JackE Report post Posted August 12, 2017 New to this forum, but not to the car. I'm driving a '14 FFH bought new and just rolled 99k miles today. Only one major defect at the 6800 mile mark. The old FORD adage, Found On Road Dead, was my issue, in the middle of the hot Nevada desert at 8pm on a Friday night with crappy cell phone signal. Towed to a dealer and a week later they found a loose connection in the main power buss. The car has been problem free since then. We love our Hybrid! Until now! This problem started about 6 weeks ago. At random times, and very infrequently, the A/C would just stop blowing cold air. It's not often too hot here, so occasionally wasn't a big deal. Last month my brother was using the car in St. George, Ut. and had no cold air at all. I drove the car down there and nearly froze the whole 250 miles to get the car to him, 10 minutes after I gave him the car, no cold air. As he was returning to where we live, the A/C started working again. For the next month it worked good about 99% of the time. This weekend we went back to St. George for school shopping. The whole trip there A/C worked fine. First stop was about an hour and when we got back in the car, no cold air! At 101 degrees, this is not pleasant! Several stops, more running around, still no air. Last stop, later in the evening, and it started working again for the 10 mile trip up the freeway to the hotel. This morning, 90 degrees, first ride of the day, it worked fine. After first stop, no cold air. The temp was about 95 by this point. Most of the day was 101 again. Ready to start the 250 mile trip back home, I surmised a trip through the car wash would cool the system down enough to cause the A/C to work again, and I was right. Through the car wash it cooled the ambient temp down to 83 degrees and the air started blowing cool air. The farther away we got from the hot temps, the cooler the A/C would blow until the wife said she was too cold and turn the temp up! It looks like if the ambient temp goes over 90 degrees, the system will not run. 90 to 85 it will run and blow cool, and below 85, it runs well and blows cold. I listened several times with the windows down when turning the A/C on and could hear the compressor kick in and run for about 5 seconds, then stop running. If anybody has the A/C genie in a bottle, I'll gladly pay a dollar for him! I have searched the Internet hi and low and found numerous problems close to mine, but all on 2012 models and older, and none of them on the hybrid. If anyone has any suggestions other than removing the dash, I would love to hear them. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
murphy Report post Posted August 12, 2017 What was the humidity? In high humidity conditions the evaporator can freeze over which prevents air flowing through it. It happens to home air conditioners also. Do not use recirculate mode in high humidity conditions. Outside air is needed to keep the evaporator from from freezing over. If it happens turn the A/C off for ten minutes to allow the ice to melt. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lolder Report post Posted August 12, 2017 (edited) The system is designed that it should never freeze up. This needs to be diagnosed by a facility able to do so. There are any number of problems that can cause this. In high humidity in Fl. we always run in auto and recirc. Edited August 12, 2017 by lolder Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JackE Report post Posted August 13, 2017 You have probably never dealt with the humidity in the west. It usually doesn't exist. This weekend it was in the 20% range. I failed to mention that I was in the auto repair industry for over 15 years and am aware of all the usual issues that can cause this type of problem. It's not anything usual. When the compressor kicks on, the low side pressure starts to come down, but almost like it's not fast enough and the compressor shuts off. I was hoping this was a common enough problem that I wasn't the first one to experience it and there was at least a direction to go with the fix. Thanks for the suggestions. When I get it figured out, I'll pass on what I learned. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JackE Report post Posted August 20, 2017 New discovery likely related. Behind the grill these cars have a set loovers that close during EV mode to increase aerodynamics by decreasing air cavitating in the engine bay. These loovers are suppose to open during gas engine operation, or when the A/C is on during EV mode. In 3 years I have never seen them closed. Now, mine are closed all the time! Can anyone tell me what actually signals these to be open or closed? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lkatze2 Report post Posted August 28, 2017 if the shutters are staying closed, there "might" be reduced airflow across the condensor, causing the highside pressure to be too high causing the high pressure switch to open. I am not sure if the shutters would cause enough an airflow restriction to reduce the airflow across the condensor. Have you checked the high side pressure yet? Also if it turns out to be a high side problem, check your condensor fans. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Davidr Report post Posted June 14, 2022 Did you figure out this problem? I'm having same issue Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
