Resolved Dash A/C not blowing cold air

[Joe Hogan]

Neal, does your Vantana have a side or rear radiator? Rear Radiator makes getting at the Accessory end of the engine more involved and difficult.

 

[Rich W.]

Neal, does your Vantana have a side or rear radiator? Rear Radiator makes getting at the Accessory end of the engine more involved and difficult.

Ventanas are rear radiator which makes typically simple tasks a job for a freightliner (or equivalent) shop. You can see the compressor from the chassis battery compartment (door side rear) but getting to it is another story. It‘s on the drivers side top of the motor would be accessed through the floor if one were so motivated. Hopefully in Neals case, the “fix” won’t involve the compressor.

 

[Neal]

Keep in mind @Rich W. you can raise the hinged wheel well doors and that could help with access. Been a long time since I did that for running Boogey light wires but it may be something to help. A few self tapping screws on the bottom are all that secure them.

 

[Webz]

My last compressor replacement was accomplished by a truck/car heater and AC repair place in Del City Oklahoma. Did a great job and was reasonable. A&H Auto Repair.

 

[Texas Clodhopper]

Neal, I've been dealing with this for 3 years and 3 different FTL dealers without success. They have evacuated and recharged the system and it works for a few weeks/months and then it starts blowing cool, not cold, once again. They've added the UV dye and can't find any leaks. I'm going to try a truck/auto ac place next. In the meantime, I'll use my roof air to supplement the dash air.

 

[Just George]

One of the challenges on Coach dash air can be the the long AC lines and the fact that you just can't see the entire run and some of the various connections are just not visible so the UV dye can be somewhat limited. At least in my case the Texas Truck AC folks isolated various portions of the system lines, and pulled a vacuum on the isolated portions to check for leaks. Once they found the portion that was leaking they then further isolated to find the specific leaking item. This may be standard AC leak detection troubleshooting but perhaps FL shops don't have the same approach as the AC specific shops.

 

[Neal]

Thanks all, I'll see if I can locate a truck/car A/C facility west of Charleston, WV as I head to the Huntington/Fox Fire KOA

 

[lostinfla]

I think the reason we had a compressor failure is because we didn't use it much. Mostly had the coach air running while on the road to make it easier on the units when we stopped by not having to bring the temp down all at once. We finished most of our trip without it that year.

 

[Rich W.]

Keep in mind @Rich W. you can raise the hinged wheel well doors and that could help with access. Been a long time since I did that for running Boogey light wires but it may be something to help. A few self tapping screws on the bottom are all that secure them.

Hinged wheel well doors must be a tag axle thing - I just have mud flaps to the rear of the rear wheels and exposed frame rails on the inside of them.

 

[Neal]

Kudos to Matheny Truck Group (formerly Allied) Kenova, WV

Arrived 10:30, coach picked up 12:30, service completed 2:30.

All systems check good, just needed refrigerant. Crazy cold again! Woohoo!

Lesson learned for me: If doing engine runs or drives while in storage, even if in the winter, run the A/C!

 

[J&JD]

I’m not an expert on a/c units but I’m not sure running the system every month or so would be much help. You obviously have a small slow leak in the system that will probably leak regardless. What running it periodically will do is give you a heads up to get the system recharged. If you made it six years hopefully you will be ok for several years more. Did they put a dye in the system to see if they could locate the leak?

 

[Neal]

I'm sure the rubber lines have a leak somewhere, I just want to get through this two month trip. I don't know the extent of what was done but I'm happy the major components are not at fault. I'll have Gaffney look deeper and change lines, etc. when there in November. My last visit they had to replace some fittings and lines in the air lines as you recall I was having a lot of cycling of the tank, they found leaks. It's probably that time to start replacing rubber lines where they are used.

 

[Neal]

Novel concept - I should probably read the invoice. Here it is

 

[Rich W.]

Kudos to Matheny Truck Group (formerly Allied) Kenova, WV

Arrived 10:30, coach picked up 12:30, service completed 2:30.

All systems check good, just needed refrigerant. Crazy cold again! Woohoo!

Lesson learned for me: If doing engine runs or drives while in storage, even if in the winter, run the A/C!

yes they do like to be exercised. Thats why on cars the compressor engages intermittently when the heater is on. That way the compressor gets some exercise year round. Curious about why you lost your charge though.

 

[Kevin D Pem]

yes they do like to be exercised. Thats why on cars the compressor engages intermittently when the heater is on. That way the compressor gets some exercise year round. Curious about why you lost your charge though.

Actually 5 years is great! Running the ac lubricates the seal of the compressor. Just keep in mind these units can't be made hermetically sealed without a complete redesign.

 

[Texas Clodhopper]

I hope that works for you, Neal. They usually add 1.5 - 2 lbs on mine and it blows cold air for about 2 months then starts to get warmer. It will still blow cool air, it's just not cold. Twice they have pulled a vacuum and done a leak test with no leaks found. Well, that expensive freon is going somewhere! I recommend you have Gaffney check it for leaks while you're there. Good luck.

 

[Neal]

I hope that works for you, Neal. They usually add 1.5 - 2 lbs on mine and it blows cold air for about 2 months then starts to get warmer. It will still blow cool air, it's just not cold. Twice they have pulled a vacuum and done a leak test with no leaks found. Well, that expensive freon is going somewhere! I recommend you have Gaffney check it for leaks while you're there. Good luck.

I fully expect it to happen again, I just want to get through these two months at peak summer heat. I hope it fails prior to going to Gaffney but I'm certainly going to ask them about it and see what they think, replace rubber hoses, etc. as needed if they are showing signs of age/rotting (like me). Refrigerant in means refrigerant came out...but I don't know what to expect in these systems but from what I hear 6 years is good.

 

[Kevin D Pem]

I fully expect it to happen again, I just want to get through these two months at peak summer heat. I hope it fails prior to going to Gaffney but I'm certainly going to ask them about it and see what they think, replace rubber hoses, etc. as needed if they are showing signs of age/rotting (like me). Refrigerant in means refrigerant came out...but I don't know what to expect in these systems but from what I hear 6 years is good.

My dad was an honest A/C man. He did an honest days work, and abhorred some of the methods that many companies used to milk their customers. The following things I will share could gain some enemies.
1. The largest revenue item is freon.
(Did you know that if the system has pressure it doesn't need to be vacuumed? Why then do they do it? A hint: they can charge for time that should not have been spent! And more pounds of high profit freon!

2. Rubber deteriorates when exposed to oxygen (think Ozone).reinforced refrigerant hose should outlast your MH, so where does the freon go? On systems that are not hermetically sealed! 1. The front seal on the compressor is number one. BUT if the technician that did the work wants a repeat customer, the number one cause of lost freon becomes the fill port! Have you ever put air in your RV Tires? Well the port uses a valve like that in your tire stem. The best reason to use Quality stem valve covers is to increase times between adding air. I have witnessed a technician leave the cap off the fill port. When I asked about the cap he told me it didn't have one when he opened up the unit. I responded by saying I bet he had one in his truck,and he magically produced one.
The customer, my uncle, had been calling him for service annually because his unit needed freon. When he died 3 years later, the unit was running on the same charge.

In closing;
unless a unit has a catastrophic event, a charge should be all that is needed. If there is pressure in the system, freon is all that will be in the system(think clean room), and that is all that will be needed.
If the charge is under 2months old, likely you have a problem, otherwise gasses pass through most materials and can't be stopped. Exercise the compressor monthly to keep the compressor seal in good condition.

When you do need your system serviced, take the time to make sure the port caps are tight. (For reasons stated above).

Hermetically sealed systems like your household refrigerator can last 25 years plus, but auto A/C has a drive shaft so 5 years is a good number without a charge.

 

[Neal]

End of trip report and after a month of use the dash a/c continues to run strong. I realize it's only a month and now with my Gaffney pushed back to Jan 2024 I hope it will fail, if it's going to, prior to then for a more in depth look. But maybe just sitting in storage for 8 months without the a/c running was part of the issue beyond the fact it's 6 years old and long rubber lines, etc. involved. Took it back to storage yesterday in lovely 95 degree VA humid weather and it worked as expected.

 

[Texas Clodhopper]

Mine lasted about 3 months. I hope you don't have the same luck.