Air con has gone warm again
 

Hi,
I picked up my GT last February, I used the air con but hadn't required cold air. By May I realised it wasn't working. Ford said there was no gas in the system. They filled it and and gave it a few weeks; no leaks reported. All seemed ok. Now it's just working but only one vent is blowing cool from the 3 centre ones. I know a few evaporators have gone here in the UK and have seen many go state side according to the forums. Have any of you guys had this issue? It looks a pig of a job as the whole dash has to be removed and after having the pony puddle lights fitted the wrong way round, by Ford, I'm not looking forward to them stripping my car.

It's going into Ford next week but just wondering if anyone else has had this and it's been another fault. The compressor is ok. £1200 to fix but so far she's in warranty.

Mark.

So the AC compressor is kicking on and staying on when you turn on the air con? How cold is it coming out of that one vent? If it's coming out full cool, then I'd guess a blockage in the duct or maybe the blend door is going

Thanks for your reply. Yes the compressor is coming on and staying on. It's quite cool but not mega cool. Most odd. What is the blend door? Hope that's not behind the dash.

Faulty Blend door motors have been a thorn in Fords behind for many years, across all model lines not just Mustangs. And yes they are under the dash but many are accessible from the passenger foot well after taking out the glove box.

Ford had the car for a few hours and found that the gas was around 50%. They did a compression test and found no leaks. They filled it and want me to go back 4-6 weeks to see if there is anything visible. If it's been leaking out since last May, then I don't see how they are going to find anything. Seems a mystery but I am wondering if this is pointing to the evaporator core given it's located behind the dash.

Do you know if they put any dye in it? I used a kit from a parts store on an old car of mine that had fluorescent dye and a UV pen light. Any leaks would glow bright green under the light

Yes they did. They claimed to have done this last too and still not found anything! Most bizarre.

If your loosing refrigerant and they can't find any external leaks even with dye in the system, it makes me wonder if they're using a leak detection "sniffer" tool to check at the drain tube orifice of the HVAC system. That is one way to check for evaporator leaks. Other places that are may contribute to leaks are the a/c pump seal, hi/lo connection valve cores and condenser damage from road debris or previous collision. From most complaints so far on these mustang sites it seems the evaporator core is the most common.

They claim to have checked all those components. I'm still in belief it's the evaporator core. There is no damage from debris etc. I suspect it'll be the last resort to replace the evaporator core. I'm not sure that many have been done in the UK. My dealer has said they havn't done one yet. I don't fancy my car being the frist one a tech will have stripped out... :doh:

I believe that there is little real intimate knowledge of Auto AC systems. Most across the board workshops tag Auto AC into their offered services but are reliant on the automatic machine that they bought for a few thousand bucks / pounds etc. They need to be pulling a vacuum of around 28 inHG ( approx 95 kPa ) on the system and holding that for in excess of forty-five minutes.

I'll save the lesson, but agreed that PAG oil pre-tainted with UV dye is the best way to aid with leak detection, coupled with a sniffer tool also.
Yes Evaporator is the usual and most obvious culprit, but again, using the above will aid leak detection with a UV lamp.

Thanks for your reply. I contacted Ford UK and am now going to a different dealer. They are going to liaise with the new dealer and explain what has gone on previously. Hoping for a better outcome.