Intrigue Dual Climate Air Conditioning Problem
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Teching In
Joined: Jul 2005
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Intrigue Dual Climate Air Conditioning Problem Hello,
I know I don't have an LS1 motor or a sports car, but I was hoping to maybe get some troubleshooting advice for the A/C system in my 1998 Olds Intrigue (3800 series II motor).
The system is a auto dual climate control A/C. Just recently the two driver side vents blow "vent" temperature air while the passenger side blows cold air with the overall temp setting set to 60 degrees. I took it into our local Pontiac dealership and the mechanic swears it is the compressor leaking. He said the system shuts down one side when the compressor is low on freon. This does not sound accurate with what is really going on. Why would one side shut down even though the passenger vents are cold??? It sounds to me more like some kind of dual plenum valve or something would be malfunctioning if there is such a thing. I have purchased a new compressor from Auto Zone ready to go in, but something tells me this won't fix my problem. Although I know how, I would rather not infiltrate my A/C system by changing the compressor, accumulator, and orfice valve if I do not have to. Any advice on this would be much appreciated.
I know I don't have an LS1 motor or a sports car, but I was hoping to maybe get some troubleshooting advice for the A/C system in my 1998 Olds Intrigue (3800 series II motor).
The system is a auto dual climate control A/C. Just recently the two driver side vents blow "vent" temperature air while the passenger side blows cold air with the overall temp setting set to 60 degrees. I took it into our local Pontiac dealership and the mechanic swears it is the compressor leaking. He said the system shuts down one side when the compressor is low on freon. This does not sound accurate with what is really going on. Why would one side shut down even though the passenger vents are cold??? It sounds to me more like some kind of dual plenum valve or something would be malfunctioning if there is such a thing. I have purchased a new compressor from Auto Zone ready to go in, but something tells me this won't fix my problem. Although I know how, I would rather not infiltrate my A/C system by changing the compressor, accumulator, and orfice valve if I do not have to. Any advice on this would be much appreciated.
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Joined: Dec 2004
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From: Beaumont, TX
If he thinks there's a leak, has he filled the freon back up and put in UV leak-finding dye to accurately determine where the leak is coming from? If there is a leak, could be just some small part that needs repairing/replacing instead of the whole compressor.
Regarding blowing cold on only one side, here's a thread about what sounds like the exact same problem on Corvettes: http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show...5&page=3&pp=20
(Ignore the repetitious stubborn posts there from someone apparently not aware of the separation possible in a car's dual climate control AC system 
)
Regarding blowing cold on only one side, here's a thread about what sounds like the exact same problem on Corvettes: http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show...5&page=3&pp=20
A C5 that is low on freon will in fact blow cold out the right vents and hot out the left vents...Seen it many times
Moving the left actuator gear tooth compensates for a binding left temp door or a door that has extended travel due to wear. The compensation is calibrated when the battery is connected and the control head relearns full door positions during initialzation. Usually this senario is only detected after disconnecting the battery for other reasons. If you install a 2001 control head on a 97-2000,indexing the gear tooth is not required.
It is also possible that the left door actuator is simply faulty and requires replacement with no indexing. This is a common occurance...
Moving the left actuator gear tooth compensates for a binding left temp door or a door that has extended travel due to wear. The compensation is calibrated when the battery is connected and the control head relearns full door positions during initialzation. Usually this senario is only detected after disconnecting the battery for other reasons. If you install a 2001 control head on a 97-2000,indexing the gear tooth is not required.
It is also possible that the left door actuator is simply faulty and requires replacement with no indexing. This is a common occurance...
a car can still cool with low freon and a vette can do it on one side "passanger" because it will quickly enter and exit the evaporator on the passanger side and since the evaporator gets air pushed through from the backside of it if the freon doesn't go all the way across the evaporator it will not cool the air that is being blown through for the drivers side since the ac box is in two sections right and left the cool air that is being blown through from the passanger side will only blow cool on the passanger side.
the freon enters the evaporator on the passanger side of the case and exits just below so since there isn't enough freon to go across the entire coils it will only cool as soon as it enters and then it exits back out.
The problem could be either low freon or a mechanical malfunctioning actuator.
The C5 has a freon capacity of only 1.63-1.75lbs but will provide cold accumalator to evap low pressure line temperatures with only approximately .75-1.00lb of freon in the system under most circumstances.The PCM monitors line pressures based on freon capacity and operating conditions via the pressure sensor switches.In the event that the system detcts low high side or low side line pressures,the HVAC control head module has a software glitch that will command the left temperature actuator to a neutral (half open,half closed) DEFAULT VALUE position also resulting in left temp door fault codes.
This will result in cold air distributed out the right vents and warm air out the left vents
This will result in cold air distributed out the right vents and warm air out the left vents
on the c5 the ac lines enter and exit the evaporator on the passange side so with it being low on freon there isn't enough freon in the system to go across the entire evaporator and since the plastic box that the evaporator and control doors are in has a divider in the middle to separate the drivers air and passangers air. the air that is being pushed across the evaporator will only get cool not freezing cold but cool on just the part that the little bit of freon fill the evaporator.
... the freon recovery machine pulled out .26-.28 of freon out of my car. we then pulled a vacuum on it and it held then filled it up and it was like new.
... the freon recovery machine pulled out .26-.28 of freon out of my car. we then pulled a vacuum on it and it held then filled it up and it was like new.
Well...Had another one today... Customer complained of warm air out the left vents,cold air out the right vents on a 1999 C5 with climate control. Evacuated the system to find .62lbs of R134 in the system. Recharged the system to 1.63lbs,added some dye to check for a leak in the future,problem fixed. Like I mentioned earlier,we see this all the time.
when i had the a/c box apart i started the car and turned the a/c on only about 2 inches from the passanger side of the evaporator was blowing cool air and the rest was just like outside air.
ok guys, it was just low freon that did cause the B0361 code and the vent to blow hot air.
I had only about 20 psi and I've got a leak somewhere. It defintely beats fumbling with the actuator gear.
I had only about 20 psi and I've got a leak somewhere. It defintely beats fumbling with the actuator gear.
) Last edited by ACW; Jul 28, 2005 at 11:30 PM.
