03' A/C Troubles

[DWB]

Bought my 03 CC D/A in Feb. and thought this was the perfect truck. Now that the temp. is 100+ here in the So. Ca desert, I find that my air conditioner is only putting out 70 deg. air (at the vent). Takes for ever to make the cab comfortable. Took it to the dealer and they played with it all day, then printed me out a TSB (02-01-38-007) that says many customers are complaining about A/C when temp exceeds 90 deg.
The TSB goes on to outline some things to check, then shows max. acceptable vent temp. table. Since it was 102 deg W/ 22% humidity the chart said 81 deg. at the vent was acceptable. When I said there is no way Chevrolet could expect us to drive a vehicle with A/C that works that poor I was told I should be gald mine was at 70 deg. and to have a nice day. Since my son's work truck (02 Chev 2500HD 6.0 Gas) has a vent temp of 40 deg in same conditions, this has to be a design flaw that came with the new body design. Anybody having similar problems or know of a fix?

[DuramaxDicko]

Oh man... don't tell me that, my new 03 cc should be here any day and my old '89 gmc has a vent temp of around 43... I damn well almost freeze in that truck, so I open the window with the air on.

I hope this is a fluke and others are not having this problem... I am sorry to hear about this both in your truck (and hopefully not mine)

[Trippin]

The AC in my 03 is pretty weak as well. I haven't been back to the dealer for it yet.

[ski]

a/c in my 03 gmc 2500hd is great. mine is around 40 at the vent also. i can freeze the family when set on 63 degrees on the climate control in only a few minutes. temps here in nm average 98 in the summer. guess i should feel fortunate. hope you guys get yours resolved. PS I run recirc in town or stop and go.

ski

[mike.morris]

We have had some crazy weather here in Indiana, so I can't confirm my findings from a month ago. We had a high 80s day and on my drive home form work (15 mi. all highway) my AC did not cool the cab off to 70 (set point). The blower was on high all the way home trying to cool it off. Normally the thing cools off in about 3 to 5 minutes. I have the electronic dual climate control system in my truck. I called my dealer and he indicated that the compressor may not be cycling properly, but I have not had the truck in to get this checked out.

[DieselDixon]

Mine's been working good so far, but then again we are in No. Cal where it is usually in the 80's.

[Toddster]

My A/C just quit completely the other day....Start the truck, it works for five minutes then the compressor never turns on again....Hooked up my guage and the system is fully charged @ 60 pounds on the low pressure side ? WTF ! :mad: :mad: :mad:

[DWB]

Toddster,
In my quest to solve my A/C problem, I have come across several current problems with our A/C units and their fixes. Your's sounds like a bad low-side pressure switch. It's the one that is up close to the firewall and there is a TSB that addresses GM having a batch of bad ones. The symptoms are exactly what you describe. Hope this helps.

[Toddster]

Thanx DWB, great info....I did think of this and tried unpluging the switch connector and jumping it....Compressor still would not kick :mad: Any other ideas before it goes to the Stealer on Tuesday ? Be nice to have A/C for the weekend !

[FisHn2DMax]

My 03 has just the opposite problem! It's too cold in the cab most of the time! I have the electronic Digital dual climate control and if I set the temp at anything below 85 degrees the A/C is on all the time! It doesn't hold the indicated temp ( colder). It's gotten into the high 90's here and the A/C is still too cold! It's on all the time? It's really cold when the outside temp is only in the 70's and the A/C is cycling. I have to push the NO A/C button in order not to freeze or I have to turn both climate controls to greater than 85 degrees in order to keep the A/C from cycling?

As far as weak A/C in 03's , NOT SO in my truck!!! It's really cold!!!

[Diesel Dragon]

DWB
My AC works great in my 03.
Usually I set the temp to 70 deg to keep from getting too cold.
My wifes 03 Trailblazer just went in for no AC and they found exatly what you said a bad low-side pressure switch. They changed it and it works fine now.

Let the stealer fix it thats what the warranty is for. And dont let them give you any BS about 70 and 80 deg vent temps being normal.

Good luck

Bye Diesel Dragon :cool:

[jbplock]

Yesterday it was 95degF and muggy here in upstate NY and my 2003's AC couldn't hold the temp at 75degF in the Cab. Prior to yesterday, I had no problem keeping cool with temps in the mid 70's and 80's. Anyone have a 2003 that will cool down the (crew) cab on 95deg muggy days? Should I take it back to the dealer?

DWB,
Are you still having the same problem?

[Dave Lewis]

Bill,
I had no problem keeping mine cool in the same weather. You have to have it on recirc though. I found if you don't it won't cool. My vent temp was about 50 deg. Also if your doing a lot of in town driving it doesn't cool as well. I wonder if the truck had a cooling fan on the condenser if it would work better??

[DalDMax]

Something that is driving me crazy is that when I shut the truck off, I'll have the Recirc on. Then when I get back in, the Recirc will be off..most of the time. Every once in a while, I'll start it and reach over to turn the Recirc on and huh it's already on. Haven't been able to determine any pattern, just sometimes it's on, sometimes not.
Anyone else having their A/C playing this game with them?

[Dave Lewis]

Same thing except mine always stays off. It is annoying. If the rest of the climate control can remember it's last setting why can't the recirc button?? :confused:

[DinoMax]

The Recirc. problem only shows up on vehicles w/ the dual climate control system. My wife has an '03 Envoy, and you have to mash the button back to the "recirc" setting everytime you start it up. My '02 Crewcab with "normal" A/C controls always stays put. If I remember correctly, late 80's or early 90's GM pickups had the same problem with the Recirc. button having to be reset everytime, but they eventually corrected it. Maybe just a reflash needed? If enough complaints come in, maybe GM will come out w/ a fix. Good Luck, DinoMax

[DWB]

Update - Still having same trouble w/ A/C. The dealer has replaced compressor, orifice tube, evac. and recharged (twice) and tried less freon (per GM's instruction). Works great till the temp. outside gets around 100, then vent temp goes from the normal 40-45 deg. to 70 deg. and it can't cool the crew cab to a comfortable temp. Dealer says they are contacting GM engineers for help as they are out of ideas. I don't have much faith left and through this forum have found that some with 03's have similar trouble and some 03's work great no matter what the temp.

[BlackMax]

It is not just the 03s that have problems. My 01 has 65* on recirc and 70* on regular setting at the vent.

[DieselDixon]

I still have not decided if mine works good or not, it

[tysmith]

It seems most of you have the digital climate control. Is anyone having issues with '03 manual controls? Just a thought...

Ty

[lor]

I have the manual controls, and my ac is still way weak so that is not the issue. It's better with recirc on, but it's still takes a long time to cool the CC on a hot day.

[DWB]

Mine has manual controls as well. The part I don't get is my son's 2500HD (6.0 Gas) appears to have the same parts (visually) yet it works so well that he has to turn it down even when it's 110 deg. Wish I had access to parts micro- fish so I could compair the parts.

[DalDMax]

It seems like most that are having problems have an 03. I wonder if maybe the problem has to do with air mixing/blending instead of a problem with the compressor/evap unit. This is the first year for the dual temp controls, could be that for some reason the 'puter is mixing hot outside air with the cooled air for some reason.

Edit:
Come to think of it, there were quite a few 02 Denali XLs that were having problems with the A/C and Heat due to problems with the temp sensors acting up.

[tophog]

Same symptoms here, 03 with auto-climate control. Works great when it's 70-80 but anything above 90 and it ****s. Doesn't seem like it gets very cold regardless of how long it's on.

[GMC-2002-Dmax]

I have an '02 CC with manual AC/HEAT controls.

The other day driving home in CT it was 90 plus degrees out and HAZY--HOT--AND HUMID :eek: .

Anyway I got home and opened the hood to check my transynd level cause she was running about 175 on the gauge and the AC lines had ICYCLES on them. I mean those pipes were frosty :eek: .

I have no AC complaints at all. Most times run the fan speed on 2 or 3 in recirc.

Good Luck to all, stay on them.

P.S.

Did they try changing the low and high pressure line switches??? Maybe one took a D**P and is cycling too often :confused:

Later,

GMC smile.gif

[Flyboy]

GMC-2002-Dmax

My truck is the same as yours. I had frost on my lines also. That is an indication that the freon is low. I took mine to the dealer and they removed the freon and it measured low. They could not find a leak, so they put ultra-violet dye in it and re-serviced it. So far its doing good.

[GMC-2002-Dmax]

;)

Thanks, I'll mention next trip to the dealer

GMC

[ 06-29-2003, 06:30 AM: Message edited by: GMC-2002-Dmax ]

[jbplock]

Originally posted by DWB:
Bought my 03 CC D/A in Feb. and thought this was the perfect truck. Now that the temp. is 100+ here in the So. Ca desert, I find that my air conditioner is only putting out 70 deg. air (at the vent). Takes for ever to make the cab comfortable. Took it to the dealer and they played with it all day, then printed me out a TSB (02-01-38-007) that says many customers are complaining about A/C when temp exceeds 90 deg.
The TSB goes on to outline some things to check, then shows max. acceptable vent temp. table. Since it was 102 deg W/ 22% humidity the chart said 81 deg. at the vent was acceptable. When I said there is no way Chevrolet could expect us to drive a vehicle with A/C that works that poor I was told I should be gald mine was at 70 deg. and to have a nice day. Since my son's work truck (02 Chev 2500HD 6.0 Gas) has a vent temp of 40 deg in same conditions, this has to be a design flaw that came with the new body design. Anybody having similar problems or know of a fix? I looked in my 2003 GM (Helms) service manual and is basically says the same as DWB quoted from the TSB. There is a performance test on page 1-9 (Vol–1) that measures the operating efficiency of the A/C system under the following conditions:

Truck parked inside or in the shade.
Ambient Temp & Humidity
High & Low side pressures
Outlet air temp discharged in the cab.

The procedure says to record ambient temp and humidity and check the static pressures (engine off). Next start engine and run the A/C on Max for 5 minutes with recirculate on and driver’s window open 5-6 inches. Record High/Low side pressure and cab discharge temps. With this data you look in a table to see if the system is “normal”. For each range of ambient temp and humidity the table lists a range of High/Low side pressures and Maximum discharge temp.

Here are a few excerpts from table.

Ambient air temp 76-85F, below 35% RH: Max Discharge Temp 63F
Ambient air temp 76-85F, 35-60 % RH: Max Discharge Temp 66F
Ambient air temp 76-85F, Above 60% RH: Max Discharge Temp 68F

Ambient air temp 86-95F, below 30% RH: Max Discharge Temp 79F
Ambient air temp 86-95F, 30-50 % RH: Max Discharge Temp 72F
Ambient air temp 86-95F, Above 50% RH: Max Discharge Temp 75F

Ambient air temp 96-105F, below 20% RH: Max Discharge Temp 81F
Ambient air temp 96-105F, 20-40 % RH: Max Discharge Temp 84F
Ambient air temp 96-105F, Above 40% RH: Max Discharge Temp 84F

This seems OUTRAGEOS to me! :mad: A very UNDER-DESIGNED system! :mad: I not an expert but I have repaired and recharged a few auto A/C systems over the years and I have been able to get discharge air in the 40’s and 50’s (with R12).

I have been waiting for an excuse to upgrade my A/C gauges and fittings for R-134A, so I guess this is it. I’m going to run some tests but I would guess my truck would pass the criteria in the table with a “no-trouble-found” if I took it to the dealer. :(

DmaxalliTech,
What’s your take on this?

[ 06-29-2003, 06:01 AM: Message edited by: jbplock ]

[Ron Richardson]

I have '03 with auto controls.

I found that I can turn on AUTO with 60deg setting and recirc on. After about 10-15min the A/C will cutoff. I can turn off recirc and after a few minutes the A/C will come back on. Then after a bit it will work fine recirc or no recirc. And the A/C will stay on and get freezing cold... This was with 100deg temp's in the Calif central valley (Hwy 5).

Somethings not right and when I took it in to my dealer, of course it wouldn't fail so they wouldn't touch it... sigh !

Ron