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Intermittent Air Conditioner issue

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Old Oct 3, 2012 | 08:53 PM
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Default Intermittent Air Conditioner issue

So basically my car is a 2002, 125k miles. Air has worked great since I bought the car in 2005. Lately though, if I go on a long drive, after about 20-30 minutes of the air running, the air coming out of the vents cuts down to about 20-30% even if it's on max. The air is still cold, but the volume of air coming out of the vents acts as if it is on low, even if it's on max. Sometimes if I turn the car off and turn it back on, it fixes itself, but lately, that isn't even working anymore.

I've had this issue before and have pulled the fan motor out and cleaned all the debris out of it (though there wasnt very much) so I know the motor is clean (that didnt fix the issue). My car is cammed, headers, underdrive pulley, tuned, if that makes any difference with vaccuum or something... Also I've noticed a lot of water will run onto the ground after driving a while, can't say it is more than usual, and I know water is normal, but it does seem like quite a bit. Maybe something is freezing up and not letting air through?
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Old Oct 6, 2012 | 02:13 AM
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over 100 views and no brilliant ideas? ttt
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Old Oct 6, 2012 | 03:40 AM
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sounds like a vacuum issue if you say your blower motor is good and not going bad. only other thing that i could think of the way you describe it, the evaporator core is clogged up with a bunch of **** not allowing the air to flow past it all the way, that can cause excess water also
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Old Oct 6, 2012 | 04:38 AM
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underdrive pully? well uhh that might be a problem since im almost positive its gonna underdrive that compresser 1/4 of what its supposed to be doing. try tasking that ud pully off and see what happens. betcha something is freezing up, or the refridgerant is getting weak and diluted. maybe time to recharge the system.
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Old Oct 6, 2012 | 05:42 AM
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Originally Posted by Undertow74
sounds like a vacuum issue if you say your blower motor is good and not going bad. only other thing that i could think of the way you describe it, the evaporator core is clogged up with a bunch of **** not allowing the air to flow past it all the way, that can cause excess water also
Seems weird to be vacuum as it basically doesn't allow any air through. I figured if it were vacuum related, the a/c would be blowing out of the floor or defrost vents. I'll have to check the evap core.

Originally Posted by DaytonaBlues
underdrive pully? well uhh that might be a problem since im almost positive its gonna underdrive that compresser 1/4 of what its supposed to be doing. try tasking that ud pully off and see what happens. betcha something is freezing up, or the refridgerant is getting weak and diluted. maybe time to recharge the system.
that wouldnt make sense because the a/c works at idle, and running at 2000+ rpms for 20 mins when it fails wouldnt have anything to do with it. I don't think I've ever recharged the system now that I think about it, I'll look into that.

Thanks for the ideas
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