A/C issues...............cold air blows from drain pipe

[earthrealm]

bought my truc used in sept 2012 bt 116k miles, noticed immeditaely that the aa/c wasnt upto par with my 03 rav4, normlly use the lowest fan setting on the rav n the air is ice cold, the 4r isnt so cold n i use the level aafter lowest


faast forwrd to late 2013, a/c blows cold air only from passenger side, nd aafter few weeks, both driver n paassenger side blow hot air, checked the forum n freon refill was recommended, did tht n the a/c came backk to life cold air from both sides!!!...................though i still felt the passenger side was slightly colder/stronger


last month while on a 250 mile trip, observed thaat even at high fan setting, the airflow waas poor n not cold, but this later improved aaafter an hour...

now last wk its back to cold air only on passenger side, hot air on drivers side
research on the site saaays its either low freon - caaused by leak in the system (saw bubbles in the sight glss with the a/c n fan on highest setting) or b] blend door fault
the techs in my neck of woods are not so good, so wouldnt want them doing trial n error on my truck.....so did more poking around aaand observed that cold air aalong with water comes out from my drain tube..i dont thinkk its normal.........also the 2 a/c pipes in the pic aare cold to touch..n no shielding [i think it shud hv some lagging/sheilding]

 

[earthrealm]

see pics

 

[earthrealm]

update: issue has been resolved partially, topped up with freon n both sides are chilling now. low side pressure was abat 18 before.........after the refill, its now abt 35 n no more bubbles in the sight glass.........nybody kknows the exact pressure it shud be?

will hv the techie check for leaks next time it happens n will most likely hv the dash dismaaaantled if the leakk is found there n the leak fixed

 

[Brutalguyracing]

where is this site glass?
did you refill it yourself? from one of those cans at the stores?

 

[earthrealm]

the sight glss in on the lower left if u r in front facing the car, near the high pressure line attached is pdf showing the locatio0n.


nope techie did it for me while i observed......its quite simple....will buy the refill cans with guage.....n probablly refill it myself next time...........not really looing forward to hving my dash torn apaart

 

[chitown40]

You possibly have a bad expansion valve. Is the a/c system freezing up after running for a while? Low or too high refrigerant can cause that but so can an faulty expansion valve.

 

[earthrealm]

not sure the a/c freezes up....what could be the possible signs of a/c freezing up?.where is the expansion valve located?.

 

[chitown40]

When freezes up you will get reduced flow. After you shut it down for a while the ice build-up will melt and you will get water dripping heavily out the drain pipe onto the ground, and in severe cases if the drain is plugged you'll get it on the passenger floor.

The expansion valve is under the passenger dash in the evaporator coil/core. There are more components in the system that can affect the system freezing up, and I am not an a/c tech by any means (disclaimer), but the expansion valve is a more frequently replaced part in the system and a faulty one can have similar symptoms as what you are seeing.

You may also have leaks, and it is important to fix those when you service the system. Often times it is just the replacement of o-rings. Toyota was nice enough to leave the sight glasses in their vehicles so it is easier to tell if you are low or too high on the refridgerant.

 

[BlackWorksInc]

There was a TSB a long time ago about the blower box/evap box getting frozen. The fix was putting a funky foam thing in the blower box and some FIPG.

Doesn't sound exactly like you're problem but probably wouldn't hurt to look it up.

 

[earthrealm]

ok, thnks pls post links to the tsb if u caaan

hv had reduced aairflow 2 or 3 times that i remember, the last one, i noticed the ir wasaant cold too n and fter aaa while 15mins,the air flow normlized n the air got cold, so there might b some truth in the valve issue fingers crossed, am observing my ac now like hawk

 

[BlackWorksInc]

View attachment T-AC002-07.pdf