AC not blowing cold air

[James79s]

Hi guys.. I have been reading through the forums for a couple of days now, but haven't been able to find any info that helps me so far...

I have an '03 P5, and just recently (last few days) I have noticed that when I turn on the AC, I only get warm air, no matter how long I leave it on for.

I checked the belt, and it is fine. I also checked the fuse, it is fine. When I hit the AC button, I can hear the fan speed turn down a little, which is normal, so I know something is kicking in.

Any ideas what this could be? Mazda wants $100 just to look at it, which I think is a cash grab.. Could i tjust be low on fluid? What do you guys think the best and worst case scenario is?

Thanks!

James

 

[i12drivemyMP5]

There's a sticky thread for that......

 

[James79s]

are you just talking about the one about service intervals and what is done?

Can you please specify what you mean? I have been searching and can't find anything...

Thanks,

James

 

[redpr5]

time for an a/c recharge

 

[James79s]

That is what I thought... is that an expensive job usually? Can it be a do-it-yourself type thing?

 

[redpr5]

That is what I thought... is that an expensive job usually? Can it be a do-it-yourself type thing?

the garage i work at charges like $100 to do it, but you can go to autozone and get the DIY kits (not sure on a price though), but generally they arent as good and dont last as long as a real recharge.
id just go ahead and take it to a garage and pay them to do it, its what i would do if i actually used my a/c

 

[James79s]

Thanks... I think I will jsut wait until next summer before I bother... I barely use my AC either, I just happened to notice it the other day..

 

[redpr5]

yea, its gettin to be heater time again here in a lil while.

 

[Nomad]

You can get an A/C 134a kit for $20 at walmart. Fill her up and see if it works. My expansion valve was clogged, same symptoms, so I had to have it relaced. You should plan on running the A/C at least once a month to keep everything going in there and to be sure the expansion valve doesn;t jam up. Couple hundred bucks for that fix...

 

[thejetman]

You can buy the cans at wal mart. I did that three times and finally took mine in. The evacuated the system and charged it for 100 bucks. It is blowin ice cold air now. With my AWR mounts though, you can really hear the a/c when it kicks on.

 

[ipleadthe5th]

Do you have your stock radio or an aftermarket? If you have an aftermarket its possible the cable wasn't put back in correctly if they removed the dash console thing.

 

[pasadena_commut]

Do you have your stock radio or an aftermarket? If you have an aftermarket its possible the cable wasn't put back in correctly if they removed the dash console thing.

In particular, check the black clips about 4 inches back from the ends of the two control cables. If those pop off the control cable can go into the wheel it turns at a strange angle and result in the wheel not turning. If the temperature control wheel is messed up you may be getting hot even though the knob shows cold. See for instance this thread for pictures:

http://www.msprotege.com/forum/showthread.php?t=58027

If you turn the controls and those wheels turn normally, then yeah, probably time for an AC service.

 

[aMaff]

guys, y'all are talking about 2 separate issues. How I'm reading this, the A/C works on all 4 settings (ruling out the sticky fix and the cable fix). It's just not blowing very cold. Hence....recharge time!

 

[i12drivemyMP5]

Yeah, auto parts has cheap gauge thing to tell you when you're about to blow up the system or not & a can with hose to top it off if just a little low. Did that to mine recently & is back to icy goodness.

 

[pasadena_commut]

Yeah, auto parts has cheap gauge thing to tell you when you're about to blow up the system or not & a can with hose to top it off if just a little low. Did that to mine recently & is back to icy goodness.

A HOW TO for minor service of the A/C would be great, if there's anybody here who could write one up. I'm pretty familiar with the way the climate controls work (and sometimes don't work) on this car, but otherwise have no clue how to service the A/C. It would be nice to know how to tell the difference between "it needs to go to the shop" and "it justs needs a bit of refrigerant added". Especially since the latter is $30 and the former is an invitation for a typical dealer service wallet draining.

 

[DeadGeneration]

Some of the rechargers come with a meter guage thing that tells you if you need some or not. Also the instructions are printed on the bottle. That's how I would tell if you need to add more or not.

 

[DeadGeneration]

Interestingly enough though, my A/C is a lot worse then when I bought it 2 years ago but supposedly my system is at the correct level of refrigerant.

I have used it on another car that needs it so I know it works. Just saying the level of refrigerant is not the only cause for crappy A/C.

 

[i12drivemyMP5]

Yeah, the expansion valve part under the dash has big role. If that's not working good then the level of 134a isn't gonna matter much if at all. Too much 134a is bad, makes compressor work harder due to it starting to turn 134a from gas to fluid IIRC besides the extra pressure on seals.

 

[DeadGeneration]

I have a VERY annoying noise from my passenger side vents. I removed the glove box and everything and can't figure it out.

 

[pasadena_commut]

Interestingly enough though, my A/C is a lot worse then when I bought it 2 years ago but supposedly my system is at the correct level of refrigerant.

I had the glove box off the other day and noticed that there's a filter on the air intake there. Possibly that can get jammed up with dust and dirt and restrict total air flow, which would reduce A/C efficiency even if everything under the hood was working perfectly. So it might be worth cleaning it. Warning: I have no idea how fragile that filter might be, nor did I try taking mine off, so I can't say how easy it would be to clean it.