After doing some searching, it seems many people have an issue with the refrigerant getting low and the driver's side no longer producing cold air while the passenger's side continues to produce cold air. THIS IS NOT MY ISSUE.

My car, an '02Z, is not producing ANY cold air at all from either driver or passenger side.

The AC was working fine until I had to change my cam last summer, after/during which it stopped working. Because the condenser needs to be lifted up and over to make room for cam removal, I assumed I must have damaged one of the hard lines/fittings resulting in a refrigerant leak. The other day I placed a pressure gauge on the low pressure fitting (with engine running and AC compressor engaged and spinning) and, to my surprise, the system is still charged.

Here are some observations:

- When turning the AC on, the AC button light comes on, the compressor engages and spins, the rad fans come on at low speed… everything appears to be functioning properly.
- As mentioned, a pressure gauge on the low side port shows a sufficient charge in the system.
- When using the HVAC controls, everything seems to work properly; selection of defroster, dash vents and floor vents works properly, and adjusting the temperature control from hot to cold affects the air temperature as expected (just no difference in "cold" setting with AC on or off). Recirculating air function seems to work fine.
- Ambient (outside) air temperature sensor seems to work fine… I get reasonable outside air temps reported.

Has anyone experienced a similar problem with their AC and figured out a solution?

I haven't had time since the weekend to investigate this further, I thought I'd stop by the forum and see if anyone had some advice to point me in the right direction? Any specific checks I can do to help narrow it down? Is there a blender door/actuator in the HVAC system specifically just for the AC evaporator that may be stuck or fried?

 

What do MANIFOLD guages say about system pressure on the HIGH side? You need both low and high pressure info to try to figure things out.

 

My AC on my 99 coupe was dead and it also was throwing actuator codes. The system was working (no flashing light on HVAC and compressor came on when I turned on AC) I took it to get the charge checked. Mine called for 1.63 lbs of refrigerant. Had the system evacuated and it pulled out .55 lbs and checked vacuum to make sure it was holding vacuum and it was so no leak. Recharged the system with 1.63 lbs and then started the car. Pressures on low and Hi were where they are supposed to be and the AC is working. Only blowing hot air before.

Actuator doors were giving me issues with only .55 lbs of refrigerant and not working it seems. Not a hint of cool air out of any vents. BTW, the errors were P0363 and P0367 on the HVAC for the doors. So it might be that it is low and the system is turning on but it is not enough to make the system work.

Forget about those DIY kits. take it to a shop that has the machine and they can check vacuum and pull what is in there to show you how much it really is charged.

Good Luck.

 

There is a difference between having enough pressure in the system and enough refrigerant. You obviously have enough system pressure for the A/C compressor to engage.

I don't know about the new DIY kits but the old ones allowed you to recharge the pressure if the can was upright or add refrigerant if the can was upside-down. It has been a LOOOONG time since I did that on one of my cars.

 

Most cheapy refill kits only connect to the LOW PRESSURE fitting, you need 4 things to diagnose an AC system, low pressure reading, high pressure reading, air temp and humidity. You need the temp/humidty for the superheat charts to look up what the pressures SHOULD be at a given temp/humidity. Some kits will have a chart on them with temp only which are generally OK except when humidty is really high.

 

Yes, the gauge I used was only on the low side, I do not have a full manifold set.

The wierd thing about this is, the AC worked like a champ right up until I did the cam, then didn't work at all right afterwards. There was no slow degradation, it's just like someone turned it off.

I hate letting anyone touch my cars, let alone paying them to do it! Looks like I may have to bite the bullet and pay someone to evac and recharge the system... My gut is telling me it's a waste of time/money to do that, but I've been wrong before!

Thanks for the input.