This 2000 Oldsmobile Intrigue has warm air blowing from the driver’s side vents and cool air blowing. Notice I did not use the words hot or cold when describing this problem. That would have made for a different cause and repair.
The driver’s side temperature reading after about five minutes with the a/c on and a fully warmed engine. Notice that the temp is warm in a/c vent terms but definitely not hot. Hot in a/c terms would have to be in excess of the ambient temperature. Which today would have been over 100 F.
The passenger side temperature reading under the same conditions. Again this is cool but not cold in relation to a/c vent temps. Cold is in the mid 40’s
The diagnosis is low refrigerant charge. The proof follows. The refrigerant level in my recovery machine before I connected it to the car.
The refrigerant level after recovering all of the refrigerant from the system. Simple math 5.3 lbs minus 4.4 lbs. equals .9 lbs.
Checking the a/c label on the driver’s side strut tower tell us that this system is supposed to hold 1.88 lbs. So this car had slightly less than half of its needed refrigerant charge.
The vent temperatures after a full system charge is installed. Again a warmed up engine and the system has been on for about 3-5 minutes, with the doors closed and the system set to recirculate.
Notice that the driver’s side of the vent is slightly warmer than the passenger side is. That is completely normal and is is due to the fact that the evaporator core is closer to the passenger side vents. There is normally a 3-5 degree F difference between the far right and the far left vents on USA market car.
I added dye and oil while servicing the a/c system. No leaks were found at the time of service and I recommended the vehicle return for another inspection within two weeks. I dis notice that a new compressor had been installed and suspect the system was not properly charged at the time of replacement.
Nice to see you are adding a lot of new posts to your site.
I don’t see a leak repair mentioned. Was it too slow of a leak to require repair?