jholem1

when my 2004 LS430 is parked in the sun, the a/c takes a long time to cool the interior. Hot air blows from the vents for 2 or 3 minutes. It eventually gets cold. Has anyone else experienced this?

When parked in the shade, the air is almost immediately cold.

LS430inDE.

Welcome to the club!...but in order to be qualified to receive answers, you must first post pictures of the car. ESPECIALLY if it's your first post!

Yea...I NEVERRRR have the problem of the car blowing hot air for 2-3 minutes, before it blows ice cold & freezing cold air, when it's hot and sunny outside. Neverrrrrr. lol

VegasIS300

iTrader: (1)

Does your problem continually happen? Its happened a couple times in my RX,
but never happens again after that.

GRAND_LS 4

iTrader: (2)

You can check the freon pressure from the low side if you have a pressure gauge. if its low (below 25) you might need to add more.

sojah

iTrader: (1)

^ ^ ^ i was about to add some to my car last summer when i thought it wasn't blowing as cold as new and right before i tried to add it (myself) one of my neighbors insisted that i not add some and if it was bad to take it back to the dealership. i returned the stuff to the hardware store i bought it from and asked 2 of the techs at the store and they claimed that once you add some that it will only fix the problem for a small period of time and that it will progressively get worse after this. they also said to go back to the dealership if it was bad enough. i never took it in and it has been running at like 87% of new cold blowing air and never got any worse in about 10 months since then...

is this just a myth or will it only fix it for a short period of time and only get worse after this by using the cheap refill stuff from the hardware store??

LS430inDE.

The A/C system on a car is a CLOSED system, meaning you should never lose a significant amount of pressure. If you ever DO have to add refridgerant (R-134a), then it means you have a leak. As we all know, leaks will get worse over time and just don't correct themselves. If you ever have to put any significant amount of refridgerant in your car (more than 2lbs?), then you have other problems.

In automobiles, R-134a replaced R-12 (freon) around 1994, because R-12 is a CFC which was believed to be bad for the enviornment. We all should know now that global warming was/is a HOAX. There is no "freon" in cars anymore. Freon was DuPont's tradename for R-12.

Regardless, if you ARE low on R-134a, you need to be careful of what you buy in an auto parts store. Most of the time, what you see on the shelves of the stores is just a lubricant/oil/leak dye for the A/C system, but does NOT contain any refridgerant. In most (if not all) states, you need to show a license/certification that you are qualified in refridgerant charging/recovery. Most auto parts stores keep the actual refridgerant behind locked enclosures.

As a solution to the OP, I would ensure all of the fins on the radiator looking things (condenser) in the front/grill area of the car are clean and clear of bugs/leaves/dirt/etc, AND STRAIGHT and not bent!

The large one behind the grill, is obviously the radiator, but the smaller one is the A/C condensor. You can use a credit card or similar device to straighten out the fins, because bugs hitting them can/will bend the edges of the fins. Doing this will ensure the condenser is able to disipate the heat that the refridgerant has accumulated, as it flows through the system and the heat discharged/released through convection (air blowing over the fins).