A/C no longer cold?

[deformeddavo]

Hey, I have a 2003 NA Baja and I haven't used the AC since last summer. When I tried it last month I found, that it only blows air slightly colder than ambient (sometimes a little cooler if I'm running in high RPMs). I have almost 50k miles on it and all of the mechanical components seem fine (the AC compressor kicks on, and the belts look great). Does it just need a recharge? How much would this cost?

Thanks for any suggestions!

[medtec]

deformeddavo,
It sounds like all you need is a refill. Wal-mart sells kits for less than $20. Make sure you get the kit that has an in-line gauge. I've had more than one vehicle that this worked for after showing the same symptoms as you descibed. lol.
Tim

[jaxed]

My A/C was not cold when I fired it up this spring. Mine is a 2005 with (at the time) 16k! I took it to the dealer and they checked it all out, it just needed a refill. The refill was free for me (still under warranty). Whew.

[JLBaja]

I only have 7K miles on my '06 Turbo and the AC hasn't blown "ice" cold since I bought it. It does get cold, but I'd say it blows cool as opposed to cold.

Brought it to a dealer on Thursday, tech said it's working fine, no leaks, pressure is good, freon is OK. I wanted to see the temp from the vent...50 degrees. I thought it should be more like 40 degrees, but the tech said 50d is normal.

[deformeddavo]

Sorry about the delayed update. I took medtec's advice and it worked great! I was totally out of AC fluid! There was no pressure in the line, and it drank like 3.5 cans of the stuff before it would sustain a good pressure. Thanks medtec!

[motojak]

Yeah i've had the same problem as JLBaja since i've bought my '06 Baja Turbo. That it has not been that cold and mine has also never blown that hard(jokes to follow). I didn't think this to be normal but they reassured me that it is. I'm still not convinced though. Is this the same for everyone else?

[bulwnkl]

When we picked ours up the A/C wasn't very cold. Took it to an inde shop where I had a free A/C checkup and they said it was a lb. low on refrigerant. It was colder after that, but it's still not exactly cold. Plus, it's not that hot where I live, so I shudder to think about it in AZ where I used to live.

[mikey6331]

Similar thing here. I have a year-old 2006 Turbo. This spring it didn't seem to be as cold as it could be, especially when idling in traffic. On hot days, it seemed like it couldn't quite ever catch up - but it can be hard to tell if that's normal or not here in FL in July. Anyway...had the dealer check it out at the next service and it turned out to be a little low. Surprised me since it only had 15k or so on it, but it seems to be better now.

They also did a disinfectant something-or-other on the system, since it was starting to smell like cat pee when I first started it up. A/C systems can get moldy down here if they're not used, and I let it sit for 2 weeks while I was on vacation.

[mbaksic]

I have not had a major problem with mine yet. But I noticed that it doesn't feel that cold when you first start it. But if I drive it in Recirc mode, it really gets cold, unless the outside temps are around 90 or higher. At that temp, it really has to work hard. But it does cool, and when you are moving and getting air across the condenser, it works alot better.
Most new cars work this way, the systems are small, and remember, R-134 doesn't cool as good as bad, old R-12. R-12 was, and will always remain the best for A/C systems.
I drive about 30 miles to and from work, so it has plenty of time to cool things off. I will prolly check the system out next year, as it is normal to loose about 1 lb of R-134 a year, and I have not checked mine at all since I have owned it, going on 4 years soon.
Mike

[steveorocks]

does anyone have pics or tech docs on how to do this?

[mbaksic]

What are you trying to do, just add some 134, or check the system out? You need gauges to check system pressures, and both high side and low side gauges are recommended for that. As far as adding up some juice, not that hard. But I also work on this stuff all the time so it is no big deal to me.

Mike

[moonzie]

bump from the dead...

My Baja T normally runs itself completely out of refrigerant over about a 6 month period. It seems to be a common issue! So I shot some UV dye in it and looked over it with my dad's heavy-duty UV spotlamp. We looked everywhere, both coils, lines, etc. Nothing. Then we went over it with a freon sniffer. Nothing definite. The only thing we could guess is that it leaks slowly out of the seals. My dad does AC stuff for a living and he's seen it to where you may not see UV dye in a place where it leaks before.

So I just keep a can of R134 handy and charge the system up once every couple of months.

[spazchicken]

I have had similar problems. It was never cold from the beginning, but it gradualy got warmer. I charged it last summer to no avail. I tried the UV dye...found no leaks. I tried the 134 with leak stop and that didn't work. I gave it another charge this spring with the leak stop and this summer it's doing a lot better. It still doesn't blow as cold as my Imreza, but it's better than it has been.

[nimble88]

My a/c is like the others. It works but if I hung a beer in front of the vent it had better be a Brit beer that lives at "room tempreture"

My question on a/c is how do I reach the a/c drain. It appears to drain poorly so I suspect that it needs to be blown out or get a little bleach treatment. I can see where it drains at the bottom but there is a heap of stuff blocking the view when trying to trace the tube to its top.

Being lazy I thought I'd ask what to remove rather than remove stuff until I got to the right place. It looks like it may be on the front corner, passenger side, under the air intake there.

[While not on topic, FWIW, my third key fob in 3 years died. The dealer gave me a free standard Impreza fob last year and it lasted 1 year before the "lock door" stopped working. This time they "gave" me a Baja fob I ordered, at dealer cost, $72, instead of full cost which is twice that.]