wrd1972

Yes I know its winter, but spring is around the corner and my AChas gone wierd.

I recently re-cammed my LT1 which requires lifiting the condensor out of the way to make room. I am confident in saying that prior to this, at least during last Fall, the AC worked fine.

Now it kind of half way works. The compressor kicks in and out but there is not much cold air. Also the ACP reading on my Scanmaster hovers around .60 when normally it is above 2.0.

Now the kicker, it has plenty of R134 in it according to my test guage. Also no DTC for low refridgerant. Hmmmm.

What the heck is going on here?

wrd1972

Anyone....anyone.

jloshotz

Could be just going off on low pressure due to low ambient air conditions which is normal Bill. Temperature is relative to pressure inside a closed refrigeration system, in plain English, the colder the air going over the condenser is, the more the refrigerant will condense, causing the compressor to short cycle, actually mocking a low refrigerant condition. Without disabling the condenser fans for test purposes, it is hard to know if you possibly created a leak while moving the condenser. Personally I'd leave it alone until spring, it's very possible there isn't a thing wrong with it, but come more moderate outdoor temps, it will become obvious if this is the case. If you NEED to know now, and have a heated garage, toss an exhaust hose out the garage door, and run it inside the heated garage. That should be a good way to test it. If you are outside trying, you'll drive yourself crazy. Some newer cars actually have a low ambient sensor to keep the compressor from running when it is too cold out to do such, our cars however to the best of my knowledge do not. Can't say I'm sure you would get a code either? I have a feeling your a/c is fine though, hoping it is. What were your gauges reading as far as running pressures, at what rpm, blower speed, and under what conditions, indoors or outdoors?

bobdec

+1 .. F-Body has a temp sensor on the evap coil. PCM shuts off compressor at 36*F and back on at 39*F. Those are stock setting programmable in the PCM to prevent coils from freezing up with condensation. If outside air is very cold the compressor may run in very short cycles, 10-15 seconds on, and off a longer period. The high pressure side of system will only hit 100+ lbs or so during the 10-15 second on cycle. I am not familiar with you Scanmaster readings are they a/c sensor voltages, lower being lower pressure ?

wrd1972

Thanks for the responses guys. Sounds like it might be working fine then. Will wait till it warms up to really tell but the indications are its working, just not when its real cold out.