Air Conditioner noise?

JLAR12

MEMBER
2017 JEEP GRAND CHEROKEE
3.6L
V6
AUTOMATIC
77,000 MILES

When the air conditioner is running, the car sounds like it is taking a "deep breath" every 15 seconds or so. Like it is being pressurized over and over again. The system stays cold and everything else seems to be working fine.

Thursday, August 3rd, 2023 AT 7:36 AM

11 Replies

KEN L

MASTER CERTIFIED MECHANIC
43,033 POSTS

Can you please shoot a quick video with your phone so I can hear the noise? That way I can tell for sure what's going on. You can upload it here with your response. Do you have any warning lights on?

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Thursday, August 3rd, 2023 AT 1:55 PM

JLAR12

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Thank you for your quick reply. See attached video. It happens around the beginning of the video and again near the end. This has been happening for about the last month on both extremely hot and cool days.
It’s also worth mentioning that this past weekend I was driving about an hour away (very hot out) and the fan speed dropped to 50% and I had the white mist out of the vents (still cold). Car never overheated however the coolant was low. Added coolant the next day and those issues went away but this sound stayed.

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Thursday, August 3rd, 2023 AT 2:24 PM

JLAR12

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Video

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Thursday, August 3rd, 2023 AT 2:43 PM

KEN L

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I didn't see the video, but the fact it loses air from the vents and white mist is telling us the system is low on refrigerant. The low side pressure is too low, and it causes the evaporator to ice up. Please go over this video to see how to charge the system.

https://youtu.be/4EqdrBVb0sY

This should fix the problem.

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Friday, August 4th, 2023 AT 10:59 AM

JLAR12

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Thank you very much. The low air flow and white mist only happened one time and once I added the coolant that went away. The attached video (should work this time) is currently the only issue. Which is the “deep breath” sound.

Video (Click to make bigger)

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Saturday, August 5th, 2023 AT 4:14 AM

KEN L

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Thanks for the video. It sounds like the expansion valve maybe cycling, I would like to install a set of A/C gauges to see if the high side pressure changes when this sound occurs. When you said I added coolant did you mean refrigerant? The system may be overfilled?

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Monday, August 7th, 2023 AT 9:30 AM

JLAR12

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No, I added antifreeze / coolant (50/50) it was very low. When it was added the other issues went away but not this issue. I really appreciate you looking into this.

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Monday, August 7th, 2023 AT 9:37 AM

KEN L

MASTER CERTIFIED MECHANIC
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No problem, I think the A/C system may be a little low on refrigerant but if you connect a gauge set, we can tell for sure. Please check out the video in the above post.

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Tuesday, August 8th, 2023 AT 10:00 AM

JLAR12