Automotive Air Conditioning Information Forum

Hey all you cool cats and kittens.

The care is a 2005 outback xt limited with dual zone climate. I purchased it a few years back and put a motor in it and the first thing I noticed was the ac worked Horribly. Hooked my manifold up to it and as soon as the ac kicks on the high side climbed like crazy until the switch shut it off. Took it to the local hobby shop, evacuated the 134, replaced the condenser which was pretty banged up, vacuumed it and charged it. Levels stabilized nicely but the high side needle fluttered which I thought was odd but it felt cool so I sent the wife off in it and she never complained.

Now we just moved to Phoenix from Wyoming and now it’s my car and it hit 85° today and there is no way in heck I’ll survive when it’s 100+ if this is how it’s going to work. Hooked the manifold up and it seemed normal so I checked the air temp at the vent at idle and it was 58°, held throttle and temp plummeted to 28° where it started cycling to cold then warm cold then warm (my guess is this is the threshold the evaluation temp sensor shuts it down).

So the cold does not at all outweigh the warm air during the cycle at all! And that needle still flutters which I find super odd, out of the many many many vehicles this things been hooked up to, this is the first to do it.

Oh I should throw in that I checked the cooling fans for operation. All is notmal

Carolebaskin wrote:Now we just moved to Phoenix from Wyoming and now it’s my car and it hit 85° today and there is no way in heck I’ll survive when it’s 100+ if this is how it’s going to work.

Try 115F in the shade here !!! My daughter has a 2013 Subaru which AC works fine, but that's 8 year difference in possible engineering.

I recommend letting a second pair of eyes look at this. If you're in North Phoenix I'd recommend Smart Automotive on Cave Creek Rd.; that's the only shop I've used in a decade for any of my repairs, as I do 95% of my stuff myself.

AC actually can do fine in Phoenix; our 2005 Yukon, 1998 Frontier, and 2004 Frontier do great here. And not bad in my R-12 1988 B2200 truck.

I may have to let them have a look. I’d like to keep a shop doing the work as a last resort but the heat here is unreal so I’m not above paying for it to be done. We had the exact same car, year options and everything and came here for a wedding in the head of June and it did great. My 2000 Sierra does great in this satanic heat but to make matters worse, this Subaru is black on black.

I’ve already hit the point where I’m just throwing parts at it.

The dying gasps of a scroll compressor. Time for a new one. Before it sheds more of itself.

If you want good cooling in PHX in the summer, everything needs to be right. Check the TXV for debris. Blow the excess oil out of the evaporator while that is apart.

You put a new condenser in a while back. IF you think the compressor has not sent a bunch of metal in to the passages, you can re-use it. A parallel flow, multi pass condenser can't be flushed effectively. If you see trash in the compressor discharge line, I would not take the chance myself.

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I agree with that 100%.

https://youtu.be/bZXnOJNJf-w

This is where is at. The low side seems high, replace txv with compressor?

Yes. 15 year old car. OEM Denso parts (compressor and TXV) are available. Would be my first choice.

Do it right, do it once.

A clean start with new components is the easy way to have reliable cold air. The oil charge is just as important as the refrigerant charge. The only way to know how much oil is in a system is to clean it out and add back the correct charge.

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Anyone have a reputable site to buy a compressor?

Alright here we go, I love a learning opportunity! I pulled both of those up and forgive my ignorance but would you mind pointing out the small restriction?

Carolebaskin wrote:Anyone have a reputable site to buy a compressor?

Yes. This board's sponsor: ACkits.com Tim trb@ackits.com

Based in Phoenix/Scottsdale too. Over the last few decades I've purchased quite a few AC parts for my stable of vehicles, including the compressor for my 1988 Mazda truck which was seemingly impossible to find brand new.