my soarer radiator came with a little fan at the side ,im guessing this gives the condensor better airflow .my plan was to run a relay on the ac compressor so that way the fan will turn on when i turn on the air conditioner .what i dont understand is that the soarer came with this fan but the sc3/sc4 dont have it kinda weird

 

I realize this is an old thread, but I'm having the exact same problem on my 99 GS400. When the car is moving, the a/c blows ice cold. When I stop, the compressor turns off and the air is luke warm. I took it to the dealership yesterday and they said I had two bad "read" valves, and that the compressor needed to be replaced (for $1,900, I might add). Something doesn't sound right to me. Why does the compressor work when I'm moving but not when I'm standing still? If I needed a new compressor, I would think that it wouldn't work at all.

Any thoughts?

 

yup, get a second opinion...

could be true, but that's thing to diagnose without seeing it...

usually if valves are going bad inside the compressor, the gauge on the a/c machine will fluctuate / bounce rapidly...

however, the thing will usually still cool ok at all times, usually not good at any time... I would lean more towards condenser obstruction or auxiliary fan not turning on / working..., but, who knows... what about when standing still and revving the engine??? if the a/c is cold then, then I could see a compressor problem, but if no change, and it still only gets cold when the car is moving, then I would say condenser issue...

 

I thought the compressor and the condenser were the same thing?

Funny you should ask about revving, because I just tested this on the way home. After driving on the highway for 1/2 hour with ice cold a/c, I stopped at a stoplight and the a/c became luke warm. I put the car in neutral and revved the engine and it got cold again. What do you think that means? Thanks for your help.

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well, with that info, I would say there is a good possibility it is a compressor issue...

the condenser is the finned radiator looking thing that is in front of the radiator... if air doesn't flow over it, then the a/c can blow hot...

your particular problem can have a few different causes...

1) low on refrigerant - low refrigerant levels can lower the amount of flow through the system making it not do its job...

2) bad compressor - like a car engine, a compressor that is worn doesn't work to its full potential

3) bad expansion valve - a valve located right before the evaporator core that meters refrigerant flow into the evaporator

4) some combination of the above, or some other, less likely cause...


Obviously, A/C is not easy to diagnose....

if it were my car, I would have the refrigerant completely evacuated and refilled to the proper amount first... This is something that can act like a bad compressor, but without vacuuming the whole system and refilling with the correct amount, it's impossible to say... Again, get a second opinion, and make sure they test how much refrigerant is in the system as part of the diagnosis...