Sorry I haven't been more active on the forums lately, back in school now and managing some health problems, so dealing with this car has sorta gone on the backburner. Pardon the long post, I'm just sorta thinking out loud here.
So I just took it in to the mechanic due to running out of freon, fearing it was my evaporator core. He traced down the leak to the new R-134a adapter fittings on my new AC lines. Apparently I installed it incorrectly to where the schrader valve was always being depressed, leading to a slow leak. So now it blows ice cold, but whenever the car is warmed up and the AC is on "norm", I still get this horrible smell that makes me lightheaded. Thankfully putting it on MAX makes it go away in the cabin, but after I park, I can smell it in the engine bay, most potent to the immediate left of the radiator, in front of the high side AC service valve.
One would think that it's antifreeze since it's slightly sweet, but the mechanic pressure tested my radiator and said it was perfect. I haven't used any chemical cleaner of any kind in months, anywhere in the car. The car was also sitting at his shop for about a week after he recharged the AC with the new fittings, and it hasn't leaked one bit.
My gut is really telling me that this smell isn't AC related (even though I can't think of anything else that would smell like that) since I distinctly remember smelling it when I was driving around with no AC (no charge in system), but ONLY when the radiator fan would cycle to cool the radiator. My theory is that it's something around the radiator, but when I run the AC the cooling fan is constantly running, circulating the odor throughout the engine bay (into the AC intake), thus producing the smell in the cabin.
I'm really on my last nerve with this car. It seems like every time I fix something, another thing pops up. I know, it's just par for the course of daily driving a 27 year old Thunderbird, but once in a while I just wish I had bought a Civic or something for my first car like everyone else xD.
Thanks for listening to me...again xD
Joseph B.
So I just took it in to the mechanic due to running out of freon, fearing it was my evaporator core. He traced down the leak to the new R-134a adapter fittings on my new AC lines. Apparently I installed it incorrectly to where the schrader valve was always being depressed, leading to a slow leak. So now it blows ice cold, but whenever the car is warmed up and the AC is on "norm", I still get this horrible smell that makes me lightheaded. Thankfully putting it on MAX makes it go away in the cabin, but after I park, I can smell it in the engine bay, most potent to the immediate left of the radiator, in front of the high side AC service valve.
One would think that it's antifreeze since it's slightly sweet, but the mechanic pressure tested my radiator and said it was perfect. I haven't used any chemical cleaner of any kind in months, anywhere in the car. The car was also sitting at his shop for about a week after he recharged the AC with the new fittings, and it hasn't leaked one bit.
My gut is really telling me that this smell isn't AC related (even though I can't think of anything else that would smell like that) since I distinctly remember smelling it when I was driving around with no AC (no charge in system), but ONLY when the radiator fan would cycle to cool the radiator. My theory is that it's something around the radiator, but when I run the AC the cooling fan is constantly running, circulating the odor throughout the engine bay (into the AC intake), thus producing the smell in the cabin.
I'm really on my last nerve with this car. It seems like every time I fix something, another thing pops up. I know, it's just par for the course of daily driving a 27 year old Thunderbird, but once in a while I just wish I had bought a Civic or something for my first car like everyone else xD.
Thanks for listening to me...again xD
Joseph B.
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