First, I seriously appreciate everyone on the forum posting their problems and solutions it’s the only way I could have figured anything out on this truck.
Picked up a new to me 13’ over the winter and as the weather got warmer I noticed that the AC was subpar. As it got hotter the issue got worse and at 95* I didn’t want to put my kids in the truck because it wouldn't cool down at all. I’ve searched all over this forum and others and have found several different solutions but wanted to document mine. The AC seems to be good to go as it’s 90* and humid today in MO and it's cooling well.
Problems:
Inconsistent cooling. On low, it felt like the ac was trying to get cool but it just wasn’t able to. Air would blow cool for a couple seconds then fluctuate to warm then back to cool again.
Weak airflow: This was the biggest problem. I didn’t really notice this until it got really hot outside and it didn’t seem to have this issue with the heater. It sounded like the blower was working hard but the flow from the vents was weak.
Recirculating door issue: Like many others I had the recirculating door break. I thought this may be contributing to the weak air flow but it turns out it wasn’t.
Solutions:
I inspected/cleaned the condenser. No change
Checked charge. Everything normal.
Replaced both interior and exterior temp sensors as they were inexpensive. Was thinking this could be contributing to the inconsistent cooling. No change.
Fixed the position of the recirculating door to always recirculating. No change.
I’ve seen a couple posts on bad/dirty evaporators but don’t have time to tear apart the dash for the next few months. I ran across a video where an individual cut a hole in the back of the the evaporator casing to clean it . Apparently on an F250 there is a removable panel on top of the casing where the evaporator is housed so you can clean it. I figured it was worth a shot since it couldn’t make the cooling any worse. I did something similar to what the individual in the video did and ran a hose at low pressure but that didn’t seem to yield anything substantial. I then took out the blower motor resistor and was able to get my camera in there to check out what it looked like and this is what I saw:
I then wedged the hose in there and was able to get everything clean. Hose was at full blast
Photo shows all the dirt that came out of the drain and ended up on he garage floor.
Turned the ac on it it blew like normal and the cooling was no longer inconsistent.
I can’t understand why these trucks have no cabin filter but I’ll be looking at options for one. When I first detailed the truck I found a ton of red dirt caked in all areas of the truck so it’s apparent it spent a decent amount of time on dirt with its previous owner. I’ll be also removing the dash later this year to replace the evaporator and replace the recirculating door.
I hope this helps anyone searching for solutions. I’m not suggesting anyone cut a hole in the evaporator casing as I did, just wanted to share my experience. In hindsight it’s actually pretty easy to check how dirty yours is, just remove the blower motor resistor and stick a camera up there.
Videos linked below show some of the info I found plus a good tutorial of dash removal for anyone else looking.
Picked up a new to me 13’ over the winter and as the weather got warmer I noticed that the AC was subpar. As it got hotter the issue got worse and at 95* I didn’t want to put my kids in the truck because it wouldn't cool down at all. I’ve searched all over this forum and others and have found several different solutions but wanted to document mine. The AC seems to be good to go as it’s 90* and humid today in MO and it's cooling well.
Problems:
Inconsistent cooling. On low, it felt like the ac was trying to get cool but it just wasn’t able to. Air would blow cool for a couple seconds then fluctuate to warm then back to cool again.
Weak airflow: This was the biggest problem. I didn’t really notice this until it got really hot outside and it didn’t seem to have this issue with the heater. It sounded like the blower was working hard but the flow from the vents was weak.
Recirculating door issue: Like many others I had the recirculating door break. I thought this may be contributing to the weak air flow but it turns out it wasn’t.
Solutions:
I inspected/cleaned the condenser. No change
Checked charge. Everything normal.
Replaced both interior and exterior temp sensors as they were inexpensive. Was thinking this could be contributing to the inconsistent cooling. No change.
Fixed the position of the recirculating door to always recirculating. No change.
I’ve seen a couple posts on bad/dirty evaporators but don’t have time to tear apart the dash for the next few months. I ran across a video where an individual cut a hole in the back of the the evaporator casing to clean it . Apparently on an F250 there is a removable panel on top of the casing where the evaporator is housed so you can clean it. I figured it was worth a shot since it couldn’t make the cooling any worse. I did something similar to what the individual in the video did and ran a hose at low pressure but that didn’t seem to yield anything substantial. I then took out the blower motor resistor and was able to get my camera in there to check out what it looked like and this is what I saw:
I then wedged the hose in there and was able to get everything clean. Hose was at full blast
Photo shows all the dirt that came out of the drain and ended up on he garage floor.
Turned the ac on it it blew like normal and the cooling was no longer inconsistent.
I can’t understand why these trucks have no cabin filter but I’ll be looking at options for one. When I first detailed the truck I found a ton of red dirt caked in all areas of the truck so it’s apparent it spent a decent amount of time on dirt with its previous owner. I’ll be also removing the dash later this year to replace the evaporator and replace the recirculating door.
I hope this helps anyone searching for solutions. I’m not suggesting anyone cut a hole in the evaporator casing as I did, just wanted to share my experience. In hindsight it’s actually pretty easy to check how dirty yours is, just remove the blower motor resistor and stick a camera up there.
Videos linked below show some of the info I found plus a good tutorial of dash removal for anyone else looking.
