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AC dying..sigh..time for trade?

4K views 22 replies 9 participants last post by  luckydriver 
#1 ·
new issue. AC seems to be slowly dying. over the weekend came out of the store and i thought it wasnt working right on the way home but yesterday on my 70 mile drive i normally would get so cold on LO that i have to turn it up but i never did. the air didnt feel all that cool either but my thermometer is in the trunk and i didnt test it. i did turn off the AC and it did then get really hot so it IS working ' a bit' but no way as constantly cold as it should be

i know its a closed system and if it needs freon it means theres a leak but dang, i cannot catch a break here, this along with my clunking noise really makes me wonder what is next. only 120K on the car and i need it to last at least 300K. there should be a law that as long as you have car payments you have zero repair costs :)

so as a mere mortal is there anything i can test/check myself

i have a can of freon i bought earlier this year for my gfs car so there is a gauge on there.
 
#3 ·
new issue. AC seems to be slowly dying. over the weekend came out of the store and i thought it wasnt working right on the way home but yesterday on my 70 mile drive i normally would get so cold on LO that i have to turn it up but i never did. the air didnt feel all that cool either but my thermometer is in the trunk and i didnt test it. i did turn off the AC and it did then get really hot so it IS working ' a bit' but no way as constantly cold as it should be
One thought I had is that maybe the hot/cold blend door actuator has stopped in a position where air from the heater core is getting mixed in.

You mention clunking - is that drive train clunking? Or might it be an out-of-whack actuator clunking?

Fixing an actuator would be much easier than charging the freon.

Doug

.
 
#4 ·
funny you mention door. sometimes it seems like the air 'changes' in the car. i dont know how to describe it but you saying actuator makes me think maybe that is it.

but thing is. if i start off with remote link and my car is on LO AC shoudlnt it be ice cold from the start. even when i thought it was working right, it would take almost half hour on highway until i got to 'its freezing, let me increase the temp'

but i never got to that point yesterday

i do have a general history of things not being right. i know the temp is not a true temp. howevery somedays i am hot when AC is on 70 and other day freeze when its on 75. and this is after giving it time to settle in and adjust.

how do i check this actuator?

as an aside, since new every once in a while i hear something under the dash the sounds like a tink noise. if you took a screwdriver and put it on a window airconditioner fin and dragged it down the fins. it would be one of those clicks. i could go weeks or months without hearing it

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clunking is 100% drive train. ive heard it when coasting then i accelerate...even when it downshifts coming to a red light and in stop and go traffic i can literally make it clunk when feathering the gas to go a few feet then let up then go again. its' 100% related to 'shifting' if you will.
 
#5 ·


might give you an idea of what they're speaking of with the blend doors. on my wifes cruze we found out (the hard way) that loose items in the glove box can block the fresh air blend door from pulling air as well....for hers it was remove glove box and you could see the blend doors for the fresh air and re-circulate (youtube was helpful on finding how to do this). once the bag was removed full ac flow and coldness returned.

just a thought.
 
#7 ·
ive tried keeping AC on low and just kicking down the fan when i get too cold. this is not a good solution but mostly seems to work.

i guess if the temp stays cold it has to be 'good' AC but when i mess with the dial thats when i have issues
 
#8 ·
Which dials? Can you be more specific?

If you turn the vent selector (aka mode selector) knob, watch for the AC compressor light going out which would surely cause it to get warmer. I seem to recall there being a position for that knob at which the compressor remains off. (Or I'm munging it with another of my vehicles :) )

Doug

.
 
#10 ·
Another thing to check is with the AC on, feel the big refrigerant line going through the firewall, it should be cold or ice cold. If it is, you're AC system is working fine.
What you are describing does sound like an actuator that's jenked up.
 
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#11 ·
Hey luckydriver,
theres about 5 computers involved in the decisions in the car when you turn the temp knob and request a temperature change. there are myriad modules, switches, sensors, connectors, wiring and refrigerant involved in this cars, and all of the actuators involved are a HUGE pita to replace compared to the 8th gen cars. Theres no real homebrew diagnostics that are easy and accurate enough to justify a repair unless you can find a leak....there a dye in the AC system that fluoresces under UV light, breakout a black light and check under the hood and see if you can find any yellowy green oily trails....thatll be a refrigerant leak

Beyond that you need a diagnostic pressure check and vehicle wide DTC check to start proper diag.

What couldnt hurt though is what people call a "global reset" This merely involves turning the car off, and disconnecting the negative battery cable for 5 minutes, and then hooking it back up. this little gem of a trick solves all kinds of software and sensor related anomalies. Akin to unplugging your PC or pulling battery from a smart phone.
 
#12 ·
i put in a new battery last month so does that count as a reset?

now that we are out of AC season i will see how i do with the heat. i find myself constantly changing temps. i can never find one that stays long at happiness
 
#15 ·
You can go into the settings and tell it what fan speed to use when in auto mode. We leave ours on the medium, or whatever it is, setting.
 
#16 ·
i gave auto a chance..an honest chance... i used it 2 days exclusively. but no heat ever came out the top vents to warm my hands and face so i guess my actuator really is fried..sigh

i had to manually press the bilevel button to get it to work

i also find it hard to take off auto. just pressing auto doesnt work, the auto light and recycle thing on the dash lights stays on until you really play around with things.

also i dont think auto really works well from the little i used it. for instance if you are happy with the temp set at 75, it takes longer to get there vs you cranking the thing to 85 for a bit until the car fully warms up. i'm assuming the air coming out is hotter at 85 than 75? i still dont fully understand the system i think.
 
#17 ·
I always like using it in auto. The wife mainly drives the car and when I get in to drive it is usually switched off of auto so I guess she doesn't like it either.
I just press auto and ours turns off of auto.
I am not sure how it decides which vents to use when cooling or heating in auto. I do notice in heating it doesn't seem to blow out the vents pointed at your face I guess because it is trying to get an overall warmth in the car and blowing at you would make it seem too warm? Not sure. when cooling it does however come out of the vents at my face.
 
#18 ·
i knew i had a thread on this. i guess ill just enter more observational data. the AC is def not broken but this is annoying

we are in the heat of summer now and i started the car on lo and after 45 min i still was not 'freezing' but definitely tolerable. i crank up the temp to 65 (cause we all know increasing temp makes it cooler) and its so cold i cannot stand it lol.

maybe its just always opposite day with my car :)

not enough to really even think about attempting to fix.

and in the morning when i get to work the car is already on vent lo but i switch to AC lo before turning off the car so it can be precooled.
 
#21 ·
#22 ·
Be aware that is for an 04 Impala though
 
#23 ·
so i have a cheap solution guaranteed to work on everyones car. :)

we've only gotten up to about 80 ish here so it is not a 100% proof test but id say its 95% a solution.

after 174K i finally changed the cabin filter. i highly recommend more frequent changes.

the volume of air has measurably increased. i know the car didnt get as hot as a 90 or 100 degree now. but ive reached tolerable good temps within 5 minutes of driving. vs having to wait over 30 min before. if this continues once we get 90 degree days then its the solution. also after about 10 min or so i gotta turn it up to 70 so i dont freeze on LO.

i dont even precool the car anymore. last summer i used to do it 20 min before i went out to try to take the sting out of it
 
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