Noisy Air Conditioner (or Outside Fan)

[jbirdzee]

@strmwzrd Did you get any resolution on your AC issue? You mentioned in a previous post the TXV didn't help, but your technician's writeup seems to suggest that it was needed.

Just had a couple days of 90F+ here in upstate NY and something is just not right with the AC in my lightning. I've also noticed that my AC compressor is much louder than it was last summer. I drove for a couple of hours yesterday with my wife and kids and had the HVAC set to Max AC, and we just had warm air the entire time. It was particularly uncomfortable, and even putting the windows down for the classic 4-60 air was of little relief.

I think my notable compressor noise these days is from it being commanded to run at max speed -any- time the AC is engaged, versus throttling back after the cabin temp setting is satisfied. My guess is the HVAC module ends up calling for wide open compressor speed as a result of a different fault that has reduced the cooling capacity (i.e., short on refrigerant, maybe the TXV, or a restriction).

I'd like to make an appointment at my dealer, but would like to be armed with information on what solved yours. If my appointment day is only 70F outside, they're going to send me home without reproducing the issue.

Sponsored

 

[strmwzrd]

@strmwzrd Did you get any resolution on your AC issue? You mentioned in a previous post the TXV didn't help, but your technician's writeup seems to suggest that it was needed.

Just had a couple days of 90F+ here in upstate NY and something is just not right with the AC in my lightning. I've also noticed that my AC compressor is much louder than it was last summer. I drove for a couple of hours yesterday with my wife and kids and had the HVAC set to Max AC, and we just had warm air the entire time. It was particularly uncomfortable, and even putting the windows down for the classic 4-60 air was of little relief.

I think my notable compressor noise these days is from it being commanded to run at max speed -any- time the AC is engaged, versus throttling back after the cabin temp setting is satisfied. My guess is the HVAC module ends up calling for wide open compressor speed as a result of a different fault that has reduced the cooling capacity (i.e., short on refrigerant, maybe the TXV, or a restriction).

I'd like to make an appointment at my dealer, but would like to be armed with information on what solved yours. If my appointment day is only 70F outside, they're going to send me home without reproducing the issue.

I can't pick my truck up before Thursday. The technician writeup implies the TXV was the issue. Initially he (or Ford tech) went down another route.

 

[strmwzrd]

I can't pick my truck up before Thursday. The technician writeup implies the TXV was the issue. Initially he (or Ford tech) went down another route.

I got the truck back and the air is now cold again. TXV appears to have fixed my cooling issue.

 

[jbirdzee]

That is good to hear. Did you happen to notice any difference in how loud the AC compressor is now?

 

[strmwzrd]

That is good to hear. Did you happen to notice any difference in how loud the AC compressor is now?

No change in the exterior noise.

 

[kubel]

It's comically loud. Just wait for winter:

 

[strmwzrd]

It's comically loud. Just wait for winter:

Oh yes! Very comical for sure. I think the heat pump is louder than my A/C. Oh no!

 

[strmwzrd]

Oh yes! Very comical for sure. I think the heat pump is louder than my A/C. Oh no!

Well, maybe not...

 

[Bandit216]

I had the same problem. I changed the interior air filter and filled the coolant reservoir near to the max level and it does seem the loud fan noise has decreased quite a bit.

 

[strmwzrd]

I had the same problem. I changed the interior air filter and filled the coolant reservoir near to the max level and it does seem the loud fan noise has decreased quite a bit.

The cabin filter has about 10 miles on it. I'll check the coolant.

 

[jbirdzee]

I thought I would post an update on my air conditioning issue. We have a refrigeration and HVAC person in our family - he put a set of gauges on my truck and found that the low pressure was immediately dropping into a vacuum once the AC was turned on - far below what the PT curves suggest that 1234YF should have been at. That could be that it was low on charge, but also maybe a TXV stuck closed or partially restricted.

I had the dealer look at it this past Friday. They said it was low on refrigerant, but they couldn't find the leak. They put dye in, recharged it, and scheduled me to come back next week so they can look around with the UV light.

It's been suggested elsewhere that a low charge or low coolant can cause the loud AC compressor. In my case, the compressor was noisy because it was getting commanded to run at full speed regardless of what the cabin temp was set to. Now that I have the recharge, it is not doing that at all. The compressor runs at a much lower speed (and is therefore much quieter) unless I hit the max a/c button.

I should note that I have Max tow, so the impact of coolant (antifreeze) levels for the battery side of things should not impact the HVAC system for the cabin.

Hopefully the dye will show up somewhere over the next week of driving around, and not on the evaporator itself; that would be an intrusive fix.

It's nice having the AC again even if only for a short while. With a 90F day yesterday I found Max A/C to be too cold and had to back it off. I hope the leak is slow enough that it works throughout another hot week on tap.

Sponsored