Strange AC behavior and RPM flux

[DawnVic M]

Yesterday I noticed the AC acting strangely and am wondering if someone can take a stab at what might be going wrong. You know how when you turn on the AC after a couple of seconds it kicks in and makes a click noise. Well, mine would click repeatedly every 10 seconds or so and then I would feel the RPM take a dive. If I was at a stop it would almost stall out. This morning I was playing with it and noticed that it only seemed to do this while in drive. Once I put it into park it stopped doing it. It did seem to blow cold the entire time. I've only had a couple of opportunities to experiment with it so far, and will see if it's repeatable or if it goes away (hoping for the latter!).

 

[Dre L]

Clean the IAC. Do a search.



Buy a gauge for the A/C and check the fill.



Adjust the Idle Speed, do a search.

 

[Kevin Palmer]

As noted above, your IAC probably does need to be cleaned as it is a common issue with the Trac.



My guess is, that your AC charge is low and the compressor is cycling on and off as a result of the low pressure. You notice it more in drive as there is a load on the engine from being in gear. In park, no load so the Idle drop is not as critical to how the engine is running.....

 

[Dennis Mouser]

charging the AC fixed my cycling issue, installing the Xcal fixed the RPM issue for me

 

[Tom Higbee]

Do the idle speed adjustment in Projects.

 

[DawnVic M]

Thanks for the info folks. Ford replaced the IAC twice during the warranty period, last time was August 2005. We drive only in the urban areas, could it get dirty that fast? Otherwise I think I might try the idle adjustments, I've never been happy with it and taking it to Ford never resolved anything. And with 100+ temps forecast for the weekend, I better get that AC charged up quick!

 

[TRACket Paul]

To which dealer(s) have you been? Harrold Ford has been pretty good for me, so far. Even though I got it from Future Ford.

 

[Dre L]

Yes. It gets dirty. I'm in NYC and only drive it on the weekends, and the bugger gets dirty.



I haven't had a chance to do it in a while, and on really humid days, the Trac is real buggy.

 

[Jeff Harwanko]

I've had exactly the same problem. I cleaned the IAC, and adjusted the idle RPM. If the engine idle rpm is too low the condensor will not stay on, and will cycle on and off. If you adjust the idle speed up a little bit, it should fix the problem. This would explain why it occurs in drive but not in park (engine idle speed is higher in park). Check the "projects" section of the site. I believe that there is a how to for this.



Good Luck.

 

[DawnVic M]

Since we don't have a tachometer, and I am totally idle-adjusting challenged, I'll take it in for service armed with the info from the project page.



TRACket Paul, Downtown Ford is where we purchased the TRACita and they've done all the warranty service too. I've heard good things about Harrold, but it's not as convenient. Now that she's off warranty I'll probably take her for routine maintance to the AAA care care place since they offer members a 24 month warranty on their work.