AC not cold enough

So my wife has an 05 sequoia that we've had for about a year. The AC works okay up until the ambient temperature is about 105 degrees, which is a problem in the desert southwest because it's over 105 every day for several months a year. We had it serviced last year, but they said everything was fine (I'll see if I can find the paperwork later). I can't remember exactly what they did but oh well.

It seems to work better if you are spraying the condenser with water (noticed at the carwash).

So first off I cleaned the condenser, it had/has some bug guts but nothing that really looks like it is restricting flow. Then I also sprayed the evaporator coil as best I could throught the opening for the resistor.

That didn't make a huge difference so I got a set of loaner gauges from autozone and I saw this.

2019-08-26_09-37-55 by Jeff Burt, on Flickr

So almost 70 low side and a little over 400 high side and outside air temp was 104 with 40% humidity (this is the reason I'm messing with it) and the sight glass is cloudy. My first thought is that the system is overfilled. I could bleed off some of the pressure, or have it sucked out, but my concern is that I've seen some things that say the expansion valve could also be the culprit.

Then I checked it a day later and low side was around 100 and high side was about 305. That's more evidence to me for the expansion valve. Thoughts? Comments? Ridicule?

 

Wish I could help. But I did laugh at “ridicule”!

 

what's the air temp coming from the vents? Does it work better when moving then idling?

 

I’ve heard some other complaints about the air but really, for me, it’s like a meat locker with the AC on and it’s like a boiler room with the heat.
Absolutely no complaints about the 2015 Pro.

 

Well, bleeding some off costs nothing so that is where I would start. If overcharged the system will work even worse than if undercharged.

 

I'd let refrigerant out until the low side going into the firewall to evap has a good sweat. Before bleeding off drive to 30mph + and the a/c runs good then ck the fan clutch or clean the condenser with coil cleaner.

 

What temp air?

 

This was my question as well. Mine will get down in the 50's on full air. If I push the recirculate button it will blow in the 30's.

@jburt do you have an infrared thermometer?

 

I’ve noticed that when it’s over 100 occasionally when I pull up to a light and idle, mine will start breathing hot stale air at me. Once I start driving it can take a good bit to get back to cold. Is this somewhat common? It’s been happening for years but just figured that eh, it’s 108, I’d quit if I had to work that hard too.

Don’t mean to hijack, just figured the A/C knowledge is up in here.

 

Never happened to me but it never gets that hot here. If your condenser can't blow off enough heat the pressure will rise and the compressor will shut off, which is what it sounds like is happening.