I have an 03 f150 5.4 and my ac blows ice cold ... until it doesn't. It randomly blows "room temp" air and by that I mean it's not hot but it's no longer ice cold. Usually I can rotate the hot/cold **** all the way to hot for a second and then when I come back to cold it's ice cold. Other times (more rare) that doesn't work and I just have to wait till I turn it off and get back in and the system works perfectly.

At no point in time does the AC ever blow warm/hot unless I rotate the ****. It's either ice cold or "neutral" temp.

Any thoughts on what the problem could be? Most of my research just pulled up when the truck blows hot and that's not my issue. Thanks in advance!

 

My 99 is starting to do this too. Blows ice cold in the morning then by noon its blowing slightly cold air. I had A/C recharged when I got the truck so it might just be time to recharge it. What it sounds like to me is your A/C lines are freezing up so it blows hot air then they are unfreezing and start blowing cold again until they freeze again.

 

Same here on my ‘03. Charged it last spring and it looks like it’s time for another band-aid charge.

Anyway, when low on refrigerant, the evaporator will freeze over. I can deal with it in the truck solo, but we just tossed an old work area AC that was 5 lbs low and freezing up constantly. Imagine hearing those complaints mid-afternoon when the AC craps out!

 

Are you sure your blend door and/or actuator isn't the problem? As long as your compressor is running as normal, the blend door is top suspect.

The actuator can strip gears, and only work at certain times.... and the blend door itself can also break into pieces down on the nub, and work sometimes too.

 

Seen that in an 04 expedition. Made a loud clicking noise

 

Again guys that's why I made sure to mention (twice) it never blows hot air. I know what the compressor freezing up feels like. Thanks for the thoughts anyway tho. Guess I should've added in the original post my compressor is working normally. No weird cycling issues and not freezing up. But that's what I mentioned it never blew hot.

Whitey I'm not sure, I was almost thinking the blend door is slowing losing its hold if that's possible? Is there a good way to test this? IIRC I have to tear apart the dash to get to the blend door. I'd prefer a way to be 100% sure it's the problem before I do.
I've removed my entire dash once before to paint, I'd hate to do it again lol l

 

Yes, they "lose their hold" when they start breaking up inside. It's a tough call as to which one it is though (door or actuator) because they produce the same issue.

This is what the actuator does... the blue is where the teeth came from, and the red is where they landed, LOL.....




Then this piece here breaks up and also loses its hold....

 

This stub here is what goes into the bottom of the blend door where I circled above....

 

Thanks for the pics whitey. I've only got a 1-2 months at most for AC. Sounds like this might be a problem I wait until it's constantly not blowing ac lol.

I'll put that on the shelf with my odo flickering and get to it one day I'm bored.

 

It may be your compressor clutch/pulley going bad.

Recently my A/C stopped blowing cold when I accelerated onto the highway, stayed that way the whole time I was on the highway, and then went back to cold once I got on the exit ramp and slowed down (Basically went from 75mph down to 40mph). When I left the toll area I accelerated hard and the air went warm for a few seconds but went back to cold when I stopped accelerating (RPMs went from 2800 down to 1600). The ac worked the entire way back home on the highway but when I stopped at a light after I got off the highway at the end of my trip, I heard a knocking/putting sound from the engine bay. When I got home I noticed the sound changed when I turned the air on and off, basically engaging and disengaging the ac compressor. I then noticed the clutch/pulley assembly was wobbling a bit. I pulled the belt off and discovered the compressor pulley had a bunch of play in it and needed replacing. I ended up replacing the compressor clutch/pulley assembly and that seems to have resolved my issue. Its been 2 weeks since I replaced it, the noise is still gone and I haven't had problems with the air.

Or it could have been a coincidence and my blend door or actuator may be starting to go bad (as whitey86gt stated) and the issue just hasn't occurred again.