'05 RL w/165K miles. My wife's car that I very rarely drive.
A/C was working perfect then compressor locked up & killed the motor. Come to find out the shaft on the pulley locked up then broke & contaminated the system. My mechanic flushed the system (said it had a bunch of trash in the system) & replaced the compressor, expansion valve & drier. After that the A/C wouldn't get very cold & come to find out the condenser was clogged so he flushed the system again & replaced the condenser. After all this, w/ambient temp. of 80-85*, it would still only blow ~50* going down the road but if I stopped @ a red light it'd blow ~20* warmer before the light turned green. Mechanic said this is how this system is designed, that it isn't an efficient system & that's just how it is even though before the compressor broke( & last summer) it worked great (& was waaaay colder). Why would it do this if it had all new equipt., both fans run when A/C is turned on & correct amount of refrigerant????

**Next question & newest scenario**
Today it was 98* outside. Going down the highway, after driving for 20 miles, it was blowing @ 55* doing 70mph. Stop @ a red light & it got up to 77*. In my driveway it was blowing 78* & when I sprayed the condenser w/water hose it went down 13* in 20 seconds. Then I noticed radiator fan would kick on every so often but condenser fan never did! **This was NOT the problem before because we know for a fact both fans came on as soon as A/C was turned on.**
I checked for 12+V all thru the wiring & had good voltage coming out of the female plug that the condenser fan plugs into. Tried running straight off + & - battery to fan & it still didn't work. Also, the radiator fan doesn't run 100% of the time w/the A/C on like it did prior. My question here is does it sound like it's just the A/C condenser fan motor I need or is it something more?

Last question so I can tell my mechanic:
what temp does your A/C blow sitting @ idle in the sun when it's 90*+ outside & what's it blow going down the highway?

I've already spent over $1,100 on this & still don't have a working A/C. I'm @ my wits end so PLEASE HELP me!!!!

 

Not trying to be a smart ass here... but get a new mechanic, then replace the fan.

 

I hear what your saying. After more research I have one more question. The fan that kicks on and off, when car is running, is on the passenger side. The fan that doesn't come on at all is on the driver side. The fan on the driver side is the condenser fan, correct?

 

I'm not sure which is which but my guess would be that the one that is still working would be your rad fan, otherwise you would see your car overheating at idle.

Like HeavyRL said, replace the fan and go from there. Find a new mechanic to do it, your first guy should have noticed the fan issue.

 

I'm very mechanically inclined but I don't have an evac. machine for the refrigerant so I had to pay someone, who is a friend and a long time mechanic, to do it.

 

Also, the fan has just become an issue and the mechanic isn't even aware of the fan situation yet.

*I can't edit my posts so I keep having to add new ones. Sorry and thanks.

 

The driver's side fan is the radiator fan. The condenser fan is on the passenger side.

 

Well if that's the case why does it not overheat when it's idling for prolonged periods of time in 100*+ weather? Can someone look at their fan and see which one comes on with the AC turned off? Thanks.

 

Wife just called and said its running hot now. The fan on driver side doesn't come on at all and the fan on passenger side intermittently comes on for a couple seconds, turns off and maybe comes back on for a few seconds. What would cause this fan situation? I'm in desperate need here! Thanks.

 

I just looked at my RL and BOTH fans come on when A/C is turned on. Also, if A/C is off, and the temp goes up enough to trigger the fans, they BOTH come on as well. So from what I can see on my car, it's both or nothing.

As for your overall A/C issue, did you replace the evaporator as well? It seems like if you had enough junk contaminating the system to where you had to replace the condenser, and you already replaced the compressor, expansion valve, and drier, then the ONLY piece left that you haven't changed out is the evaporator. It only makes sense that the contaminants that were traveling throughout the system would clog up the evaporator too if the condenser was clogged.

 

I wasn't aware of the evaporator so I'll ask the mechanic why that wasn't changed. My wife said a fan was running AFTER turning the car off so I'm assuming that's the radiator fan and NOT the condenser fan running??? Thanks.

 

The evaporator is the COLD part that sits by your interior blower fan giving you the cold air in the cabin. The condenser is the part that sits next to the radiator that gets hot and gets cooled by the front fans.

Wow... if a fan was running AFTER the car is turned off, it usually means your car is severely overheated. Are you sure the temperature gauge reads normal? The only time I have ever heard of the fan running after turning off the car is when there is something wrong with the cooling system. It's pretty rare for that fan to come on when car is off.

 

If I have the PS fan (condenser fan) plugged into the PS plug on the RFC unit, it comes on & turns slow when A/C is turned on but DS fan (radiator fan) doesn't come on at all. If I plug the DS fan (radiator fan) into the PS of the RFC unit (& the PS into DS fan of RFC unit), the DS fan comes on & turns slow until the vehicle gets warm then it alternates between slow & fast. I got to the RFC unit relay in the DS fender after removing airbox & when I unplugged it the 1 fan that was working stopped so I'm assuming that relay is good. How do I test the RFC unit? Thanks.

 

I figured the fan situation out. I bought a used RFC unit & now fans run as they should.

I talked to the mechanic about the evaporator & he says since the AC will work as it should w/a water hose sprayed on the condenser then the evaporator is working properly, which sounds correct. So, condenser clogged, bad new condenser, ??????

Last question so I can tell my mechanic:
what temp does your A/C blow sitting @ idle in the sun when it's 90*+ outside & what's it blow going down the highway?

 

Hi Ho: An A/C should cool the input air about 30 - 35 degrees. So, forget about the temperature outside, put the air control on recirculate, measure the ambient air inside the car, then measure the air coming out of the A/C vent. The difference should be 30 - 35 deg. F. Of course there is a limit where the air going in is already very cold. You probably won't get output air much below 40 - 45 deg.