Hoping someone has a good understanding of the dual climate control and mechanical AC logic on the C5 that can help me out.

I have the issue of the warmer air coming out through the driver's side vents (usually about the same as the outside air temp) while it's nice and cold coming out of the vent on the passenger side (about 45 degrees).

I have reindexed the driver's side actuator two teeth, reinstalled, and then reset the blend doors by allowing the system to recalibrate, all pretty standard stuff in most of the threads on this topic.

I have also visually verified that the actuator is functioning by laying on my back, head by the pedals with a flashlight pointed at the actuator while reaching up to the temp control **** and turning it up and down while the AC was in operation. The actuator turns fully stop to stop.

So, who can tell me how this system works and what other problem could exist BESIDES the drivers side actuator that could cause the warm air on the drivers side?

Oh, and no DTC's exist.

 

could just be low on freon.....

 

That would be awesome and an easy fix, please educate me on why you think it would blow 45 degrees on one side and 80 degrees on the other due to low freon.

 

Edit...I misread, the pass side IS working so --

BTW no DTCs would indicate both are working.
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There have also been numerous threads that low freon can cause this issue. It's fairly simple and cheap to have an AC guy check the freon pressures by hooking up gauges and running the system.

In reality, 45 degrees is not all that cold for AC air (if that's an actual temperature reading.)

 

Thanks, can you tell me if the passenger side actuator controls the temperature of the air coming out of the drivers side air vents?

Edit: because of edit.
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Yes it's 45 degrees according to my thermometer that came off the Snap-on truck. lol.

What is a good temp for a properly charged AC system if not 45? 35? I still have a 35 degree difference in passenger to driver's side. I'll search for the threads that explain the low freon causing this but in case I don't find it, got a link?

Edit: I searched
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Apparently there is alot of agreement that low freon will cause warm air on driver's side and cold on passenger's side, so I will get my system level checked. Thanks guys. Now does anybody know why the differential in side to side? Seems like if it's low on freon it would just be warm on both sides.

 

I don't know why, but I had the same problem and it was my freon level, six ounces low.

 

Here is a link to an earlier post that might help in understanding the issue:

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c5-t...but-wrong.html

Corvettes seem to have a few problems unique to Corvettes and not all of them seem to have logical explanations.

David in AZ

 

This is a post from Mark that was in the link you just gave and it really makes sense of why this can be possible. Thanks!!
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"I think I know... I'll explain it as best as I can, without boring you with too much techno-babble.

When a system is low on charge, there just isn't enough 'heat carriers' to remove the heat from the system. The refrigerant becomes saturated with heat too soon in the process... and is very inefficient.

Think of the evaporator core for a second. It has an entry point, and an exit point. The entry point is where the refrigerant changes from liquid to vapor form, which causes the cooling effect. (Pressure and temperature are directly related. A drop in pressure = drop in temperature.)

In the C5, the 'start' point for the evaporator must be on the passenger side of the ventilation system... whereas the 'end' of the evaporator core must be on the drivers side of the ventilation system. When the system is low on refrigerant, the only cooling effect that happens is in the beginning part of the evaporator core... it just becomes heat saturated by the time it reaches the end. Thus: No cooling on the drivers side.

It's the only thing that makes sense to me... I'll know more when I get my replacement damper system in and can verify it.

One thing that should have stood out to me was this: The cooling on the passenger side, while cool, was not within specifications. I should have caught that first... but I assumed that the climate controller was keeping the temperature output at 60 degrees. The manual clearly says 40 degrees at max cooling.

Mark "

 

The way it was described to me is the passenger side cools from the lower part of the evaporator while the drivers side cools from the top part. Straight from a moron GM Tech.

I also have to add that every year around this time I have to add some freon because of this same situation. As in now, any day. So far it always fixes the problem. Well except for the leak part of the problem anyways.

 

Yes, I have discovered that the schrader valve core at the fill port is leaking slightly and won't tighten up so I'll be taking it in to have it replaced and a fresh charge of freon - hopfully correcting the problem. Thanks for all the input

 

Okay after reading this all i have the oposite problem as per say . When I have the heater on I have heat comming from the passenger side no problem but colder than bejepers from the drivers side . If I have it on the windshield it is hot but when on the floor or coming out the vents the drivers side is cold and the temp on the passengers side is hot like it should be , could this be because of the freon being down or is it some other problem someone might have heard about . I know in the sumer that it would be okay for the cold but alas up here now the heater is still needed . lol

 

My 98 used to do that when it needed freon.

 

You should probably start your own thread for your particular issue, but I will say that freon is probably not your problem with the heater on, more likely to be an actuator problem.