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BINGHAMD · 06-28-2019, 10:35 AM

Have a question...dash AC doesn’t blow cold air, just sorta cool. When driving and don’t want to use the AC units with the generator, dash air would be enough. Could it be a Freon fix? We have a 2005 Fleetwood Revolution.

fagnaml · 06-28-2019, 11:30 AM

Binghamd --

A 'sorta' cool dash A/C could be caused by a couple of common problems:
1) Low refrigerant (Freon) due to a leak somewhere
2) Expansion valve not working properly
3) Compressor not working
4) Partially plugged or kinked hose between evaporator coil and the compressor

You could try adding refrigerant (Freon) but make sure you get the proper refrigerant for your coach. There should be a label by your "cold box" located in the front of your coach that states refrigerant type (probably R-134A for your coach). If you have a leak, adding Freon will only solve the problem for a short time.

Items 2, 3 and 4 requires an A/C system professional to diagnose and repair. I included item 4 (plugged or kinked hose) as that is the problem I had with the dash A/C in the 2007 Damon Astoria I previously owned.

A very knowledgeable technician at RV Masters in Houston found my dash A/C problem to be a kinked high pressure hose that looked to be an original installation problem. It took a week for RV Masters to get a custom, 40 foot long high pressure hose with proper tubing connections to get manufactured to conduct the repair.

rvbiker45 · 06-28-2019, 12:19 PM

As fagnaml said, all of those things could be the problem with your AC. Something that may be at issue here is the heater valve may be sticking open and causing the warm water from the engine normally used for cockpit heat to override the AC.
Locate the heater hoses going to the heater control valve, normally located close to the blend air box in the front of the hood area. Those are black hoses about 1” in diameter. One hose will go into the heater control valve and the other side is coming out of the valve. The ingoing, coming from the engine, should be hot. Coming out of the heater control valve should not be hot. If it is, there is your problem.

MSHappyCampers · 06-28-2019, 05:33 PM

Our Windsor was doing that! I bought a recharge kit from Auto Zone and did it myself. Wasn't difficult, just had to figure out where to hook into the system!

NXR · 06-28-2019, 05:45 PM

Do you have recirculation on or off? If on, it could be pulling hot air from the doghouse area so it's trying to drop 20 degrees or so from that temperature.

Ray

House Husband · 06-28-2019, 08:22 PM

Your A/C is from Denso. NO water control valve. The temp is controlled by a blend air door. No vacuum controls, all servo motors.

BINGHAMD · 06-29-2019, 08:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MSHappyCampers

Our Windsor was doing that! I bought a recharge kit from Auto Zone and did it myself. Wasn't difficult, just had to figure out where to hook into the system!

May have to check that out....how did you figure it out? We’re not mechanics but can do basic things like this. Can you “overcharge” the system?

BINGHAMD · 06-29-2019, 08:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NXR

Do you have recirculation on or off? If on, it could be pulling hot air from the doghouse area so it's trying to drop 20 degrees or so from that temperature.

Ray

I had the recirculation on and then tried it by turning off...no real difference

hotdog2 · 06-29-2019, 09:47 AM

Had the same issue on my 2006, replaced the compressor and it fixed the lack of cool air setting still. Although in the summer with that big windshield it still is not as cool as a car air conditioner. Just way too much space to cool with the dash air, one of those Class A things.

BigEvi · 06-29-2019, 10:21 AM

I'm contemplating starting the hunt to fix my dash AC. But for what it may cost, 1000 for a compressor and a recharge maybe...seems like 1k buys an awful lot of generator fuel to run the roof units. How long would it take to burn through 300 gallons of fuel in the 7.5 onan?

-E

firedoc · 06-29-2019, 10:33 AM

The Onan will probably use about 3/4 gal/hour.

highwayman74 · 06-29-2019, 05:04 PM

2004 fleetwood discovery.

I replaced the a/c condenser fan for the dash a/c. now the a/c button on the dash controls wont light up showing the compressor is engaged. I got a complete schematic from freightliner. But don’t see anything showing a fuse from the a/c on the factory harness. Contacted fleetwood but they told me they show nothing an to contact freightliner.

BigEvi · 06-30-2019, 02:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by firedoc

The Onan will probably use about 3/4 gal/hour.

So that's about 20,000 miles of driving at 50mph average with the Gen running. About 3-4 years for me. And some of this would be occurring on hot days even if the dash AC was on full blast. So that makes the analysis a bit tougher but stretches the time out anyway.

I think I'll try to put a couple cans in myself but if that doesn't fix it I'll probably just leave it and run gen.

-E