wessidedabesside

So i did a full evacuate, replaced expansion valve, vacuum and recharge.. did all according to ambient temp and the high/low chart, fan blowing on condenser, the whole nine yards.. leak down showed no change after vacuum, a seal on the old exp valve looked gnarled up missing the black rubbery gasket portion.. dye was injected too so i got that to monitor in the coming months.. so far temp guage on dash vent is showing 45-50F.. its very cold for sure.. i'll see if it gets me through this month and a florida trip.. i swabbed the inside of the lines and theres a black oily residue, no sludge buildup on the expansion valve it was very clean.. just a black residue if you wipe hard enough you can get.. so the system could be ruined or compressor is done for.. we'll see.

does anyone know if i have to buy a snapon or similar scan tool to read hvac codes on these vehicles? ive been using hp tuners to read codes from this truck and wasnt sure if.. i dont have dtc codes, or if it cant read hvac module codes.. also, do the autozone readers give hvac module codes? im in the process now of replacing the expansion valve, but curious if i should go ahead and replace the pressure switches, where ever they are. (any pics of hints of where these are because internet searching gives me nothing)

Ac started slowly getting warm, some days it would blow cool, at night it would blow cool and it finally just started blowing warm.. Tried a shot of ac pro but noticed the dial would not move, it would go down when i pulled the trigger so i stopped and knew something was weird. Compressor spins and engages, it only clicks once when the truck is started up but never cycles on and off. Bought a manifold guage and vacuum set to try my hand at diy with this truck and my other vehicles. Hooked it all up, and noticed on startup ac blew cool and water dripping from the firewall hose but immediately went hot and stopped dripping.. then noticed water bubbling and dripping from the right side of the exp valve.. so the evap core went hot and dry but the exp valve block remained cold and started dripping water.. 90 degrees out and guages were reading 25psi low side, and like 125 high side. I connected a can of r134 and the system wasnt drawing in any freon the sight glass was clean.. could this be an expansion valve issue? Im thinking about evacuating the freon and pull a vacuum to see what happens. I cleaned the cabin filter and used a camera to look at the evap core in the dash its not clogged or nasty. Both cooling fans are running and i had a fan blowing at the grill. I also checked all fuses and relay relating to ac.

no stains, and ive already removed, cleaned, and resealed the 3rd light just in case.. wasnt wet, corroded or anything in the cavity.. checked again, and its sopping wet again this time in the front pass side and rear pass side. I'm kinda frustrated at this point as I haven't drove it for the exhaust to heat up and cause what I thought was condensation.. Its something very different now. I'm left to remove the pass seat, air out the carpet, and inspect the pass side pillar and door seals now. Its rained once, last week and very humid damp mornings where water could leak down into holes.. the water is odd, its not a pool of water like i discovered the first time, its water droplets in various spots. But the pad is sopping wet from what I'm assuming front to back on the pass side.

Here we go, another water under the carpet issue.. this has to be from condensation from cold metal being heated from the underside exhaust. Ive replaced the two rear vents, after multiple rains its dry and no leaks. Sealed the top antenna fin with 3m weatherstrip super sealant AC drain tube is spewing water, and its dry under the passenger side carpet up into, under the dash.. Ive pulled the rear and passenger front carpet up, I leave them up to air out and for random investigating. As of now, 3 zones are dry and clear except under the pass rear carpet which continues to get sopping wet if I lay the carpet back down. I pulled it up one day last week and it was back sopping wet underneath. Its clear, clean water, not rain or antifreeze. No mildew or mold in the pad either, The only occasional smell is like old socks, but no mold or mildew smells yet. My idea now is that its condensation, or a leak from a door strip.. but how can condensation get so sopping wet is beyond me while all the other zones under carpet are dry and clear. This carpet must not be breathable either as once that padding gets wet it either never, or takes forever to dry out even when propped up. You have to vacuum that water out of the pad. Anything else I can check? If it is condensation, has anyone installed a heat shield underneath, or laid down some sound deadening/heat shielding matting? I have some of that amazon siless sound deadening I can put down, but that stuff is gooey sticky so once its down, it'll be a nightmare to remove. Could installing some vent drain plug in the metal floorboard help? Maybe put holes in the carpet for it to air out?? Getting frustrated here. No rust YET. Thanks for any advice.

I racked my brain all night googling, searching forums, reading youtube comments, and amazon reviews trying to find what should be an obvious answer... After a complete fluid flush (mobil 1 blue label), filter change, with STL010 mod, how in the heck are we supposed to read the dipstick now? Maybe this answer is in the instruction sheet ive lost, but i found it weird this morning i checked the dipstick cold and the fluid is waayyy waaayy past full.. I was like, did i overfill? Ran the truck till 140-160 temp, checked it again and fluid level dropped down to above cold.. so i added more until it reached hot mark. I'm confused on the "read fluid level immediately" sell points, if thats the case i mustve overfilled the trans if when cold the fluid is waaay up the dipstick. Someone please please clear this up for me, this is silly. If i overfilled it, i can tube it and suction it out easily.. I just dont wanna run the trans dry or overfill during this testing phase.