I've had an occasion to turn my air conditioning on already this year, and it reminded me of a concern I had last summer. While it blows ice cold most of the time, it seems to warm up for a few minutes and blow what seems to be warm air through the vents, then it cycles back to ice cold again, and repeats this cold/warm cycle ongoing. This doesn't seem right to me.

What could be wrong with my system and what do I need to do to fix it? I have no AC skills, special tools or experience.

Thanks in advance.

 

Would bring it to a shop or dealer and have them perform an evac and recharge with die added so your ac will be recharged with freon but if there is a leak somewhere they will be able to see the die coming out of exactly where it is leaking(if there's a leak)

 

My guess is it could be a problem with the clutch, low freon, or a bad compressor. I agree with AZfury, you'd need to take it to a shop, the will do an evac and should be able to tell you how much freon was recovered from your system, if it is low, then you most likely have a leak. If it is normal then you have a compressor issue.

 

I'd get a recharge can with gauge and see where you sit. You may just need topped off. The AC clutch will naturally cycle to prevent freezing and can make the air feel warmer, but still cool air pushing.

 

Thanks guys. I'm on a tight budget, so I'll try to start saving up. Taking it in won't be cheap.

 

If you do what I mentioned in my last post, that will be an easy and relatively cheap way to test the problem. If it just needs topped off, you can do that yourself at the same time you're checking it.

 

You would be wasting money still because what if he has a leak, if he does have one, it will just all come out again and then he still would be going to the dealer to spend more money to figure it out the right way

 

Not necessarily. I've seen cars that just need topped of once a year due to a very slow leak and have also seen some leak once and never leak again (My SHO did this and then held Freon after topping off for 5 years before selling). It obviously isn't a catastrophic leak because it's getting cold. Hell, it could just be the natural cycling that's completely normal.

 

I can smell what your stepping in but wouldn't you want to fix what's wrong with the car, it could be as simple as a leaking o-ring. Fix it right the first time and never deal with it again, plus topping it off with the can-can likely cause over pressurization in the system and possibly blow your ac compressor.....

 

There's a potential that nothing is wrong. Perfectly functioning systems can have a leak once and awhile given the relatively harsh temperature and pressure changes that go on through an AC system.

If you top it off and over-pressurize, you're doing it wrong. Buy one with a reusable gauge and use it correctly.