Air Conditioning Blowing Cold On Passenger Side Only

[TalmadgeHewitt]

Hello,

I live in Texas where it is over 100° right now every day. On Monday, my A/C worked fine. I drove for 2 hours without an issue. When I drove home from work on Tuesday, the A/C vents were blowing very hot on my face. I thought that A/C had gone out. When I drove to work on Wednesday morning, I still felt warm air blowing on my face. So I went to feel all the vents and the vents on the passenger side were blowing cold. Only the driver's side was blowing hot. I was encouraged, but it is cooler in the morning. When I drove home tonight, it was 103° and it was blowing hot in my face. I felt the passenger side and it was blowing cooler on that side. Not cold, like in the morning, but cooler. So it is blowing colder on the passenger side, it just didn't seem like it could keep up in this heat. Even in 100°+ it normally can keep up given enough time.

My question is if there is a reason one side of the car would blow colder than the other and it is fixable? Or is this just a sign that I need to get more refrigerant or a deeper look at my A/C? I don't have split climate control. Just standard A/C for 2012 Ford Fiesta SE, American version. Any tips/tricks/advice would be much appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Handy Andy]

IT is a serious condition.

There are moments when the refrigerant is pressurized enough to work, but not enough to be effective and the bad part is, the oil used to lubricate the system is usually all that is left - the VOC or "Volatiles" that produce the refrigeration - are gone or depleted, the condenser shares the same carriage or backbone of the ventilation system where the air and the door actuators guide the air to the vents-but thru the core and condenser (exchanger) first - so if the expansion of the VOC's is not enough, the cooling occurs to one side and the air coming in, is so warm it doesn't have the capacity so the oil carriies the rest of the heat - so you're getting hot oil in there from the outside exchanger.

The AC line that goes into the cabin - is on the passenger (Right) side - so that side gets the cooling effects mostly due to the needle valve that forces the expansion in closest to it.

Looks like you'll need an extra shot or oomph to get the VOC's to be effective enough to work.