Air Conditioning only cools for about 10 minutes upon starting

Tiny
GBORDEN
  • MEMBER
  • 1999 GMC JIMMY
  • 70,000 MILES
1999 GMC Jimmy LT V6 4.3L Vortec with 70,000 Miles 2 door 2WD. A/C works fine for about 10 minutes or so, then starts blowing ambient temperature air. If I turn it off and let it set for awhile (ie. 1 hour) and start up it, it will blow cold air again for about 10 minutes then starts blowing ambient temp air again. This happens every time I drive it. I have to add 1-2 cans of coolant every summer, but this problem only started a couple months ago. Is there some type of thermostat somewhere that is going bad? Thanks.
Thursday, August 30th, 2012 AT 8:10 PM

3 Replies

Tiny
SATURNTECH9
  • MECHANIC
  • 30,870 POSTS
Will it start blowing cold while driving again?
Was this
answer
helpful?
Yes
No
Thursday, August 30th, 2012 AT 8:15 PM
Tiny
GBORDEN
  • MEMBER
  • 2 POSTS
Yes, as I mentioned originally, I can let it set for a bit, then start driving again and it will blow cold for about 10 minutes, then will gradually over a few seconds just blow ambient temperature air. The blower continues to work fine. About the shortest period I've tried to let it set turned off before driving again is about 1 1/2 hours and it did the same thing after about 10 minutes.
Was this
answer
helpful?
Yes
No
Thursday, August 30th, 2012 AT 8:41 PM
Tiny
SATURNTECH9
  • MECHANIC
  • 30,870 POSTS
Sounds like the engine is getting too warm causing the pressures to become to high and cycle the compressor off.
Was this
answer
helpful?
Yes
No
Thursday, August 30th, 2012 AT 8:44 PM

Please login or register to post a reply.

Sponsored links