A/C cold then warm - Camaro5 Chevy Camaro Forum / Camaro ZL1, SS and V6 Forums

rreale · 06-26-2019, 10:09 AM

my 2013 camaro ss, is having some a/c issues:

1 year ago a/c was not cold enough, compressor was hard to spin manually, got a new compressor and it was ice cold last summer. Last month my a/c was just blowing cool, again the compressor was hard to spin, swapped it out under warranty. 1st day out it was blowing about 48-53 degrees on a 74 degree day. yesterday it was nice and cold on a 82 degree day. but later when it was 85 it got warm again. sometimes turning it on/off seems to help it blow cold again. yesterday on a 4 mile ride it blew anywhere from 50-72 degrees.
when i looked at compressor yesterday it was engaged for a long time., engine temp was 201, both radiator fans were running, removed the cabin filter, tried a different a/c clutch relay.
my mechanic said the ac gauges read perfectly when he charged it(he has changed a compressor in a previous vehicle)
I have seen the threads on the blend door, but i can switch it to defroster ok and on a 70 degree morning i am able to make the cabin comfortable and not too cold. any ideas

PepeLePew · 06-26-2019, 02:26 PM

my 2011 LT does this sometimes... it seems to fix itself when I turn the recirculate button off then on again. My 2010 SS doesn't do it though.

I've had blend door failures in my 2004 suburban and when it failed, it would divert only hot air into the cabin. I am new to the camaro game so I could be wrong, but I don't think you would get 50-72 out of the vents if the blend door actuator. That temp seems like its just running the fan.

PowertoLove · 06-26-2019, 05:08 PM

When the air feels warm in the car pop the hood and check the low pressure Larger line coming out of the fire wall on the drivers side. If its ice cold you may have a problem in the blend door etc. If the line is warm or just cool you may have a bad expansion valve or compressor problem. Also the evaporator can freeze over and cause poor cooling. If it does you will notice reduced air flow out the vents.

I have noticed poor cooling performance in these cars at times depending on conditions. Another thing to consider is reducing or blocking the water flow through the heater core. This will greatly increase the system cooling performance. There is a post someplace on the site about it.

rreale · 06-28-2019, 08:02 AM

Thx for the replies. i reseated any type of HVAC or ac fuse. flushed the condenser. did a test drive today and it was cold, the pipe was cold too. the outside of temp was only 71. i will take it out when it gets hotter(and for a longer drive) and report back

PowertoLove · 06-28-2019, 05:37 PM

There is a temp sensor near the evap core that shuts off the compressor if it starts to freeze over or the temp is too low. That could be your problem. I notice mine doesn't stay cold always and seems to get cold then cool back and forth. Hard to know what's going on as you drive. Till you pull over and try to check things they change. The dealer probably won't be much help either unless its something very obvious. I have to admit these newer cars are not easy to diagnose unless you have the dealers tech equipment to check everything. Most small shops are limited in what they can diagnose.

rreale · 06-28-2019, 08:45 PM

i found the sensor, seems like an easy replacement. I collected some more info today. drove the car 45 miles up the highway, ac kept going out. i could bring it back to life for several seconds by hitting the recirc button off then on. I got to my destination and i meant to look at the compressor(while it was blowing warm), but turned the car off by mistake. turned it back on , and the ac blew cold 50 degrees for 22 minutes at idle. it was 84 degrees. when i drive back home later, it dies again. it seemed work better at non highway speeds(30-40mph).

PowertoLove · 06-29-2019, 03:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rreale

i found the sensor, seems like an easy replacement. I collected some more info today. drove the car 45 miles up the highway, ac kept going out. i could bring it back to life for several seconds by hitting the recirc button off then on. I got to my destination and i meant to look at the compressor(while it was blowing warm), but turned the car off by mistake. turned it back on , and the ac blew cold 50 degrees for 22 minutes at idle. it was 84 degrees. when i drive back home later, it dies again. it seemed work better at non highway speeds(30-40mph).

Sounds exactly like mine, I'm not sure where to start diagnosing it because there are so many things that can effect how cold it stays. It may be as simple as the expansion valve starting to fail. Its not controlled by anything other than temp.

PowertoLove · 06-29-2019, 04:42 PM

I think I found the trouble, it was a little overfilled. Letting out a few ozs made the system very cold again.

PowertoLove · 07-01-2019, 08:18 AM

Lowering the amount of charge fixed it for sure. Drove the car over a 100 miles yesterday and it stayed ice cold the entire drive.

rreale · 07-01-2019, 01:46 PM

what was your low pressure side psi? I have 25psi at 75 degrees, from the information i saw, it should be close to 35psi. When i drove it saturday on the same 100 mile roundtrip, the ac worked pretty good (not perfect), it was about 82 degrees out.

PowertoLove · 07-01-2019, 05:28 PM

I honestly can't remember but 25 is on the low side. At that pressure the evap will probably freeze up causing system to turn off the compressor because the temp sensor reading low. If the amount of charge is right you may have to replace the expansion valve.

PowertoLove · 07-05-2019, 12:59 PM

Its been very hot here and mine continues to be very cold to the point after the car cools off inside even on the lowest fan setting its almost too cold to let on. These systems must be very fussy to the amount of charge in them.

The thing to keep in mind with these small systems is the charge expands with temp quite a bit. So @ 80 degrees the system may cool good with a little too much charge but @ 90 the charge expands so much there is not enough room in the system for proper flash off-expansion of the coolant 134a. This will cause mediocre cooling effect, it will be cool but not cold.

06-26-2019, 10:09 AM	#1
rreale Drives: 2013 Camaro 2SS Join Date: Mar 2013 Location: Albany, ny Posts: 28	A/C cold then warm my 2013 camaro ss, is having some a/c issues: 1 year ago a/c was not cold enough, compressor was hard to spin manually, got a new compressor and it was ice cold last summer. Last month my a/c was just blowing cool, again the compressor was hard to spin, swapped it out under warranty. 1st day out it was blowing about 48-53 degrees on a 74 degree day. yesterday it was nice and cold on a 82 degree day. but later when it was 85 it got warm again. sometimes turning it on/off seems to help it blow cold again. yesterday on a 4 mile ride it blew anywhere from 50-72 degrees. when i looked at compressor yesterday it was engaged for a long time., engine temp was 201, both radiator fans were running, removed the cabin filter, tried a different a/c clutch relay. my mechanic said the ac gauges read perfectly when he charged it(he has changed a compressor in a previous vehicle) I have seen the threads on the blend door, but i can switch it to defroster ok and on a 70 degree morning i am able to make the cabin comfortable and not too cold. any ideas

06-26-2019, 02:26 PM	#2
PepeLePew Drives: 2010 2SS Coupe; 2011 2LT Vert Join Date: Dec 2018 Location: Prosper, TX Posts: 458	my 2011 LT does this sometimes... it seems to fix itself when I turn the recirculate button off then on again. My 2010 SS doesn't do it though. I've had blend door failures in my 2004 suburban and when it failed, it would divert only hot air into the cabin. I am new to the camaro game so I could be wrong, but I don't think you would get 50-72 out of the vents if the blend door actuator. That temp seems like its just running the fan. __________________ 2010 2SS/RS LS3 - K&N, GM Performance Axle Back, Hurst Shifter, TSP 1 7/8ths long tubes no cats, TSP Stage 2 "Bald Eagle" cam, GM 3.91, 466whp/429tq

06-26-2019, 05:08 PM	#3
PowertoLove Banned Drives: A Sneaky Fast Camaro Join Date: Jun 2019 Location: US Posts: 141	When the air feels warm in the car pop the hood and check the low pressure Larger line coming out of the fire wall on the drivers side. If its ice cold you may have a problem in the blend door etc. If the line is warm or just cool you may have a bad expansion valve or compressor problem. Also the evaporator can freeze over and cause poor cooling. If it does you will notice reduced air flow out the vents. I have noticed poor cooling performance in these cars at times depending on conditions. Another thing to consider is reducing or blocking the water flow through the heater core. This will greatly increase the system cooling performance. There is a post someplace on the site about it.

06-28-2019, 08:02 AM	#4
rreale Drives: 2013 Camaro 2SS Join Date: Mar 2013 Location: Albany, ny Posts: 28	Thx for the replies. i reseated any type of HVAC or ac fuse. flushed the condenser. did a test drive today and it was cold, the pipe was cold too. the outside of temp was only 71. i will take it out when it gets hotter(and for a longer drive) and report back

06-28-2019, 05:37 PM	#5
PowertoLove Banned Drives: A Sneaky Fast Camaro Join Date: Jun 2019 Location: US Posts: 141	There is a temp sensor near the evap core that shuts off the compressor if it starts to freeze over or the temp is too low. That could be your problem. I notice mine doesn't stay cold always and seems to get cold then cool back and forth. Hard to know what's going on as you drive. Till you pull over and try to check things they change. The dealer probably won't be much help either unless its something very obvious. I have to admit these newer cars are not easy to diagnose unless you have the dealers tech equipment to check everything. Most small shops are limited in what they can diagnose.

06-28-2019, 08:45 PM	#6
rreale Drives: 2013 Camaro 2SS Join Date: Mar 2013 Location: Albany, ny Posts: 28	i found the sensor, seems like an easy replacement. I collected some more info today. drove the car 45 miles up the highway, ac kept going out. i could bring it back to life for several seconds by hitting the recirc button off then on. I got to my destination and i meant to look at the compressor(while it was blowing warm), but turned the car off by mistake. turned it back on , and the ac blew cold 50 degrees for 22 minutes at idle. it was 84 degrees. when i drive back home later, it dies again. it seemed work better at non highway speeds(30-40mph).

06-29-2019, 04:42 PM	#8
PowertoLove Banned Drives: A Sneaky Fast Camaro Join Date: Jun 2019 Location: US Posts: 141	I think I found the trouble, it was a little overfilled. Letting out a few ozs made the system very cold again.

07-01-2019, 08:18 AM	#9
PowertoLove Banned Drives: A Sneaky Fast Camaro Join Date: Jun 2019 Location: US Posts: 141	Lowering the amount of charge fixed it for sure. Drove the car over a 100 miles yesterday and it stayed ice cold the entire drive.

07-01-2019, 01:46 PM	#10
rreale Drives: 2013 Camaro 2SS Join Date: Mar 2013 Location: Albany, ny Posts: 28	what was your low pressure side psi? I have 25psi at 75 degrees, from the information i saw, it should be close to 35psi. When i drove it saturday on the same 100 mile roundtrip, the ac worked pretty good (not perfect), it was about 82 degrees out.

07-01-2019, 05:28 PM	#11
PowertoLove Banned Drives: A Sneaky Fast Camaro Join Date: Jun 2019 Location: US Posts: 141	I honestly can't remember but 25 is on the low side. At that pressure the evap will probably freeze up causing system to turn off the compressor because the temp sensor reading low. If the amount of charge is right you may have to replace the expansion valve.

07-05-2019, 12:59 PM	#12
PowertoLove Banned Drives: A Sneaky Fast Camaro Join Date: Jun 2019 Location: US Posts: 141	Its been very hot here and mine continues to be very cold to the point after the car cools off inside even on the lowest fan setting its almost too cold to let on. These systems must be very fussy to the amount of charge in them. The thing to keep in mind with these small systems is the charge expands with temp quite a bit. So @ 80 degrees the system may cool good with a little too much charge but @ 90 the charge expands so much there is not enough room in the system for proper flash off-expansion of the coolant 134a. This will cause mediocre cooling effect, it will be cool but not cold.