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Is the AC blowing cold enough?


Service1956

Question

One area that I am not that familiar with is air conditioning. I have a 2011 Avalanche with 5.3. Outside temp is 84 degrees with 62% humidity.

 

With controls set at recirculating air and blower on high, I drive around for 15 minutes and the lowest temp I get out the vent is 50 degrees.

 

Both condenser/radiator vans are working, and condenser is not at all dirty. I am comparing it to my wife's 2015 Malibu that has a 41 degree

 

air flow out the vents. Does 50 degrees sound a little high for a truck?

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Mine was at 55° before I gave it a shot in the arm 2 years ago (truck was 7 years old then). I did it just to see if there would be any difference, since I thought it cooled fine. The inlet of the evaporator was slightly cooler than the outlet, which I wanted to flip by charging.

 

Now it blows 45° on high in recirc at idle at 90° ambient, 45% humidity, the last I tested it. Rolling down the road it cools even better. Probably high 30's - low 40's from the feel of it.

 

50° is better than mine ever was right off the showroom floor.

 

Not sure if they changed the location of the orifice tube or not, but if it's still on the engine side of the firewall, you can feel the inlet and outlet of the evaporator by hand - the outlet should be slightly cooler, or the same temp as the inlet. Inlet is the small tube, outlet is the big tube. If the inlet feels warm or hot, then that means the orifice is in the cab, and this test won't work for you.

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My 2016 Yukon Denali only gets 50 at the coldest with the controls set at recirculating air and the temp set on the lowest with the outside temp at 90 at 91% humidity, I have a 2002 ford f150 134a as well that will blow 40 all day I know there is something with the way the A/C is cooling but of course the dealer tell me its normal, I have been working on A/C systems for years and I know its not normal.

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50° ain't bad at all at that humidity level - that adds a huge load to the evaporator. It's much easier cooling dry air than moist air - takes alot more energy when the air is loaded with moisture.

 

That's some serious tropical air there! Heat index must've been well over 110°.

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I have not checked in depth but there does seem to be a difference between this 2016 CC Denali and the 2014 CC SLT that I traded in. The 2016 seems slower to cool the truck in hot weather. Figure I will put my gauges on it sometime in the near future just to see what the readings are. Has anyone checked the high and low side readings yet? Just be sure to set check (minimum outdoor temp 85f) after a minimum 10 minute run time and set the blower to high / max cool and recir with truck doors open engine speed at 1500 rpm. Don't forget to post ambient dry bulb temp / humidity reading and wet bulb temp if you have that capability so we can get accurate comparables. Almost every auto AC system can be tuned to perform a little bit better with a few ounces of R134A added or subtracted.

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I don't doubt it for a second. GM probably found a way to save a few cents here and there on the components, and compromised on the design to save some more. Same reason they went from the best headlights in the industry (IMO), to crap ones in 2014.

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