General Maintenance & Repairs - Ac hot in traffic, ice cold at night and startup

My A/c blows warm or room temp on a hot day in traffic, but is ice cold at night or moving along pretty good. Is this just b/c the car is hot or do I have a problem?

If it works when the outside air is cool and doesn't when the outside air is warm, its probably because the system is low on freon, your radiator/condenser is covered in roadkill or other garbage, or the radiator fans aren't working.

The easy thing to start with is cleaning the radiator and condenser.

The fan kicks on, I'll look for garbage. I thought if it was low on freon it would be warm all the time, but I'll take your word for that as I don't know much about A/C components. Thanks

Sounds like poor condenser air flow to me, make sure there's nothing blocking the condensers airflow

You have a dirty condensor.......the outside of it. Read this thread......The only thing I recommend you differently is remove it and have it cleaned at a shop or do it yourself. Worry about recharging the 134 refrigerant afterwards.

http://www.ls1tech.com/forums/general-maintenance-repairs/1036302-if-you-run-hotter-when-you-turn-c-city-driving-probably-why.html?highlight=condensor

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Super helpful... I'm about to put a lid and tb and all that on my car anyways so I'll just do this all at the same time. THANKS

The fan kicks on, I'll look for garbage. I thought if it was low on freon it would be warm all the time, but I'll take your word for that as I don't know much about A/C components. Thanks

Its unlikely that its freon related but the system's ability to cool the freon is a function of temperature and quantity of airflow over the condenser. If the freon level is low, the cooler temperatures at night could be enough to get it to an adequate level.

I'm betting its the condenser, I havent had a chance to check. That write up about taking it out and cleaning it should be a sticky in general maintenance if it isn't.

When I got my car I found a Publix plastic bags was sucked into each of the fans. They spun, but they worked much better after removing the bags.

I'm betting its the condenser, I havent had a chance to check. That write up about taking it out and cleaning it should be a sticky in general maintenance if it isn't.

+1 I found some sort of dead rodent/thing plastered to mine when I did my cleaning.