repositioning air conditioning probe

[jim-clayton]

part 1

[jim-clayton]

part 2

[Ground Loop]

First, a big Thank You to Jim Clayton for sharing the important pages!

After a drive through 95-F weather today, I've been giving some sweaty thought to this service advice. My car is in the 650's and I just had a peek in the A/C housing to find that I have the newer-style probe, and it's in the right place on the evaporator.

However, it was sitting about 1/4" away from the coils, making no contact at all. A gentle bend put it in touch with the fins, and a dab of silver thermal transfer grease seemed like an appropriate embellishment.

Tomorrow I'll find out if it fixes the situation.

[doma]

Ground Loop posted pics of the newer version bracket. To add to the info in this thread here's pics of the old (80mm) style that was on my car (vin #0038). Like Ground Loop's it was held about 1/4 to 1/2 inch from the metal and needed to be repositioned. In my case I also had to cut the white plastic ties which held the probe to the bracket.

While this is an easy fix I think a lot of guys are going to have a hard time getting their hands into the opening.

Re cutting the plastic ties: I tried several tools, but an Xacto knife worked best.

Re removal of the plastc ties: Had to have a female with slender hands reach in and remove them.

Here are before and after pics of the 80mm setup:

[doma]

If any of you are wondering where the heck this part of the car is located here's a wider shot...

[doma]

Now ... for a real live torture test .... IN PHOENIX ARIZONA

The short of it:

Before:
When crossing the desert in 115 degree heat on Friday my AC would work for about 40 minutes then the air flow would dwindle down to nothing. The cabin, with full sun pouring in, would then climb to 130 degrees+. Me and my dogs were MISERABLE. The reason the airflow reduces to zero is not because of a problem with the fan, but instead because the unit gets covered with ice. That blocks air from flowing through.

After:
After repositioning the sensor this morning we took the car for a 2 hour test dirve in middle of the day 116 degree heat in the desert. The AC never failed. In fact we took a thermometer with us to measure the temps.
outside: 116 degrees, no clouds, full sun
inside: Full blast AC held the cabin at 81 degrees. Not super comfey but very close to it! This was measured several times during the drive and with two adults in the car.
Vent Air Temperature: An incredible 49 degrees. Measured several times toward the end of the drive. Felt very nice when directed onto the face or arms.
This is with the roof on of course.

All in all I'm very happy with this fix.

Pics attached...
- outside temp pic during 2 hour test
- cabin temp pic
- vent wind temp pic