Air Conditioner Troubles

OUMike · October 31, 2003

Hey Fellas,

Few months back I posted regarding a small drip of water under my passenger side floorboard. This was causing water to soak the padding under my carpet and stain the underside of the carpet. I'd got a few other opinons and decided that it wasn't a big enough problem to worry about.

Well as of this morning my truck does not blow cold air. The AC will blow but only hot air. I stoped by a small shop by where I live and talked to the guy about it. He said that the the heater core had most likely gone (especially since the Radiator had just gone). He then found out that the heater core is part of the AC system on these trucks making it rather expensive to fix. He said according to "his books" it could take from 2 to 5 hours labor + $70-$80 for the part. His final price was anywhere from $250-$400.

Is this guy full of crap or what? Has anyone else exprience similar events that led to AC troubles? ANY help would be appriciated. I'd like to get this back up and running as soon as I can.

asepgrad98 · October 31, 2003

dont let this guy work on your truck! the heater core has nothin to do with the AC. There are 2 seperate cores, one for heat one for AC. First thing he should have done is checked the pressures of the AC system.

99-2door · October 31, 2003

dont let this guy work on your truck! the heater core has nothin to do with the AC. There are 2 seperate cores, one for heat one for AC. First thing he should have done is checked the pressures of the AC system.

If that guy actaully thinks the heater and ac core could be the same thing, he obviously has no experience with AC systems.

His time estimates don't seem too bad off, but I don't see how he has been in business without working on enough 88-98 Chevy trucks to know about the system at least a little bit. Seems strange.

OUMike · October 31, 2003

okay fellas...so what do I really have here?

OUMike · October 31, 2003

UPDATE - So I start my truck this morning and to my surprise COLD AIR! The air is COOL not so much cold. Its still not blowing as hard as it is supposed to, and not nearly as cold. So the problems still exist, but this is definatly an interesting variable.

asepgrad98 · October 31, 2003

most likely you have a small refridgerent leak, it can be a DIY fix if you have some gauges and some training/instructions.

99-2door · November 1, 2003

If sometimes you have cold air and sometimes you don't it is likely the presuure switch on the dryer. Not so much the switch but the wires on the plug that connects to it. The electrical connector gets a short in it a lot of times and the AC compressor will not turn on like it is supposed to. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't work at all. With your truck running and the AC on wiggle the wires at the switch and see if it makes the compressor turn off and on. If it does you will need to go to the salvage yard and get a pug off a truck and replace yours. I can't even begin to count how many of these trucks I have replaced that end on. The 96-98s seem more suseptible to it than the 88-94s, but I have seen them do it too.

May not be your problem, but it does occur frequently and is a low/no cost fix. Usually one of the first things I check on 88-98s.

Cop_Dodger · November 1, 2003

My guess is something to do with the evaporator core. This part gets cold and condensation forms on it. The AC ducting does have a drain on it but they can get clogged with crud. This could also cause your problem with it dripping into the cab of the truck and cause cooling problems and reduce the force of air coming out of the vents. Look under the hood towards the bottom right (passenger) side of the firewall. There should be some kind of rubber tube coming out. Blow some compressed air into it to make sure it's not clogged.