Dash Air Conditioning Issue

[Fred Brooks]

                  Gentlemen,

       I'm seeking some input concerning an on-going issue with my dash air conditioning. When I first bought the coach, the dash air would blow cold for about 10 minutes and then get warmer. My first thought was the heater control valve was not closing all the way and allowing warm coolant into the heater core and warming the evaporater compartment. I pinched off the heater hose temporarily and it did not help. I took the coach to WW Williams for their evaluation. They advised that the pressures in the system were not correct. The high side was near 300psi and the low side was below 10psi. They advised to change the dryer and expansion valve which I did. It did not help. Next they said it was the compressor so we changed that and that did not resolve the problem. Next thing they advised that there was a restriction in the system and that they had seen that the GoodYear Galaxy hoses were blistering inside the high pressure hose. To prove that, they cut the high pressure hose about 1 foot from the compressor and split the hose and guess what, the hose was blistered and chunks were missing. We removed the condenser and it was plugged with rubber blistered chunks of hose.
        I am not a chassis technician but in 43 years I have never heard of such a situation. I replaced both hoses front to rear and installed a new high performance serpintine condensor and all is well. Am I the only one to experience this? Just curious because there must be other coaches out there with Goodyear hoses that are 16 years old.  Fred Brooks

[Jerald Cate]

Fred,

Check and see if your condenser fan is coming on if it's not operating that will cause a high pressure indication.  There is a condenser fan relay in the electronics bay you can ground and it will probably run.  I have the same problem just don't know what's causing the relay to not energize.  I have an appointment to get it in and fixed at the end of the month.

Bruce

[LaMonte Monnell]

Must be time for dash a/c repairs. Mine has been inop for almost a year. Serviced last year as it was low on refrigerant. Stayed cool for about 3 weeks then back to very little cooling.

When I had the valve lash adjustment done at CAT in Brooksville, Fl I had them look at the lines. They found a loose fitting near the compressor, tightened and serviced. Cold again for a short time.

Now it is at CAT having some other small issues looked at and they found a compressor line hose leaking near the servicing port. They are going to replace and reroute about a five ft piece of hose and put a new servicing port in and see if that does the trick. Everything else seems to check out ok.

[Joel Ashley]

LaMonte, you should relay Fred's experience to them while it's in the shop.  Your coach is of the same era.

Joel

[LaMonte Monnell]

yep Joel, I am gonna give him the info on Monday so he's aware of this issue with the hoses.

[Fred Brooks]

               Hi Lamonte,

           Sorry to hear about your air conditioning. If you move forward with the repair he suggests, please ask him to show you the inside liner of the hose he is replacing.
           The reason I shared my adventure is that I don't fellow Beaver owners to pay for the learnig curve that the air conditioner technician is trying to diagnois. WW Williams wanted close to 6000.00 to fix my air conditioner and I thought that was over the top. I replaced the components myself and had them charge the system and cools just fine. The only other issue I have not figured out yet is why the foam covered door behind my brake pedal does not open (recirculating inside air) when I put the dash controls over to Max air. Could be a bad vacuum hose or servo going to the door. I have it temporarily proped open to seal off the outside ambient air from entering the coach.  Hope this helps, Fred

[LaMonte Monnell]

Thanks Fred for the info on that hose issue. I will definitely take a look at the inside of the removed hose and see if it is blistered. I have told them I am not going to put a bunch of money into it. If it is a huge issue I will go without as I have used the genset and roof airs for the past year with good results.

I had an older 1991 Ford Ranger that I replaced every part of an ac system to get it working, not going that route again. LOL!

[Fred Brooks]

            Hi Lamonte,

      I did the exact same thing as you running the gen and house air while I contemplated my options and financial resources.
            I am not an automotive air conditioner engineer but I wonder if you compress a vapor back into a liquid by compressing it one of the by- products has to be heat. The high pressure hose closest to the compressor is the recipient of the heat. My question is this: how far down the high side hose does the heat compromise the interior liner of that hose? I still have access to the original air conditioning hoses so I am going to remove the first 6 feet and open it up and see just how far the blistering went.     

The reason I moved forward on the repair was because my Wife advised me she needed to be cool in a "Cool Coach"
      I'll let you know what I discover, Regards, Fred

[Lee Welbanks]

Fred,

Must be using some cheap hose if the inner liner is blistering even at 350 psi the chart states the temp @ 172 F. Which isn't that hot, could be the freon is causing some of the damage to the hose. To bad they don't use SS convoluted hose of course that would cost a couple pennies more. Heck they should use SS tube all the way to the front of the coach. If I built a coach it would cost a couple million but might last forever.

[Edward Buker]

Fred,

When you mentioned the hose collapse and blistering it brought to mind many of the sealers that are added and available in the recharge R134A market now. This seems like a hose material issue, but I'm not sure if the degrade is all heat related, there may be incompatible chemistry and materials involved.

The other thought is with a repair most often you pull a vacuum on the system for an extended period, I was thinking perhaps that might help collapse and blister a weaken hose and possibly cause some interior delamination. Hard to know for sure, looking forward to knowing what you learn on this one Fred.

Later Ed

[LaMonte Monnell]

Well Fred, I did get with the mechanic at CAT. He said that they pulled the compressor hose off the compressor and to the servicing port end. This hose is blistered in this whole section of line(about 5 foot)after cutting into sections.......

he has checked the compressor out and made sure it is clean at the entrance. Going to replace this whole section of hose and a new servicing port and then put back together and leak check it.

Hopefully this will get some cold air from the dash a/c. I will update soon....

[Fred Brooks]

                   Lamonte,
      There are 2 hoses at the compressor, The larger (#10) is the suction side coming back from the dash board evaporator. The smaller (#8) hose is the output from the compressor. If it is blistered, hopefully the blister chunks of rubber have passed thru the condenser and are trapped in the reciever/dryer pryor to the expansion valve. Seeing you are spending your hard earned money, I would suggest that you advise your tech to change the reciever/ dryer. About $50.00 plus labor because the chunks had to go somewhere. I am curious if the hose manufacturer is "Goodyear Galaxy". Thanks for your input and look forward to a successful repair for you.
             Regards, Fred