post here but never got back to completely finish my findings:

https://www.f150forum.com/f38/2012-a...s-both-293783/

Anyways, on the fresh air setting, the fan would make the normal fan “sounds” through all of the speed settings (7 levels with EATC). However, on full high, it was making all kinds of noise with very little output of air. The first 3 or 4 settings, you could barely feel anything. AC was terrible, I was sweating like crazy in my truck. Cooled seats were a joke but I somewhat blame this on the KR leather. Airflow on recirculate was what I deemed normal, but on fresh air, only noise and little to no air movement.

One day I removed both wiper arms (very easy to do, only a flat screwdriver needed). I popped the hood and removed both sections of cowl vent trim. One push pin on each end, disconnect the washer hose near the firewall on the passenger side and gently pry the trim up. After this was out, you can somewhat see your fresh air intake. It’s somewhat of a rectangular intake with wire screen in the bottom to keep small stuff from making it to your blower motor and in the ducts, heater core, AC coil, etc. There is also a plastic grid that surrounds and covers the intake, looks like the face guard on a hockey mask. A mouse had slid through the grid and made a huge nest right on top of the intake screen. Truck was staying in the shop so the nest was all pink fiberglass insulation. Nest was complete with several dead mice babies and hickory nut shells. Had to adapt down a very small hose to my ShopVac. Slowly and carefully vacuumed it all out by sticking the small homemade vacuum tube through the plastic grid. After doing this, I went inside to the passenger footwell and dropped the blower motor. Unplug motor and 3 small bolts. Hardest part was wrestling the squirrel cage part of the blower out of the duct work. With the HVAC set to fresh air, I laid on my back and looked up to the fresh air intake. I could see some light but saw plenty more mouse nest material. A few more times of this and I finally had it all. Buttoned it all back together, fired it up and wow, what a difference! AC works good, around 44, but all of my fan speeds are where they should be. Basically, that nest blocked all of my air off. The blower motor was spinning trying to draw air into the vehicle but couldn’t.

About 6 weeks later, same issue. Borrowed my buddy’s inspection camera, stuck it down through the cowl vent and yep, mouse nest #2. Fixed the truck again and went on a violent mouse killing rampage. Funny, one day I came into shop and found two dead mice under the truck. I park the truck in the house garage now.

Sorry to be long winded, but you may check for a blockage on your fresh air intake. Thinking back, if you don’t have an inspection camera, the easiest way I would tell you would be to pop the hood to let light down into the cowl, set the truck to “fresh air”, leave the HVAC on but turn the truck off, drop the blower motor and look up for light coming through.

Viking1204

Good luck with Ford Service if their COMPUTER says everything checks out ok. Seems Ford Service techs no longer need to use their brain and common sense to troubleshoot things, they just check the computer and if it says everything is OK then there MUST NOT be anything wrong. I'm in a battle right now with Ford over poor performance and loss of power after a timing change replacement by Ford and Crystal on here from Ford Service is helping. She put me in touch with a Regional Service Manager who is helping me escalate this.

RLXXI

The sad truth and it's Ford's fault, they slashed warranty pay for trained tech's with EXPERIENCE so the only hires they can get these days are pimple faced kids fresh out of high school that are trained to rely on a machine that is limited and don't have the EXPERIENCE of years in the field to know that sometimes it just don't work the way Ford engineer's say its supposed to and find a cure using learned EXPERIENCE from years of real world testing and repair.

Dealer owners are also to blame for not compensating EXPERIENCED tech's with pay that commensurate accordingly, the end result is the dealers are mostly staffed with jiffy luber goobers that can pass an ASE test but can't get those smarts to their hands to save their lives.

If you can find a dealer that DOES take care of their tech's grab hold with both hands in a death grip because they are getting fewer and farther between.

Gotta love corporate America ehh?

Viking1204

Rnlcomp you are 100% right. The sad thing is my issue made it up to the service MANAGER and he was clueless, he kept repeating, but the computer says everything is ok, but the computer says everything is ok. Not once did he get technical with me and explain why he thought the computer was right because he couldn't. Hopefully I'll have better luck at the next dealer I take it to and if I do I'll always take my truck there even though it's a 30 minute drive there and a 30 minute drive back to where I live and work. The dealer in town has a worthless service department.