This summers common ac repairs.

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Chris142

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Besides the usual suburbans,tahoes and Ford 500's this year we have been hit with lots of 2015 Nissan Altima compressor failures. Those seem to be very problematic. No parts stores can keep Altima compressors in stock.

Another car that's common this year is the Cobalt. It has a 14oz ac system. If it gets just a couple ounces low it will effect it's cooling. Then someone adds an 11oz can of r134a and now it's hugly overcharged.
 
We have been doing lots of evaporators on 2015+ Mustangs. For a long time we had to do the whole heater box, Ford finally came out with an update where we can get just the core now.

In other news we got out r1234yf machine, everyone is so excited.
 
I have not seen a 1234 car yet. My boss isn't going to buy that machine for several more years,if he ever does. We don't do hybrids either. Not enough of them needing ac repairs to make a $6000 ac machine worthwile.
 
New body GM truck condensers are always a hot item around here. The previous 2 summers were BAD with backorders and aftermarket suppliers jacking up prices just because they had them. This year has had much better availability.

Originally Posted By: bdcardinal
In other news we got out r1234yf machine, everyone is so excited.

Ours sprung a leak. Fixed now, but service had to eat a few hundred at least off that.
 
Originally Posted By: 01rangerxl
Originally Posted By: bdcardinal
In other news we got out r1234yf machine, everyone is so excited.

Ours sprung a leak. Fixed now, but service had to eat a few hundred at least off that.

We had to have a come to Jesus meeting with service about how they actually had to tell parts when they used r134a. They wouldn't tell us, the machine is in the shop, and we will bill service hundreds of ounces a month on their shop RO. The techs were all offended that they had to let us know when they were using r134a.
 
Originally Posted By: bdcardinal
We have been doing lots of evaporators on 2015+ Mustangs. For a long time we had to do the whole heater box, Ford finally came out with an update where we can get just the core now.


It's big talk on the Mustang chat boards. Have you inspected any failed evaporators to determine what fails and causes it to leak - cracked weld, cracked tube, ??

Also read that Ford has updated the evaporator a couple of times, but they keep failing. Any inside info on the problem?
 
Originally Posted By: Chris142
I have not seen a 1234 car yet. My boss isn't going to buy that machine for several more years,if he ever does. We don't do hybrids either. Not enough of them needing ac repairs to make a $6000 ac machine worthwile.


After all the talk about propane/isobutane replacements for r12 and r22 being dangerous and illegal, we get r1234yf as a factory refrigerant.
 
We’ve had two new vehicles that left the factory with no refrigerant. One that was charged with the amount for rear AC but not equipped. A whole bunch of leaking GM condensors and multiple random issues from the bus fleet we work on seems like every bus had an issue but they were all different.
 
What year are the mustangs with bad evaporators? We normally don't see "new" cars till they are out of warranty. The 15 altimas had 80k and 140k.

Those are commuter cars that do 200-300 miles a day. I assume not too many people commute in a mustang.
 
Not a total AC failure, but just saw a lazy clutch relay cause some head-scratching.
 
Originally Posted By: spasm3
Originally Posted By: Chris142
I have not seen a 1234 car yet. My boss isn't going to buy that machine for several more years,if he ever does. We don't do hybrids either. Not enough of them needing ac repairs to make a $6000 ac machine worthwile.


After all the talk about propane/isobutane replacements for r12 and r22 being dangerous and illegal, we get r1234yf as a factory refrigerant.


Please overlook my ignorance . Is R1234yf flamable ? If so , how " badly " ?
 
Originally Posted By: WyrTwister
Originally Posted By: spasm3
Originally Posted By: Chris142
I have not seen a 1234 car yet. My boss isn't going to buy that machine for several more years,if he ever does. We don't do hybrids either. Not enough of them needing ac repairs to make a $6000 ac machine worthwile.


After all the talk about propane/isobutane replacements for r12 and r22 being dangerous and illegal, we get r1234yf as a factory refrigerant.


Please overlook my ignorance . Is R1234yf flamable ? If so , how " badly " ?



SDS


"Extremely"

2.1 Flam Gas
 
Originally Posted By: ZeeOSix
Originally Posted By: bdcardinal
We have been doing lots of evaporators on 2015+ Mustangs. For a long time we had to do the whole heater box, Ford finally came out with an update where we can get just the core now.


It's big talk on the Mustang chat boards. Have you inspected any failed evaporators to determine what fails and causes it to leak - cracked weld, cracked tube, ??

Also read that Ford has updated the evaporator a couple of times, but they keep failing. Any inside info on the problem?


I just threw the whole housings away and now toss the evaporators in the beer money scrap pile when Ford says to scrap them. Ford doesn't even call them back anymore so you know that means it is a common problem.

Not sure of the update change, but they went from doing a whole heater box to just the evaporator core.
 
Originally Posted By: Chris142
What year are the mustangs with bad evaporators? We normally don't see "new" cars till they are out of warranty. The 15 altimas had 80k and 140k.

Those are commuter cars that do 200-300 miles a day. I assume not too many people commute in a mustang.


2015+ Mustangs. We first saw it in the GT-350s and now see it in all of them.
 
How are the AC systems on the Vics? Both my previous 99 and now this one seem to be trouble-free compared to literally every GMT400 I've owned having AC problems.
 
Originally Posted By: Chris142
We don't do hybrids either. Not enough of them needing ac repairs to make a $6000 ac machine worthwile.

The good news is that the lubricant for hybrid/electric AC systems using R1234yf is the same, ND-Oil 11 or a similar POE oil. The aftermarket has simply repacked commercial HVAC lubricant(Solest or Emkarate RL) in 2-4oz cans.

But yes, you need to keep a separate machine and set of tools although supposedly Robinair makes a machine with separate gas/liquid paths for conventional and hybrid/electric AC?
 
Originally Posted By: dogememe
How are the AC systems on the Vics? Both my previous 99 and now this one seem to be trouble-free compared to literally every GMT400 I've owned having AC problems.


Generally good. The newer ones have a shared AC condenser and trans cooler which we sold a ton of back in the day. Not so much now that the police fleets here have moved onto Explorers and Chargers.
 
Originally Posted By: bdcardinal
Originally Posted By: dogememe
How are the AC systems on the Vics? Both my previous 99 and now this one seem to be trouble-free compared to literally every GMT400 I've owned having AC problems.


Generally good. The newer ones have a shared AC condenser and trans cooler which we sold a ton of back in the day. Not so much now that the police fleets here have moved onto Explorers and Chargers.

Right. And probably more becuase of trans failures necesitating a new trans cooler, ergo, condensor gets replaced.

There is an issue with the Accumulator 03+. It is sitting on the frame rail, wrapped in foam and encased in plastic. Its steel. So, eventually corrosion will get it. If you're not seaside there in CA it should be fine, though I know rust belt states and places they use salt it can be an issue.
Aftermarket ones are aluminium which fixes the issue.
 
Last edited:
Chris142: I'm lucky at my work as most of the a/c stuff is under warranty and we use OEM. We arent getting the 1234 refrigerant either as way too costly

I found a bullet in a 2017 Hyundai condenser
 
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