skintback

and now it is even less 'cold' and at idle or low rpms trucks drones or hums and blows warm air. the only time it's cool is at highway speeds. is this a common problem or do i have a dud AC unit/compressor? my buddy's '04 blows super cold air. any insight would be appreciated.('06 screw 5.4)

lariatboy

Sounds like you're running low on r134. That would be the first place to look.

60DRB

there's also this;

http://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/986532-2008-eatc-self-test.html

amick218

Our trucks didn't come with electric fans. Most likely the problem, esp at idle when your truck is at a stand still. Search e fan or electric fans for more details.

Swegner99

Had the same issue, i took the cowl off the top of the radiator and sprayed my condensor and radiator down with the hose. I was amazed at how much crap came out of there. Dead bugs and dirt and trash. Now the A/C blows nice and cold again.

skintback

took cowl off and washed radiator/condenser and bought napa subzero r134 freon with guage. guage said 25psi,shoulda had 50-55psi. put 2 bottles in and it climbed to 45psi. does seem a little cooler, i'll know tomorrow it's gonna be hot. apparently i have a leak.

powerranger262

I'm not real impressed with the temp of my air as well . Our 93 f350 at work blows arctic air that is waaaay colder than my truck or our other 09 f450 dumptruck.

PenTheMonster

My a/c runs hot I put freon and the next day it was hot again. They told me I had a leak and should cost about $800+ to replace.

AZWIP

Howdy folks, new to the forum... but read this using search, with great interest... have an '04 FX4... blows nice and cool on highway... around 42 at vents using MAX.

Get into town... blows around 60-70, ugh. Here in AZ it gets warm.

Now, have researched soooooo many possible solutions, from installing a Variable Orifice Valve, to using Artic Freeze, to installing electric fans, pusher, puller, etc...

Anyways, has "anyone" had any real results using any of these methods? I have blown out the condenser and had the system checked a few times, by dealer and local garage, all say all appears fine. Ugh. Its hot during city driving.

If I install an electric fan, I guess I would leave the manual one installed, and install a Pusher fan. Only because I have never uninstalled a manual engine fan, and have no clue on the size or effort of that job. So, adding an electric one as a pusher seems easy enough.

In regards to the VOV, have seen mixed results, some say worked, others say don't bother....

What do ya'll think?

Has anyone added a pusher electric fan and did it make a noticable improvement?

thanks folks!

Ron

Mod (Ret.)

It's a common problem for 04 to 08 F150's to have poor A/C during idle. If your blend door is working properly (inside the dash; opens the heat vent to the ducts; if stuck slightly open, the heat blends with the A/C, providing warm air). If your A/C is cold during highway type driving, I'd rule out the blend door. If your freon level is good, then it's going to be the fact that your not getting a good airflow through the front of the truck. R134 is known to not be as good as the R12 freon of yesteryear. Too bad R12 distroys the ozone. The AC condensors (radiator type device in front of the engine radiator) was made larger for R134 systems to help remove the heat from the less efficient R134. But at idle, the clutch type fan simply cannot pull enough air through the condensor to get this heat removed from the R134. Folks have A/C theory backwards; freon does not cool air, but instead removes heat from air. This makes the air from the vent cool, but it's because the heat is removed! Drawing air through the condensor is critical in making this more efficient.