My 2004 Hyundai Santa Fe is having AC issues. The AC is not blowing cold air it just blows air. The heater works great and the blower motor it’s good as well. I’m. It sure if it needs to get a recharge or if there’s a leak somewhere. I have a trip down south in a few weeks and I need AC for obvious reasons. Temperatures may exceed 105 Fahrenheit on most of the days I’m there. Any advice would be awesome.

 

Have you had this same issue before? Off the top of my head I'd say it needs to be recharged. It's pretty easy to do if you have not done so before. You can buy everything from autozone, advanced auto, oreily's or any other automotive store. Most canisters will have some additives in there to try and seal any leaks. Should do the trick unless you have a severe leak or something major. Is your compressor turning on?

 

How can I tell if the compressor is on. I feel dumb asking but I have no idea.

 

The compressor should be towards the front of the motor at the bottom on the passenger side. It's a larger component that has a belt and pulley on it and you can also see the lines connected to it. Anyways, with the car on and the AC on you should hear it click on and off. A couple of things it may or may not be doing; it may not be coming on at all or it may be clicking on and off rapidly. Either of these can be caused by your system needing to be charged or it is overcharged. Overcharged is just as bad as needing to be charged and the system will not work properly. Unless you see something completely out of the ordinary I say go get a can of R134A with a gage and hose and charge your system. As soon as you hook that hose up and turn the AC on your going to know whether or not the system is charged properly.

 

First is to turn on the AC
Then check to see if both cooling fans turn on
Then locate the compressor
It has a clutch which will cycle on and off as needed by the AC system
You should be able to tell if the clutch turns on or not
Not turning on can have several causes
One being that the clutch is faulty
Another is expansion valve is faulty
Another is that the cooling system doesn't have enough refrigerant (leak or blockage rare)
Another is that the refrigerant pressure sensor is faulty
Another is wiring is faulty
Another is compressor is faulty

Not cooling could be due to blockage of air flow through the condenser (in engine compartment)

Assuming that clutch does engage and everything else is okay
Get a can of R134A with a gauge. Read the instructions
Hook up to low side.
Turn engine and AC system on
Read the pressure
If low then refill
Now watch to see if pressure holds
Very small leak is not a big problem
A big leak is a big problem

Good luck to you

 

Thank you guys so much! I'll report my findings.

 

Is rh

is this it

 

Honestly, hard to tell from the photo. Are you looking for the compressor or the LOW line? If you can find your LOW line, it should have a cap on it (most of the time green) with an L follow that line. Again, at least from my experience, most likely the compressor is at the bottom. You could crawl underneath the front passenger side and should be able to locate it.

 

Update! I had someone help me. When the AC is turned on, nothing happens in the engine bay. No noise changes, no movement changes.

 

Are your cooling fans turning on in the front? Like Avisitor said, could be a number of things if the compressor isn't turning on. I'd locate that compressor and make sure nothing on it looks broken and that the wire connector is secured on there. Also, should be a fuse that you can check and make sure it isn't blown either. If you aren't hearing anything it definitely isn't turning on because its a distinctive sound you will hear and if you locate the compressor you could see the pulley turning as well. Follow your AC lines to the compressor and the condenser as well. The condenser will have lines coming out of the other side that should lead you to the filter drier and pressure switch Avisitor was talking about.