Odd A/C behavior

[MROCGUY]

a few months ago, i had the a/c compressor replaced.
since then, the A/C works great at lower outside temps with no issues and it does blow pretty cold.
every once in awhile, during the day in the heat, the air would blow warm all of a sudden and have an odd smell. it stayed like that for the commute, i get off of work and the A/C works great. that occurred a few times.
now, during my commute to work at around 2PM, it will blow warm briefly, then cold
i recently replaced the cabin air filter and the passenger side blend door actuator.

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[Mike Pfeifer]

There could be some “debris” is the system floating around that may cause a temporary blockage. If it’s small enough, it may eventually end up in the drier and things will start to work normally again.

 

[MrMike]

a few months ago, i had the a/c compressor replaced.
since then, the A/C works great at lower outside temps with no issues and it does blow pretty cold.
every once in awhile, during the day in the heat, the air would blow warm all of a sudden and have an odd smell. it stayed like that for the commute, i get off of work and the A/C works great. that occurred a few times.
now, during my commute to work at around 2PM, it will blow warm briefly, then cold
i recently replaced the cabin air filter and the passenger side blend door actuator.

Original evap or has it been swapped? The smell is very telling of an evap leak.

 

[MROCGUY]

Original evap or has it been swapped? The smell is very telling of an evap leak.

original as far as i know...it only smells a little odd when it does blow warm. no smell otherwise
i want to say that it only happens when the outside temp is 100+, but it's random/sporadic

 

[Jstang23]

original as far as i know...it only smells a little odd when it does blow warm. no smell otherwise
i want to say that it only happens when the outside temp is 100+, but it's random/sporadic

This happened exactly on my old 2016! It ended up being that they didn't fill the system up with the correct amount of freon. They kept denying that it was impossible they didn't fill it correctly, but I made them check just in case and it was low on freon.

Take it to wherever you had the work done and ask them to check the level

 

[MROCGUY]

This happened exactly on my old 2016! It ended up being that they didn't fill the system up with the correct amount of freon. They kept denying that it was impossible they didn't fill it correctly, but I made them check just in case and it was low on freon.

Take it to wherever you had the work done and ask them to check the level

fwiw. i checked it myself with an A/C Pro gauge from autozone
it was in the green

 

[Jstang23]

fwiw. i checked it myself with an A/C Pro gauge from autozone
it was in the green

No offense but I've heard those things are wildly unpredictable. Sometimes they are spot on other times they are no where close.

 

[MROCGUY]

No offense but I've heard those things are wildly unpredictable. Sometimes they are spot on other times they are no where close.

no problem...
my issue just doesn't make sense. in cooler temps, the ac is pretty cold and hasn't gone to warm then back to cold.
i've been noticing that on my 11 mile commute to work in this phoenix heat, it happens during the last mile. today i drove to do a couple of short errands and completely cold in 104 degree heat at 10AM.

 

[cerbomark]

the fact that it works sometimes and other times it doesn t would cause me to think freon level is not correct.

 

[Jstang23]

the fact that it works sometimes and other times it doesn t would cause me to think freon level is not correct.

100% agree, this is a tell tale sign of incorrect freon level!

 

[MROCGUY]

what would be the best and fastest way to check? have autozone check it with their gauge set?
i would have to make an appointment at the shop where they replaced the compressor.

need to get this figured out before the road trip

 

[Jstang23]

what would be the best and fastest way to check? have autozone check it with their gauge set?
i would have to make an appointment at the shop where they replaced the compressor.

need to get this figured out before the road trip

I would call to an independent shop to schedule an appointment. It should be relatively cheap, or free and they'll be able to tell you if its too low or too full. Cheers

 

[luca1290]

what would be the best and fastest way to check? have autozone check it with their gauge set?

It's a fluid that's changing phase, measuring the pressure will not tell you the whole story until the last molecule of liquid evaporates.
The only accurate way to know if the quantity of gas in correct is to pump it out and weight it, reading the pressures of the system may not tell the entire story, as others already told.
It doesn't take too much time and usually it's performed without an appointment, at least in my neck of the woods.

Because it happened after the replacement of the compressor the safest bet is that they underloaded the system.

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