My A/C is intermittently cold. When the car is running down the road it seems fine but when I' stop at a stop light or go through a drive through the air coming out of the vents seem noticeably warmer. My wife's Grand Prix is ice cold all the time and it's driving us crazy.

Any thoughts on what the issue could be? Does it simply need a charge?

Thanks!

 

My wife went to see her mother yesterday, about 100 mile trip each way. She called about 20 minutes into the trip telling me the a/c wasn't very cold. Freaked me out. She finally figured the passenger side was on 89 where I had ran it up when I changed the coolant. LOL

 

Could be low on refrigerant, or, more likely as it is air speed dependent, could be a radiator fan issue...

Best way to check at home - in neutral, a/c on, when it starts running warmer, give it some throttle to bring rpm up to about 2000-2500... if the a/c gets cold and stays cold, chances are it is just low on refrigerant... however, if that doesn't change anything, check operation of your radiator / condenser fans...at least one should always be on with the a/c on...

let me know...

 

Great advice.

Exactly what I did. After a couple of days in the 90' s here in Miami I had the same scenario. I'm having my mechanic refill mine with synthetic freon. Get it at Walmart. $7 a can vs. $17 at NAPA for the same can....

 

Interesting read, I've actually noticed not-so-cold AC temps too. Might get my A/C. redone soon too then =]

 

Great thoughts all! I believe it just needs the refrigerant then. I can hear the fans when idling and I know it's at it's best when I'm moving down the road. I'll do the standing still idle test simply to confirm.
Thanks!

 

try it on recirculated air mode... if you're stopped and are on fresh air mode, it doesnt get as cold, you have to be moving in order for it to work best in that mode

 

If it needs refrigerant then it has a leak. I had the same issue last summer. The first time that I took it to the dealer they added more including blue dye to detect the leak. None was found but a few months later there was no doubt that there was a leak when my air would not blow cold at all. It turned out to be a defective "O" ring which was replaced under warranty.

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/rx-...a-c-freon.html