2000 Ford Taurus - HVAC

AC not blowing cold air, has plenty of freon. Also, may not be related, but heater does not work in the winter.

Air conditioner work is not a do it yourself item . You also don’t have heat . This could cost more that a 19 year old Taurus is worth .

1 Like

How do you know there is plenty of freon?

Does the compressor kick on when you turn on the a/c? Does your a/c button light up when you push in?
Is your check engine light on?

1 Like

Unscrewed the cap on the high side and pressed the valve with a screw driver. Freon sprayed out 4 ft high. Just a guess, but it looked like there was plenty of freon. Could it have too much freon?

Yes, the MAX A/C button lights when pushed and you can hear the clutch kick in when you press the button.

One other thing I should mention, is that the first thing I did was try to add freon. I could not get it to take any. The early symptoms were: when you turned the A/C on it would cool for a while then start blowing hot air. Then I tried to add freon, then checked the fuses. Usually it would blow cold air until I had to stop at a traffic signal. I live in Las Vegas, so stop and go traffic was not passing much air across the coils.

Any help, or suggestions, would be appreciated.

Thanks

Stop spraying Freon into the air - that stuff is supposed to be contained by a licensed shop .

Sorry, just needed to find out if there was anything in the system, but didn’t have access to machinery necessary to collect it. Just a quick tap to see if there was anything there. Otherwise, would not attempt to evacuate a system into the air.

Given that both your heat and A/C aren’t working, it may be just a faulty blend door.

Releasing refrigerant (it’s not technically Freon) like that is dangerous in addition to being illegal. I trust you’ve learned your lesson, though.

The proper way to add refrigerant is with a set of manifold gauges that hook to both the high and low ports. Both measurements are necessary to determine the state of charge. The numbers also ave to be adjusted for ambient temperature. Professionals go by refrigerant weight, filling the system from empty. This is why A/C work is usually better left to the professionals with the proper equipment.

If I had that problem I’d figure out why the heater wasn’t working before doing anything about the AC component. B/c getting the heater working may solve the AC problem.

1 Like

just because there is pressure on the high side of the system does not mean there is the proper amount of refrigerant in the system. It could be low, or because you tried to add some, it may now be over charged.

If i didn’t know better, I’d say this was my sons Taurus, lol
His heater core is plugged internally, so no heat.
And no a/c because there is a short in his wiring that keeps blowing the Keep Alive Memory fuse (Ford was ingenious is putting the a/c system on the same fuse as the KAM for his 2002 Taurus…) This is why I asked if your check engine light was on. With the KAM fuse blown, the check engine light will light up- but you hear the compressor running, so that is not your issue.

Does the compressor stay engaged? Or does it start cycling on and off repeatedly? If it stays on, this could be a blend door issue.
If it starts cycling repeatedly and you still don’t have cold air coming out, then I would advise getting this to a mechanic to properly check the refrigerant level within your a/c system.

Thanks.

I appreciate the comments. I will look into your suggestions.