Is your A/C just cool but not COLD?

hirdlej · May 24, 2016

Hi guys, I have a 2015 Silverado W/T that has less than 2000 miles on it. I do a lot of short trips 10-20 miles at a time and the A/C has never been what I call COLD. But rather it's just cool and never gets cold enough that it's uncomfortable. My old 2004 Silverado is another story. That truck can blow some seriously cold air!

Today I did some testing. I had a 15 mile drive home from work and I brought along my old trusty thermometer. It was 79 degrees and humid out so I decided to use the air. All the colder I could the vents was around 48-49 degrees. This was mixed driving with both highway (55mph) and idling in traffic.

What are you guys seeing for temperature in your trucks coming out of the vents? Is this temperature normal now for these new trucks? Do you think mine might be a hair low on refrigerant?

If this is normal, I guess I can accept it. I was just hoping it would be about 10-12 degrees colder to be like my 2004 Silverado.

Any information, thoughts or observations would be greatly appreciated.

For the record, this afternoon I took my wife's 2008 impala out in the same weather and I was pulling temps around 42 degrees with the same thermometer placed in the center vent.

SouthernSilveradoGuy85 · May 24, 2016

It's cold enough for me. But, you do have to realize that being an "auto" system it won't be as cold as a system that doesn't have the auto feature. I honestly can't feel a 6° difference in A/C temp. I normally keep mine on auto so it rarely goes full blast. But, when I have had it on HI or LO it's been really hot and really cold with the fan also all the way up. The only time it's not on auto is if I'm defrosting or if it's really hot in the truck so I put the A/C on full blast to push the hot air out with the windows down and then turn it off.

hirdlej · May 24, 2016

My truck is just the Work Truck trim level so it has the manual controls. There's nothing "auto" in this truck other than the transmission lol ;)

MMC · May 24, 2016

You should get about 20 degrees delta T of cooling.

Dunc · May 24, 2016

Do you think mine might be a hair low on refrigerant?

I have a '15 Sierra and have suspected this since I bought the truck last year. It's never seemed to blow cold enough to me even on max. I'll likely have a friend empty and refill mine before this summer just to be sure it's at the right level and then compare. I'm pretty sure there is a lot of room for improvement in the a/c system.

SouthernSilveradoGuy85 · May 24, 2016

My truck is just the Work Truck trim level so it has the manual controls. There's nothing "auto" in this truck other than the transmission lol ;)

My mistake, didn't see that it was the WT lol.

I know someone else complained about the A/C not being as cold in these trucks as their old car, but he's has the auto feature and some people said it's because of the auto feature is why it's not as cold because of how the system is. Honestly, I don't think it's a huge deal, even in the hot humid summer days. But, I'm also used to driving with my windows down so I only run the HVAC when it's cold and raining when it's warm. So I guess with what I'm used to, as long as it's cold I'm happy. I'm not worried about wanting it to be 5° colder.

newdude · May 24, 2016

Do you run recirculation mode? Turning that on after a minute or two when the AC blows cold while on fresh air will take the cool air coming out of the vents and further cool it to lower the temps coming out of the vents. I've never temp'd my HD regular cab yet (non auto HVAC) but its cold.

hirdlej · May 24, 2016

I have a '15 Sierra and have suspected this since I bought the truck last year. It's never seemed to blow cold enough to me even on max. I'll likely have a friend empty and refill mine before this summer just to be sure it's at the right level and then compare. I'm pretty sure there is a lot of room for improvement in the a/c system.

Please keep us updated.

hirdlej · May 25, 2016

Well, I think I may need a visit to the shop sometime in the next couple weeks. My drive home today was in 84 degree temperature and I was driving in city traffic varying between stopped and up to 45 mph. My drive was 31 minutes long (I get off work at 4pm). The coldest I could get the A/C down to was 49 degrees. This is my trusty and verified thermometer. I wonder if it just wasn't charged up enough on Freon from the factory or what........ Does anyone else have vent temp results?

Nathan79 · May 25, 2016

Wasn't there some past issues with leaking AC lines?

15 Z71 · May 25, 2016

I was thinking same thing. I have a 15 Sierra and it don't seem real cold either. Going to have it checked next oil change. Coming from an 06 Silverado,the A/C would freeze you out of it. It was super cold.

Meangreen62 · May 25, 2016

I have a 2014 Silverado a/c does not get cold,also it makes a popping sound blower motor goes from being on high to low.after it makes popping noise it creates a vacuum in cab and pops ears and door won't shut all the way.also radio pops and create's a vacuum in regular cab also. This happening to anyone else.

hirdlej · May 26, 2016

I have an appointment set for next Tuesday to have my local garage take a look at it. I'll fill you in with their findings.

hirdlej · May 31, 2016

Well, for those interested, I went into the shop this morning to have my A/C checked out. After my tech checked everything out, he thought the A/C output was lame as well. He evacuated the entire system, then refilled it. Same output as before (right at 49 degrees). He then went on the GM tech website and got the specs for my truck (see pictures below). Apparently these are designed to run at only 50 degrees output or thereabouts. We theorized if it was a capacity issue (these trucks only hold 1.7lbs of refrigerant) or if it was simply the fact that the e-fans don't spin up enough to exchange the heat properly. Either way, both my tech and the service writer encouraged that myself and anyone else who thinks this isn't cold enough to write GM customer care and perhaps they'll update the calibration for these systems. At any rate, save yourself the trip for now if your Air Conditioning is right at 49 or 50 degrees. That's all it's capable of doing.

Dale_K · May 31, 2016

My reading comprehension isn't wonderful but the way I read the manual, it's saying the maximum temp is 50+-. My interpretation is that a temperature above that requires service, but it's not saying that 50 is the coldest the unit can deliver.