A/C blows out warm/cool... took it to the shop, they said the freon low and high were in tolerance and everything looks good but the guy couldnt come up with why its not blowing as cold as it should...

the truck has been sitting a couple of years, recently got it back up and running and the AC use to be ice cold in about a minute... now just cool lame air....

anybody got any ideas???? plz help its 90F+ daily with a feels like of 105-110....

 

the shop you went to wasn't worth a **** on AC. i hope they didn't charge you very much to tell you they didn't know what in the hell they were doing.

call around and ask a couple shops if they can actually fix an AC that doesn't work. it might be an orafice tube, expansion valve, blend door, accumulator...

here's what you can do yourself.
crank the truck and turn the AC to max and the fan to high.
open the hood and locate the compressor.
verify the clutch is engaged, rather than freewheeling, and that the compressor is turning.
verify the compressor is not cycling on and off. if it is, its low on refrig.
let is run a little while.
the pipe from the compressor to the condensor (radiator thing) should be hot.
the pipe from condensor to the firewall should be hot.
the pipe from the firewall to the compressor should be very cold and sweaty.
the accumulator (canister thing) should be very cold and sweaty, maybe frosty.
^if so, your system is working right.
if the cold pipes are not VERY cold, then you have a plumbing type problem.

if the system is working, and the air in the cabin is not cold, then you have a blend door problem, where heat from the heater core is escaping to the cab. the blend door should close off the heater core and open up to the the AC evaporative core.

if so, search the internet for dakota blend doors repairs. i don't know if you can get at them or not w/o opening the dash up. they might be electric or vac and the control or vac lines could be bad.

 

dhvaughan, thanks for great information. On our 1992 Dakota, the control lever looks like it is in the cold position but when you try to shift it, it is stuck in that position. We have the same problem as 4x4 above where the air is not really cold.

 

the compressor is engaging...

the hot line is very hot and....

the cold line is ummm... warmish, a faint cool feeling, even after idling 15mins

whats this mean?

 

Low on juice, and possibly a slow leak in the system. I always check/watch the gauges myself when I have mine checked, so I know whether the shop is on the level.

 

either low on refrigerant or a plumbing/flow problem.
if you want to test your pressure and/or recharge the system, you could try a recharge kit WITH GAUGE from walmart. follow the directions. it'll cost you about $20 and it might be a waste of money. put the gauge on the low pressure side with compressor running and check for pressure to be about 30-40 psi. if you can beg borrow or steal the low pressure gauge, you can test the pressure.

if its low, you can add refrigerant.

if your pressure is correct, then you're going to need parts replaced, likely the orafice, or expansion valve, or accumulator/dryer thing - and you wasted $20 on the charge kit. you'll have to take it to a shop for this, since they have to evacuate the system, replace parts, pull a vacuum, and recharge.

 

sounds like the control lever is messed up. i'm not familiar with dak's as to whether its a cable or vacuum control. you might have to pull of the dash trim and get at the control unit, then either fix it or replace it. i've got no idea how much a control unit would cost, but i see a lot of dak's in junkyards.

 

You could also have too much oil in the system, which would also result in decreased performance. Or moisture. The only way to really fix it is to have the system flushed so you know the whole system is clean and free of oil, add oil, vacuum out the moisture, and recharge. While you are having this done you can have them run a leak down test which basically means that they shut the vacuum off for a set time and make sure you don't lose the vacuum in the system.