Only Driver side vents blowing hot? AC problem

[AvrgJoe]

Condensation forms when the cold air creates moisture in the actuator motors. Instead of turning off the car on a hot day with the A/C on, turn off the A/C and blow air thru the system to let the condensate evaporate. Learned this lesson on my wife’s H2, had to replace all 4 actuators. And Yes, I had to pull the dash apart.

[EJSS]

Just to give a conclusion to this for anyone who looks at it in the future, the problem was NOT the blend door. As unlikely as it seemed given my strange symptoms, my problem turned out to be that the system was leaking and I had very low refrigerant. Both of the service ports (high and low side) were leaking. Simply replaced the Schrader valve on the low side and the weird gm valve in the high side and filled the system back up according to the repair manual levels and it's been running perfect ever since.

The take away here for me was that even though I had symptoms that pointed toward other problems, such as my passenger side vents blowing somewhat cool while the driver side vents were blowing hot, and a weird whistling sound coming from the vents, and the fact that the ac compressor even stopped engaging after a while, it was a simple leak at the service vavles that caused all of this. Once I filled the system up, everything went back to normal.

[Orange2010SS]

Originally Posted by EJSS

Just to give a conclusion to this for anyone who looks at it in the future, the problem was NOT the blend door. As unlikely as it seemed given my strange symptoms, my problem turned out to be that the system was leaking and I had very low refrigerant. Both of the service ports (high and low side) were leaking. Simply replaced the Schrader valve on the low side and the weird gm valve in the high side and filled the system back up according to the repair manual levels and it's been running perfect ever since.

The take away here for me was that even though I had symptoms that pointed toward other problems, such as my passenger side vents blowing somewhat cool while the driver side vents were blowing hot, and a weird whistling sound coming from the vents, and the fact that the ac compressor even stopped engaging after a while, it was a simple leak at the service vavles that caused all of this. Once I filled the system up, everything went back to normal.

Thanks for sharing your experience. I had the exact same symptoms. I checked my blend door and it was functioning properly. Added 134a until what I can assume was my compressor kicking on and then everything got ice cold again on both driver and passenger sides. My 2010 only has 17k miles on it so I was skeptical it was the blend door, but I have the part just in case down the road

[NOT A 45]

Originally Posted by EJSS

Just to give a conclusion to this for anyone who looks at it in the future, the problem was NOT the blend door. As unlikely as it seemed given my strange symptoms, my problem turned out to be that the system was leaking and I had very low refrigerant. Both of the service ports (high and low side) were leaking. Simply replaced the Schrader valve on the low side and the weird gm valve in the high side and filled the system back up according to the repair manual levels and it's been running perfect ever since.

The take away here for me was that even though I had symptoms that pointed toward other problems, such as my passenger side vents blowing somewhat cool while the driver side vents were blowing hot, and a weird whistling sound coming from the vents, and the fact that the ac compressor even stopped engaging after a while, it was a simple leak at the service vavles that caused all of this. Once I filled the system up, everything went back to normal.

I'm sorry I didn't see this when you first posted. Your symptoms other than noises were text book low refrigerant symptoms. Yet, you can't post a HVAC problem here and not get 20 or so responses telling you the blend door is broken and all the back yard hacks to resolve it. It's apparent none of them have actually had the ac box apart to know how it works. And the reason your passenger side was cool and drivers warm? With the refrigerant being low only about half your evaporator was getting cold....the passenger side half where the refrigerant enters. Also the rest of the air flow has to travel across the rest of the already hot dash to reach the left side...further warming it.

[ZED SLED]

Originally Posted by NOT A 45

I'm sorry I didn't see this when you first posted. Your symptoms other than noises were text book low refrigerant symptoms. Yet, you can't post a HVAC problem here and not get 20 or so responses telling you the blend door is broken and all the back yard hacks to resolve it. It's apparent none of them have actually had the ac box apart to know how it works. And the reason your passenger side was cool and drivers warm? With the refrigerant being low only about half your evaporator was getting cold....the passenger side half where the refrigerant enters. Also the rest of the air flow has to travel across the rest of the already hot dash to reach the left side...further warming it.

Well, in your defense, he first posted this in Aug a year ago, 4 months before you joined. But thanks for the good info you put on here.

[NOT A 45]

Originally Posted by ZED SLED

Well, in your defense, he first posted this in Aug a year ago, 4 months before you joined. But thanks for the good info you put on here.

Thanks Zed...what makes this forum useful is experiences of lots of people. What rattles my cage is when people chime in and say "oh, you need this" when what they should be saying is "my car did something similar and I found this". That's helpful. I don't have a crystal ball and never tell anyone this is for sure what the problem is without having the car in front of me....and even then I occasionally mis diagnose things. This guy could have been led to hack up his hvac box only to find the door fine, or worse yet taken it to a repair shop and had the door replaced and they would have charged the a/c afterwards and never said a word. $2000 later he would have left thinking "thank god for the Camaro 5 forum....the blend door fixed my problem"!

[Orange2010SS]

While it was a bit of a pain to get to the blend door, at least I'm glad I was able to manually test it before cutting anything open. Thanks for all the advice here!

[gtstorey]

Originally Posted by NOT A 45

Thanks Zed...what makes this forum useful is experiences of lots of people. What rattles my cage is when people chime in and say "oh, you need this" when what they should be saying is "my car did something similar and I found this". That's helpful. I don't have a crystal ball and never tell anyone this is for sure what the problem is without having the car in front of me....and even then I occasionally mis diagnose things. This guy could have been led to hack up his hvac box only to find the door fine, or worse yet taken it to a repair shop and had the door replaced and they would have charged the a/c afterwards and never said a word. $2000 later he would have left thinking "thank god for the Camaro 5 forum....the blend door fixed my problem"!

To be completely frank though, most people don't want to know how to diagnose the problem, they want a fix based upon a very limited list of symptoms. I run in to this often on the kit car forum I frequent. I try and step people through how to determine what is wrong, but they typically will spend more time following the " mine did that, and I did this to fix it" suggestions, even though the problem may be very generic. Just the nature of the internet I guess. And don't get me started on the people who can't do anything without seeing a youtube video first.

[NOT A 45]

Originally Posted by gtstorey

To be completely frank though, most people don't want to know how to diagnose the problem, they want a fix based upon a very limited list of symptoms. I run in to this often on the kit car forum I frequent. I try and step people through how to determine what is wrong, but they typically will spend more time following the " mine did that, and I did this to fix it" suggestions, even though the problem may be very generic. Just the nature of the internet I guess. And don't get me started on the people who can't do anything without seeing a youtube video first.

LOL yep, some people you can help, some you can't. Used to have a guy in our shop, he'd come ask me for advice........he'd leave me and head straight over to another guy across the shop with the same question. SMH...looking for an easier suggestion no doubt

[xstuntman]

So I'm not supposed to go to YouBoob and watch videos?
Guess I will just go with my fallback and hit everything with a hammer or WD-40.


Seriously, the newer guys working the city vehicle maintenance shop watch YouBoob videos all the time. Apparently anyone can watch a training video and become a mechanic by way of certs nowadays.

[NOT A 45]

Originally Posted by xstuntman

So I'm not supposed to go to YouBoob and watch videos?
Guess I will just go with my fallback and hit everything with a hammer or WD-40.


Seriously, the newer guys working the city vehicle maintenance shop watch YouBoob videos all the time. Apparently anyone can watch a training video and become a mechanic by way of certs nowadays.

Spicoli with his brothers awesome set of tools could get hired at my shop....it's ridiculous! God help everyone when us old farts decide to hang up the wrenches

[2012B]

Originally Posted by redcoats1976

yup.since i live in florida i just unplugged the solenoid when it was in the cool position with the car running and left it.im thinking if i needed heat id wait until fall and plug it in,turn to the warm side and unplug it again,but for 3 days i could probably do without the heater.

This actually sounds like a great idea if it helps extend the life of the blend door.

Do you mind if I ask where the blend dooe solenoid is located? Any pictures? I'll start doing this as well if it helps.

[InFiD3ViL]

These service ports are supposed to be replaced anytime the AC is serviced. Both the low and high side ports.

High side is more prone to issues due to the plastic check ball design. I have a halogen gas leak detector I bought recently and it picks up a leak on both ports. I bought a Dorman replacement for the high side as it uses a true Schrader valve as was highly recommended. Also bought the GM/Delco low side valve. Just haven't gotten them in yet.

[Joe.G]

Would unplugging the solenoid help? I am assuming that it would not cycle then? Blend doors break but in this particular set up it is a pain to fix it right.