Air Conditioning...?

[AmsterDutch]

Over the 4th Holiday my wife and I took a vacation to the North Shore and with 216,000 miles on the 06’ LS its a no brainer to pile on more so we decided to drive it up...I tuned it up with new plugs even though there wasn’t any misfires ...with 212,000 when I bought the car I was curious to see what the plugs looked like ...to my surprise When pulling out the existing MotorCraft plugs they looked beautiful ...a little brownish around the bottoms but the igniters were still great looking ...almost tempted to throw them back in lol The LS drove flawless the entire trip even sitting in stop and go traffic because of some unavoidable construction with the AC on the whole way the LS drove like it just came off the Showroom floor...it’s amazing now that I owned a few of these cars how one can be a nightmare from Hell and the other one that was kept up from a guy with knowledge can be a dream come true ....but now to the point ....I noticed when I would switch from regular fan to AC when it was midday and hot there was a slight hiss I could here ..,just wondering if that is something to be concerned with or if it’s normal ...noticed it doesn’t happen all the time just when the car was running for a long time and really hot out ...I’m far from. Air Conditioning expert ...any thoughts are much appreciated...Cheers!

 

[joegr]

That noise is from the thermal expansion valve. Normally, it shouldn't be able to hear anything from it. Usually when you do, it is a sign that your refrigerant level is low. If nothing has been done to the AC system (or any refrigerant added) in the last several years it could just be normal out-gassing through the hoses. If it has been filled in the last five years, then you may have a leak. The most common leaks are the scroll control valve o-ring and the service port valves.

Please don't buy one of those cans with the color coded gauge and leak-stop and other junk in it. Fill it properly with just oil and R-134a. Everything that isn't pure R-134a just reduces cooling capacity.

PS: I've never turned my AC off. It's really hard to understand why anyone ever would.

 

[Jtown]

PS: I've never turned my AC off. It's really hard to understand why anyone ever would.[/QUOTE]

Funny...I hardly ever run my AC. Mostly fear breaking it in my s-class and this LS. The dog and I love the windows down in my Ram. Read what a nightmare and expense to repair these ridicules two zone modern AC systems are.

 

[joegr]

It was 102 (actual, not heat index, that was much higher) this weekend. I set the climate control to 72 year round. Sometimes I might bump it up or down a few degrees, but that's it. We do sometimes ride at low speeds with the windows down for the dogs, but the AC stays on.

 

[AmsterDutch]

That noise is from the thermal expansion valve. Normally, it shouldn't be able to hear anything from it. Usually when you do, it is a sign that your refrigerant level is low. If nothing has been done to the AC system (or any refrigerant added) in the last several years it could just be normal out-gassing through the hoses. If it has been filled in the last five years, then you may have a leak. The most common leaks are the scroll control valve o-ring and the service port valves.

Please don't buy one of those cans with the color coded gauge and leak-stop and other junk in it. Fill it properly with just oil and R-134a. Everything that isn't pure R-134a just reduces cooling capacity.

PS: I've never turned my AC off. It's really hard to understand why anyone ever would.

Thanks for the reply Joe!
Yes after reading ( What seems like a Hundred Posts ) about the AC in the LS I will have it Serviced professionally at a trusted Shop ...Thanks

 

[Broseph]

It was 102 (actual, not heat index, that was much higher) this weekend. I set the climate control to 72 year round. Sometimes I might bump it up or down a few degrees, but that's it. We do sometimes ride at low speeds with the windows down for the dogs, but the AC stays on.

This is completely speculation and not driven by hard data, but I feel that having the A/C run year round, even with the heat turned up to say 76 78 keeps the system lubricated, improving the life of the components.

It always seems I had issues with A/C on cars when it was turned off for 6,7, 8 months straight and then turn it on in summer and suddenly there's low refrigerant or some other problem.

 

[FDR]

Yes, you need to run it at least once a month. However, most modern cars (including my 97 Taurus) run the ac automatically with the heat. The cooling evaporator sucks the moisture out of the air by way of condensation, drying the air. Blowing warm, moist air would never clear the windows of interior condensation in the winter in some conditions. I think my LS turns it on by default

 

[myfirstls]

Not to hijack the post, but since we're on AC topic, anybody want to move where I live? You WILL appreciate the very word Air Condition.

We need it all year around. And no, I still haven't replace my other stuff. AC haven't fail yet! I said yet............

Winter? Snow? Cold? What's that??

 

[AmsterDutch]

Update: Been driving the car in 89-97 degree heat with high humidity the last week and the AC is running Ice Cold and flawless ...I haven't turned it off ...keeping it at a steady 70 degrees like Joegr said and I haven't heard the hissing that I heard a couple times while on Vacation ...I'm thinking of holding off another month and seeing what happens before I get the AC checked out by my shop ...I'll keep you all posted...I drove it 170 miles yesterday non-stop with the AC on the whole time and it ran perfect the whole way ...I dropped it down to 68 degrees at on point and actually had to bump it back up to 71 degrees because she is so cold

 

[1LoudLS]

Honestly, I've forgotten my LS even has climate control... years ago I set it to 74* on auto and turned the seats to sync with the climate control and have never touched it since. even when the cars AC quit working, I left it set to the same so the seats come on and give me some cooling.