A/C fails after a few minutes

PROBE111

MEMBER
2010 FORD ESCAPE
2.5L
4 CYL
2WD
AUTOMATIC
80,000 MILES

My AC is now acting up at a time when it is very nice to have during our summer heat wave. I have checked fuses and all are fine.
When I turn on the car after it was not used for a while, I will get cold air flow for a few minutes, then the air turns warmer. The control unit of the ventilation works normally as if all is fine (LED of the A/C is lit and same if I add the Max A/C, the LED turns on but not cool air).
Same result at every level of the fan speed control.

When the cool air stops flowing, the clutch disengages.
I have trigger the clutch externally with 12 volt jumper and it works. The power simply stops to reach the clutch at some point.

A few days, after first realizing that I have an A/C issue, my car displayed the Service Engine light indicator. Code P0112 was displayed with an OBD2 scanner. Until now, I do not believe that the combined EIT and MAF sensor (with 6 wires) fault code has anything to do with the AC. I could be wrong though.

Any suggestion for the A/C?

1 Reply

JACOBANDNICKOLAS

MECHANIC
108,310 POSTS

Hi,

Was the A/C cooling properly prior to this happening? Low Freon can cause it to stop. Also, there is a relay that powers the compressor. I attached two pics below for you to see. The first is from the wiring schematic and the second shows the relay's location. It's in the under hood fuse box.

Note: I will need to know if this has automatic climate control or manual.

Check the relay to see if that is causing a problem. If there is another one with the same part number, you can switch them. If not, here is a link that explains how to test a relay:

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/how-to-check-an-electrical-relay-and-wiring-control-circuit

Try this and let me know what you find.

Joe

Images (Click to make bigger)