Originally Posted by kallsop

Update: still confused, but the AC is now working. For one, my AC manifold gauges are messed up. I went to recheck the low and high side pressures, and couldn't get a sensible high side reading. Then I noticed the collar on the quick connect was jamming. By the time I had messed around with the connect and lost a lot of gas, decided to vacuum the system and start with a known baseline. Filled the system and got nice cold air out of the vents. Still the radiator fan wasn't on. Left it idling with a hot engine and the AC running, and after about another 10 minutes the radiator fan clicked on. I'm thinking it turned on because the engine was getting too hot, rather than anything the AC was doing.

Yesterday I went out to the van and it was reading 100F on the dash readout. The meat thermometer in the center vent read maybe 110F. Started the engine and went for a drive. The vent thermometer dropped over a minute or two down to 60F. Clicked the recycle button and it settled down to 50F. The van temperature readout still said 100F, then it clicked to 101F. So I get a good 40F differential from the AC now, and 50F in recirculate mode. I still think the radiator fan control is messed up, but now the AC is cold, I'm going to let it be.