Weird AC Behavior

[Doyt W. Echelberger]

Paul, it does my heart good to read your story.  The A/C of my 87 5ktq has
been doing that with increasing frequency for the past two years. This
summer it has gotten to where it almost never blows out the dash vents when
set on "Auto."

All I ever read about that seemed to apply was a paragraph or two and a
diagram in Scott Mockry's site. And I have my under-dash panels out and
have looked over the things in the diagram. But, being upside down and
crammed under the dash like a pretzel, my brain hasn't been very helpful in
seeing what is broken or missing. And my aging eyes aren't much help either.
But I do think that our salvation is described somewhere in this section of
Scott's web site.

What confuses me is that sometimes the system works exactly right for long
periods of time.  If a spring were broken or missing, or the braces were
messed up, I'd expect it to stay broken and blow through the defrosters all
the time. (Well, the way things are going, that is what is doing most of
the time anyhow.)

Check out Scott's stuff at the address below and let me know if you can
make yours work.

http://www.sjmautotechnik.com/AC.html#recirc



This is how my system is behaving:  On a two or three hour trip, it will
usually flip over from blowing through the defrost vents and the foot well
vents, and suddenly blow full force through the dash vents. And it usually
stays in that mode until I stop somewhere and turn off the engine. Then,
after maybe a 30 minute interval while I eat lunch or something, it comes
back on through the defrost again when I start the car.

I am so happy to hear that sound when it finally switches to the dash vents.

Blowing all the time in the default mode (defrost and foot wells) wouldn't
be so bad except when the defrost stream cools down the windshield so much
that outside moisture condenses on the outside of the windshield and I have
to start the wipers, which smears the glass and calls for frequent shots of
washer fluid that doesn't really last very long. When this nasty cycle
starts (usually after dark on a day that has been hot and humid), I have to
run the temperature buttons up to where the defrost stream isn't cooling
the glass very much.   But then, it isn't cooling down the cabin very much
either, or taking out the humidity in the cabin. That may be the worst
part, not decreasing the humidity.

I hope I can finally understand Scott's suggestions.  I have even
considered messing about with the vacuum solenoid hoses under the dash,
until I get the default mode to be blowing through the dash vents. And then
maybe putting a few manual valves into the resulting system so I can return
to defrost if it becomes necessary (like in the winter.)

Let's hear from some people who have solved this problem.

Doyt Echelberger
admitting being temporarily upside down in this problem, and not cool.



 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
At 08:45 PM 8/15/2002 -0400, you wrote:
>OK, so it has been hot here in the northeast.  Damn hot.  However I've been
>driving with the windows open most of the time because the doggie like to put
>her head out the window.  When I do this, I sometimes run the AC anyway,
>to get
>the cool breeze.
>
>Over the last few days, I have observed a very weird occurrence.  When set to
>"Auto" the AC will stop blowing from the dash vents.  This can happen after
>several minutes or after just a few seconds.  It seems to blow out of the
>defrost vents, but very weakly. Here is the weird part, if I switch it to
>"Econ", it blows out of the dash vents with a vengeance.  I can then
>switch back
>to "Auto" and it will repeat, lasting from several seconds to several minutes.
>
>Anyone ever had this happen to them?  Any likely places to start looking?  It
>would be nice to have AC on these hot days.  :)
>
>Thanks much!
>
>--
>____________________________________________________________________
>Paul Luevano            |   AMA * MSF   |'99 CBR 600F4  (Racebike)
>http://teamdaemon.com   | USM * CCS #898|'97 CBR 1100XX (Streetbike)
>Waltham, MA USA         |  NMA #116657  |'91 200TQ20V   (Winter)
>_____"The purpose of man is to live, not to exist."-Jack London_____
>_______________________________________________
>200q20v mailing list
>200q20v at audifans.com
>http://www.audifans.com/mailman/listinfo/200q20v