Hey Everyone,

Just rolled over 81,000 miles and starting to notice a few issues, which might be the same issue all together.

First in the last few weeks I have noticed that when I am stopped or in park, the car makes a shuttering sound. It sounds like the engine is shuttering or taking on a heavy electrical load and coming from the driver side. It lasts maybe 5-10 seconds followed by 20-30 seconds of silence and then it happens again.


Second issue is the a/c is blowing out room temperature air. I noticed this the other day when is was unseasonably warm (80's) and I turned on the a/c. Even on max a/c, coldest temperature, and #4 setting for rate of air; it was room temperature. My passenger and I were driving around for about an hour total and at one point it was cooler to roll the windows down. Since then it has been hard to judge the a/c's temperature because it is back to being normal temperature outside. However, it doesn't feel ice cold.

Do these two issues sound like they are the consequences of a bigger issue? Any tips on figuring out what is going on?

 

It might be low on refrigerant and/or the compressor is going south.

 

I know it sounds stupid, but make sure the button for the compressor (the one marked A/C) is on and lit up. I've seen people before who thought their A/C was going out and the compressor button was just switched off.

 

How would I check to see if it is low on refrigerant?

 

Yeah that was one of the first things I checked...

 

Take it to an A/C shop. Mine lost the refrigerant once through a leak on the fill valve that's on the passenger side. It was replaced and the system drained and refilled properly. Don't just put gas in it, if there's a leak you'll just waste money.

Just pray it's not the evaporator, I don't know how hard it is to replace in the Mustang, but on most cars it involves taking off most, if not all, of the dashboard.

 

Update:

So now the a/c just blows out warm air. I decided it was time to open the hood with the engine on and try and find where the weird sound I keep hearing is coming from. It was pretty easy to find. One of the pulleys spins and stops. When it stops for 5-10 secs it makes the sound. Then starts spinning again for 20-30 secs.

Does anyone know what that pulley does? Or what part of the engine does that control?

Here is the video: http://s36.photobucket.com/albums/e3...-12-33_385.mp4

 

That"s the AC compressor, it should cycle but not that often. I would have the refrigerant level checked.

 

So I finally had the chance to take my car into the shop. Until yesterday I was driving around with no A/C and having to hear that loud clicking. The lack of A/C was a problem for about a week then it got cold around here and it wasn't needed. I decided to finally branch away from the dealership and find a small shop. I used Yelp and found a shop 15mins from me that got 5/5 based on 60+ reviews.


So made an appointment with them a few days ago. Dropped the car off last night and now the car is ready to be picked up. So they tested the system and determined the compressor is fine and there are no leaks in the system. It was just low on refrigerant. So I believe they drained it and pressurized the system. The total for that came to $120.

In addition, last week I ordered a new fuel filter from AM. This has been something on my list of things to get done for a long time. My car has 82,000 miles on it and I have never had the fuel filter changed. So I provided the part and they installed it. Total for that came to $49. I also asked them to save the old fuel filter, which they did, because I want to cut it open to see what it looks like.

 

Good to hear all went well and it was a fairly inexpensive fix. ;-)