No A/C (pics included) 06 Denali XL 6.0L

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h2osho

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Well of course my A/C goes out the week it's 90 in Michigan and could hit 100 today. Last month I used 2 cans of r134a and my air worked fine. Well it's quickly dying and now is blowing warm. The compressor turns on so I know there's a couple pounds in the system. I do not have gauges. Well, I went to put some freon in the system and I noticed that on the low side the tube was COLD and the other side of the connector on the high side the tube is HOT.

I also noticed a drip, which could be condensation since it's humid out. I swear I hear a hiss or leak, but it could be my mind. I don't want to put more freon in the system if it doesn't need it and something is plugged or leaking?

Doesn't matter if I run my AC on AUTO or High or whatever nothing changes.

Any ideas would be appreciated. 81.jpg 123.jpg drip.jpg
 

PG01

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Ould be you blend door actuator, get under the dash and switch it from hot to cold a few times and see and listen whats going on. Most of those kits from auto parts dtore have a gauge, while they aren’t the best theyll give you an idea where the charge is at. It also could be the orifice tube is clogged not letting charge circulate... which requires work.... need to capture whatever is in the system, swap parts put it back together, make sure it holds a vacuum then charging it back up. Do you have rear a/c? Those lines runn down the passenger side of the truck and sometimes get damaged from underneath. Uses same compressor the ac lones are just t’ed off of front lines. If you hear compressor and rear air (if you have it) works, either the controller or blend door are your problem. Im not an a/c guy so im throwing ideas out at you
 
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h2osho

h2osho

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Ould be you blend door actuator, get under the dash and switch it from hot to cold a few times and see and listen whats going on. Most of those kits from auto parts dtore have a gauge, while they aren’t the best theyll give you an idea where the charge is at. It also could be the orifice tube is clogged not letting charge circulate... which requires work.... need to capture whatever is in the system, swap parts put it back together, make sure it holds a vacuum then charging it back up. Do you have rear a/c? Those lines runn down the passenger side of the truck and sometimes get damaged from underneath. Uses same compressor the ac lones are just t’ed off of front lines. If you hear compressor and rear air (if you have it) works, either the controller or blend door are your problem. Im not an a/c guy so im throwing ideas out at you
Thanks for the ideas. It's 93 and muggy as h*ll so I might wait now until evening to get under that dash!
 

Doubeleive

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if the condenser is warm then it's not the blend door simple check, condenser should be cold
 

M1Gunner

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Temperature directly relates to pressure. High pressure equals high heat and low pressure equals colder temps. Condenser is on the high side so condenser will be hot, the evaporator is on the low side and should be cold. That being said the the 81 degrees your getting should be WAY lower than that. High 30’s low 40’s approx. and the high side should be approx 220 ball park.
 
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h2osho

h2osho

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if the condenser is warm then it's not the blend door simple check, condenser should be cold
The condenser is ice cold. I stopped in the local O'Reiley's but they don't have gauges the public can use, so I might have to buy some. Could something be plugged???
 

Doubeleive

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The condenser is ice cold. I stopped in the local O'Reiley's but they don't have gauges the public can use, so I might have to buy some. Could something be plugged???
I don't know I was just under the assumption that if the collector/condenser is cold then the system should be working and it may then be a blend door, if it was warm to the touch then it would likely be a bad pump or depleted Freon from a leak or broken line, etc. there could of course be some other issue going on, but if you want to check the actuator blend doors there is a kick panel under the passenger side dash~glove box, it has 3 or 4 bolts I think they are 7mm or 8mm, the one farthest under the center console is kind of a pain to get to but once you have that panel off you can see a couple of the door actuators, on the actuator is a hole with a round metal rod with a slot in it, that slot will rotate when the actuator is commanded from hot/cold, left/right, up/down etc. if you watch it and change the ac control you will see it move, if nothing moves then that may be the problem. there is another actuator but it is way up under the dash and is a fairly major job to get to but that one doesn't fail very often.
 

sumo

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Without gauges hard to say. But since you don’t know how much wasnin the system, and you added 2 cans worked fine and now it isn’t 2 possible things come to mind. You have a leak in the system, condenser or the popular rear ac line above the Right rear tire or you overcharged your system and part of the system froze up. I suggest having the system evac and recharged with dye so you know everything is where it should be. If it gets warm again you could use a UV light to track down the leak
 
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h2osho

h2osho

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Without gauges hard to say. But since you don’t know how much wasnin the system, and you added 2 cans worked fine and now it isn’t 2 possible things come to mind. You have a leak in the system, condenser or the popular rear ac line above the Right rear tire or you overcharged your system and part of the system froze up. I suggest having the system evac and recharged with dye so you know everything is where it should be. If it gets warm again you could use a UV light to track down the leak

Sadly I think that might be my answer. Or I start looking at trading her in, there's a couple other things that need attention. I just love the Denali XL, it rides like a dream.
 
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h2osho

h2osho

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Without gauges hard to say. But since you don’t know how much wasnin the system, and you added 2 cans worked fine and now it isn’t 2 possible things come to mind. You have a leak in the system, condenser or the popular rear ac line above the Right rear tire or you overcharged your system and part of the system froze up. I suggest having the system evac and recharged with dye so you know everything is where it should be. If it gets warm again you could use a UV light to track down the leak
Well the cheap Walmart gauge told me it was full. So I didn't add any. Earlier I checked the condenser and it felt cold, but after 2 minutes it heated right up. So my system doesn't leak, something simply isn't working properly.

filled.jpg condenser.jpg
 

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