AC Refreshed. Not blowing cold

[Nenw]

I've done a bit of work to my ac recently but am still running into some issues. Mainly it's cool not cold.
Here's the rundown.

New Denso Compressor
Belt to spec
Fresh R12 Charge 51oz, pulled vacuum, no leaks. a bunch of fresh o-rings.
New Drier.
New Fan for lower condenser (from a tw van)

Issue is that at best I am getting about 62deg coming out of my vents. This is a dual ac unit. The Fan is coming on for the front condenser however, the fan is not coming on for the lower rear condenser. Also, that condenser is not in good condition. the fins are smashy smashy and need help.

Question 1 - should the fan for the lower condenser come on with only the front turned on or does the rear need to be engaged as well? It doesn't turn on in either scenario for me.

Question 2 - how do I go about straightening out the fins in the lower condenser? I would have replaced the condenser but all the couplers were frozen. To the point that they likely would have sheared any of the lines if I pushed it.

 

[Sputnik]

Uncle YouTube has several fin straightening videos that might help. Look up 'straighten ac fin'

 

[Nenw]

Uncle YouTube has several fin straightening videos that might help. Look up 'straighten ac fin'

Yeah just did that right after I typed the note. duh. silly thing is that I got a bunch of stuff from my dad way back. one was a fin tool but had no idea what it was and after it sitting in a pile for so long I think I ditched it....oh well. I will have to see if any of my fins are even straight enough to start up with the tool. Things are really smashed flat in a lot of it.

 

[Growlerbearnz]

Question 1 - should the fan for the lower condenser come on with only the front turned on or does the rear need to be engaged as well? It doesn't turn on in either scenario for me.

The two condensers are in series: they act as one giant condenser, they're not separated into front and back, and the side/lower condenser does most of the work. Both condenser fans should run when the AC is turned on (regardless of whether you're using the rear vents or not)

The fuses for the condenser fans are behind the glove box, in white plastic inline fuse cases. They're glass tube fuses (because why use the same fuse as everything else on the van when you can use something weird and different, right?). Since you had to replace the fan, I bet the old fan seized up and blew its fuse.

I wonder if the old fan even needed replacing? The fuses do sometimes just fall apart internally which brings up a good point: don't just look for a blown fuse wire, check the fuse continuity using a meter.

 

[sk66]

Are you testing it according to the procedure in the manual?

RPM at 1000 (min), blower on high, dash outlets only, and set to recirculate for at least 20 minutes... with the cooled air recirculating and being re-chilled continually for 20 minutes the temp should drop to about 30˚f below ambient.

 

[Nenw]

@Growlerbearnz correct the old fan was seized. Somewhere along the way the forward mud guards were removed by the PO, so the fan and condenser were full of rocks and mud. When I cleaned it all out the motor was donezo. I couldn't even spin it by hand once I removed it. I will look behind the dash and check the fuse.

Understood they are in-line. I just wasn't sure if the fans were running off a different circuit.

@sk66 when I charged it, I had it running at 1500rpm for a good half hour. I will try it again at idle but the 64deg is really only getting that low while I drive. And this is in Santa Cruz, so 30deg below ambient would put me into the 40's.

I gather if the fan isn't running to draw air through the condenser, and if the condenser is totally maimed so air cannot pass through the cooling fins, then I'm not going to get cold air from the vents. Driving sort of force the matter, but not enough for it to be efficient. One step at a time. I will check the fuse tonight and try to work on those fins asap.

 

[jixaw]

I had a similar challenge ......the troubleshooting section of the ac manual and I became good friends...its pretty straight forward

I had some bad wiring, a blow fusible link, a blown glass fuse, and low refrigerant...the troubleshooting guide stepped me thru all the components and now my ac blows ice cold

does your compressor even kick on when you turn the ac on?

 

[Nenw]

does your compressor even kick on when you turn the ac on?

Yeah its on. the idle will raise when engaged. The system is doing it's thing.
First thing is to track down why fan one is not kicking on and getting the condenser straight. I think that will help significantly. If not I will deeper dive in the manual.

 

[jixaw]

i suspect you have a bad glass fuse....

Are you able to look into the site glass? does it bubble or look clear?

 

[Nenw]

The glass fuse was blown. Replaced it last night. Will get to give it a test today.

Unfortunately the condenser coils aren’t oriented like the radiator. They sort of snake along a row and are not continuous. Unlike the radiator which is like one continuous strip top to bottom. So i dont think the normal method of fixing up the fins will work.

More to Come

 

[Nenw]

Okay so update 1 mostly succeedes but not fully there yet.

The fuse was blown, and once I replaced it the fan turned on as it should. With getting that going I was at about 54° while I was driving down some side streets.

I was not able to do anything with the condenser yet. It doesn’t have fins that run the length Rather they are interrupted at each row and are Wavy. There might be a YouTube video for how to fix those but I haven’t looked to hard yet.

As for the test of running it with the fresh air off at the front vents, I have to wait on that bc there happens to be a giant hole in the fresh air flap so it’s always pulling in air from the outside. A while ago a critter got into my vehicle and it started to build a nest inside of my ductwork. At the time that was unbeknownst to me but found that while I was working on my AC this time. Thank you blown fuse.
Will update as I get things settled step-by-step.

 

[jixaw]

sounds like you have the ac issue cornered...and hopefully that critter too!

I found that i had to jump my compressor with a hot wire when the switch and fan were on...after i jumped it once, it came on consistently. Does your AC idle up solenoid kick in when the ac switch is on? I noted that the ac had to be running for a few minutes before it actually kicked on the solenoid and compressor...

 

[Nenw]

Yeah my idle up kicks in after a few seconds.

So I just taped up the hole. Going to get some new gasket material to mount it against the body and still need to vacuum out all the nuts and what not. things are buried deep. Going to hit a car wash today to take care of that. I need sucking power!!
While I'm back there I will add in some sound deadening. How such a little thing turned into a big to-do.
Will hopefully get this buttoned up tonight and tested tomorrow. Finger crossed it all works.