Will extreme outside heat make your car AC blow warmer air?

Question

I have noticed during this heatwave that my ac in my car has declined a great deal. It's been 90+ here lately. 1999 Pontiac Grand Am GT. I just replaced the ac condensor and the dealership charged my ac freon. this was a little over 2 years ago.

It's blowing "cool" but not freezing cold like it normally does. I don't OR didn't smell anything unusual. If I had a leak.. I would have smelled the freon. When I come to a red light.. it seems like it will become cooler as the car sits still.

Answer 1

THE ANSWER IS...NO...
Extreme heat outside the car will not make it blow warm air but, the hotter it gets outside, the less efficient your AC will be.

The whole point of the A/C is to dehumidify the air inside the cabin, not just to stir it up.
It is only able to keep the air inside the car about 20 - 25 degrees cooler than the outside temperature.
This will end up being in the mid 60's inside the car.
In my Escalade for example, the interior temperature is about 73 while the outside temperature is around 100.
The extreme temperature makes the A/C work much harder while the car is still besuccumbing to the ambient temperature.



Now that you got your freon recharged you have access to A/C however, your A/C due to its age is technologically obsolete and aging. It is probably not able to do as good a job as it was able to do years ago.

Answer 2

Go to a parts house, buy a pocket thermometer and insert it into the dash vent. Turn the a/c to max or recirc mode, blower on hi and see what temperature is actually exiting the vents. If the air temp is 35 to 50 degrees then you are likely getting all you will get. It is possible the hot water cut off valve is malfunctioning and allowinghot water to run thru the heater core which will over vome the a/c on hot days. It is also possible the vac operated "blend" doors are no longer working properly and you need that corrected. I have given you the most common problems to check out herein.

BTW: 1999 GM and all other makes do not use freon, it is banned- since 1993. You have refrigerant R134A. Your system is not obsolete, it is not blowing thru the refrigerant. Here is a crash course:

The compressor pumps liquid R134A under hi pressure from the compressor to the condensor core where it surrenders absorbed heat. Them it is pumped under hi pressure thru an accumulator or drier, then thru an orifice or expansion valve or some type of restrictor into the evaporator core where it is now a lower pressure gas where it absorbs heat from the cabin air. From there is flows under low pressure back to the compressor and recycles over and over until shut down.

See if your car has an interior air filter, if yes ck or change it, check the temp at the vents as previously described herein, and be sure the belts are not slipping on the compressor. On really hot days again use max or recirc settings as it uses strictly interior air which is easier to cool than the fresh outside air which is hot. There will be a noticable difference in the 2 settings alone.

BTW: the fat line is the low pressure line the dmaller line the high pressure. If you determine that you need a charge of refrigerant and lack the skills, you can be severely injured ot killed if improperly handled or done. Consider your skill levels and act accordingly, saving a few dollars in labor is not worth a permanent of fatal injury.

Answer 3

Look very carefully at your A/C controls. Most cars have a recirculator mode. It probably looks like an arrow that is bent around in a circle. On super hot days it may be necessary to use the recircluator. Normally the A/C or heater will draw air from outside the car. By using the recirculator it will only draw air from INSIDE the car and thereby will be using the air that has already been somewhat cooled making it easier to cool the car down to what you are used to. The fan may be a bit noisier on recirculator but it should make a difference. If it DOESN'T you most likely will need to have the system recharged.
Best of luck......

Answer 4

Well my good person. You are in luck I actually now this becuase I was about to go into airconditioning. There is a range in temp. that your can operate. If it goes over that range then you will start getting hot air in your car. basically the ac compresses the freon and blows regular air in it. and the decompresses it where another fan blows the cooler air to you. It obsorbes the hot air from inside the car. But if the temerature is hotter outside, it can't cool of the compressed freon. Therefore, you are getting a hotter air in your car.
If your airconditioner isn't working as good as it was in the same temperature you put it through, then that means you have a leak in your ac. You need to patch it up.

Answer 5

Yes it can. The AC unit uses the external air to remove the heat from the freon so if the external temperature is very high the AC is less efficient.

Answer 6

Yes, hot temperatures will make your a/c blow warmer. An a/c is sized so that it will keep something perhaps 20f cooler than the rest of the world. If you put in too high a temperature, it will not be able to get down to your desired temperature.

Answer 7

The a/c can only cool so much. if its 75 out side it might cool down to 40 or so. If its 100 than mabe around 50. You may want to have the system checked yearley, for leaks and whatnot.

Answer 8

the way i fixed my grand am to cool make the air colder i got a aftermarket fan from a parts store and placed between the bumper and the radiator by unbolting the two brackets and sliding ti up and mounting it on it should run with the air going to the engine then just drive as normal and u will notice a big difference

Answer 9

Well its possible but more than likely some of the freon has leaked out the system.

Answer 10

no, the AC works by cooling the liquid that cools the air -- so if that process is working it shouldn't blow out hot air. Maybe you should try to get it checked out. GL.