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Strange HVAC problem...


spotdog14

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So the girlfriend has totally taken over my Fusion since she drives 150 miles a day to work and I am driving her new Liberty. Anyways she pulls in the driveway yesterday and mentions to me that the AC is not working very well, so I check it out and its not blowing hard at all. I already had the blower motor replaced under warranty a while ago so I didn't think that was the problem.

 

Anyways I look at it for a while, check air filters, etc (my cabin filter really needs to be replaced) and I remove the cabin filter and turn the blower on full and its working like it is suppose to. So I replace everything and notice that a lot of water is dripping from the car (more than normal) but I don't really think anything about it.

 

So we get in the car to run to the store and I put it on Max AC and a hear a noise like something fell inside the vents and little pieces of ice come out of the vents but after that everything works fine.

 

What should/can I do about this? its 1,000 miles over warranty, any ideas?

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Sounds like the evaporator froze up. I suspect you have a lot of humidity where you're from, or at least that day. She probably had the A/C on max and was pushing a lot of air through the evaporator. The evaporator, which is ice cold, condenses a lot of water out of the humid air. At some point the water starts freezing on the evaporator instead of running off and out the drain tube. Once the freezing starts, more and more ice builds up until the evaporator gets plugged up with ice and very little air gets through, making the situation worse. After she stopped and you did all the inspections, the ice had a chance to melt and thus the large amount of water coming out. Then it was thawed enough to fall off the evaporator and everthing was good again.

 

I would say there is nothing wrong with the air conditioner. Just a lot of humidity causing havoc with the A/C. You just have to let it thaw out and fix itself.

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Sounds like the evaporator froze up. I suspect you have a lot of humidity where you're from, or at least that day. She probably had the A/C on max and was pushing a lot of air through the evaporator. The evaporator, which is ice cold, condenses a lot of water out of the humid air. At some point the water starts freezing on the evaporator instead of running off and out the drain tube. Once the freezing starts, more and more ice builds up until the evaporator gets plugged up with ice and very little air gets through, making the situation worse. After she stopped and you did all the inspections, the ice had a chance to melt and thus the large amount of water coming out. Then it was thawed enough to fall off the evaporator and everthing was good again.

 

I would say there is nothing wrong with the air conditioner. Just a lot of humidity causing havoc with the A/C. You just have to let it thaw out and fix itself.

 

 

I figured it was something along those lines.

 

Thank you very much for your reply!

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... run it in auto with recirc on.

 

Good point. That is one purpose of the recirculation button, to quickly cool down the interior of the car by cooling down the already partially cooled interior air and not drawing in outside hot air continuously (another is not to bring in obnoxious odors from outside). This would ring the moisture out of the air inside the car and not continously bring in humid air from the outside. After the car is cooled down, then switch to outside air for fresh air.

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Good point. That is one purpose of the recirculation button, to quickly cool down the interior of the car by cooling down the already partially cooled interior air and not drawing in outside hot air continuously (another is not to bring in obnoxious odors from outside). This would ring the moisture out of the air inside the car and not continously bring in humid air from the outside. After the car is cooled down, then switch to outside air for fresh air.

You always get enough fresh air even in recirc. Actually, with a heat soaked car, using outside air with recirc off rather than hotter inside air works quicker. Opening all the windows and roof is even better. As soon as inside air is cooler go to recirc or leave recirc on all the time if humidity is high.

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  • 1 month later...

So the girlfriend has totally taken over my Fusion since she drives 150 miles a day to work and I am driving her new Liberty. Anyways she pulls in the driveway yesterday and mentions to me that the AC is not working very well, so I check it out and its not blowing hard at all. I already had the blower motor replaced under warranty a while ago so I didn't think that was the problem.

 

Anyways I look at it for a while, check air filters, etc (my cabin filter really needs to be replaced) and I remove the cabin filter and turn the blower on full and its working like it is suppose to. So I replace everything and notice that a lot of water is dripping from the car (more than normal) but I don't really think anything about it.

 

So we get in the car to run to the store and I put it on Max AC and a hear a noise like something fell inside the vents and little pieces of ice come out of the vents but after that everything works fine.

 

What should/can I do about this? its 1,000 miles over warranty, any ideas?

Noticed this was an old topic but thought I'd throw in my 2 cents too.

 

First I agree with everything the others said, your clogged air filter combined with the humid weather may have been the culprits. However you should have the charge checked too. If your system is low on refrigerant that could cause the evaporator to freeze up also, as the whole system would not be operating at 100%. Also if the system is low on refrigerant then you could have a leak. A bad seal, usually where a leak occurs, can not only let out refrigerant but also let in moisture. And if you get moisture into the pressurized system it will kill the compressor, think BIG $$$ repair bill. :ohsnap:

 

Do yourself a favor and have the system checked out by a professional. Leaky AC systems are nothing to neglect, unless you like dropping a lot of money into have them repaired.

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