Front air conditioning eventually stops blowing, sounds blocked?

Tiny
TREVORHOTH
  • MEMBER
  • 2011 CHEVROLET SUBURBAN
  • 5.3L
  • V8
  • 4WD
  • AUTOMATIC
  • 110,000 MILES
This is a weird problem. The blower motor is working fine but it seems to have something to do with the blend door for the front. It also seems to affect both the driver's side and passenger equally.

The situation: when we first turn on the car the A/C blows hard and cold. As the cabin cools down and the A/C is not needed as much it starts to slow down the blower motor. Eventually the air stops coming out of the vents, and we can hear a loud air blockage behind the dash. If we turn off the A/C button for a few minutes, then the air will start to flow out the vents again at which time we can turn the A/C button back on and get cold air again. Once the cabin reaches the desired temperature again then the cycle starts over (air stops coming out the vents, loud blockage sound behind dash). It sounds like the car is trying to mix cold A/C air with outside air to warm it up to get mild air something closes and blocks the air flow.

Again, the blower motor is blowing just fine. In fact, if we push the button to turn up the air flow the sound of the blockage gets louder. I believe this also happens in the winter but the other way around. Ideas? Thanks for your help!
Thursday, September 8th, 2022 AT 10:21 AM

7 Replies

Tiny
KEN L
  • MASTER CERTIFIED MECHANIC
  • 42,942 POSTS
So, what is happening is the evaporator core ices up and stops the air from flowing. This is because the system is a little low which causes the low side pressure to be too low which causes the ice. When you shut the system off it thaws out and starts working again.

Here is a video on how you can recharge the system yourself and fix the problem:

https://youtu.be/uZrQCGwXfek

Please go over this guide and report back.
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Friday, September 9th, 2022 AT 11:46 AM
Tiny
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Thanks for your reply. I live in Washington, and they restrict the sale of those rechargeable canisters. Annoying, I know. Does that mean I probably need to just take it in and have an auto shop recharge the system and check for leaks?
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Friday, September 9th, 2022 AT 3:30 PM
Tiny
KEN L
  • MASTER CERTIFIED MECHANIC
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Yep, that will work, let me know the results. Can you get the kit from Amazon?
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Saturday, September 10th, 2022 AT 2:28 PM
Tiny
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Nope, they won't ship to Washington either.
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Tuesday, September 13th, 2022 AT 2:50 PM
Tiny
KEN L
  • MASTER CERTIFIED MECHANIC
  • 42,942 POSTS
Bummer, you will need to have a shop that is licensed to do the work to add refrigerant. Let me know what happens please.
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Wednesday, September 14th, 2022 AT 11:29 AM
Tiny
TREVORHOTH
  • MEMBER
  • 4 POSTS
Turns out it wasn't a coolant issue. The issue is the temperature sensor on the evaporator core. It's reading really high for some reason. When the A/C is running it reads about 108 degrees. When it's not running it reads 130. The problem is they need to remove the whole dash to access it which will take 8 hours so it's going to be a $1,300.00 repair. :(
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Saturday, October 8th, 2022 AT 9:17 PM
Tiny
KEN L
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That is a rare problem, but it happens. Thanks for getting back to us so it will help others with the same problem.
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Monday, October 10th, 2022 AT 10:03 AM

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