New components, shop recharge, and not cold

[sjgieson]

Hello,

I have been lurking for a couple of months finally decided to post my issue.

I have engine swap vehicle (Ford Super Duty with a cummins), i purchased it with the swap mostly done accept A/C only working sometimes. Long story short, i found the issue as a plugged/backwards orifice tube. When I found this I already bought new condenser, evaporator and accumulator, so I replaced those well I was there. I took it to a local shop against my better judgment of just springing for a vacuum (I just prefer to do things myself). They had it for about 2.5 hours and brought it out saying it runs cold now (it was random cold day of high of 72), but it didn't seem super cold but the compressor was no longer short cycling so I figured it was good to go.

Next day it was back in to the high 80s low 90s and it was obvious it is not cooling well. At idle it blows about 72degrees and at 65+mph for about 15min it will get down to low of 57 degrees. Even at idle with the engine revved to about 2k pressures stay in check (26psi / 250psi @ about 85 degrees IIRC, but I can double again, they were in range of the ford PCM that controls the compressor).

Now obviously i have an airflow issue, so I installed a 14" 1000cfm electric fan in front of the condenser (centered about 2 inches away) pushing air towards the condenser (same direction as mechanical puller fan). This has had 0 impact on the temps.

Line going into the evaporator seems to be getting pretty cold. I think I still need some more airflow but even at driving down the highway 57 seems too hot on recirc, is it possible the shop just didn't take the time to pull a good vacuum and that is causing this?

Thanks for any insight you could provide.

[Cusser]

Line going into the evaporator seems to be getting pretty cold. I think I still need some more airflow but even at driving down the highway 57 seems too hot on recirc, is it possible the shop just didn't take the time to pull a good vacuum and that is causing this?

Sounds to me like an air divertor issue under the dashboard, like heat is getting into the air flow.

[sjgieson]

Sounds to me like an air divertor issue under the dashboard, like heat is getting into the air flow.

I thought that as well, so I clamped off the coolant hose that goes into the cab, with no impact on a/c temperature. Is that a good way to check for that? Or could the truck be pulling in hot ambient air still?

[Cusser]

could the truck be pulling in hot ambient air still?

Yes. If the diverter doesn't block the outside air, that's what the recirculation setting is for.