A/c Compressor??? 2011 Toyota Sienna

[Darrel Hillman]

Hi friends, this is my first post in this forum. We own a 2011 Sienna LE. The A/C is not blowing cool air at all when the van is stop. On a highway, you start feeling cool air. I checked the refrigerant pressure, there is no refrigerant loss, the high pressure is at 225-250, but the low pressure is at 85 psi. the low pressure will not go down even when running at high rpm. I think the valves inside the compressor are not working. The compressor is a Denso 471-1017. Is there any outside valve that may be preventing the suction of the refrigerant? I noticed the compressor has like an outside lever of which I don't have a clue of what it does. Please reply of possible causes or tests. Thank you.

PS. The cabin filter was cleaned and still no cool air at idle.

Darrel

 

[toyotafan]

Welcome to the site! How long has this issue been occuring? Does the fan blow, it's just not getting cold or is the fan not even blowing?

 

[Darrel Hillman]

Hi, thank you, the fan is blowing, air cool at high rpm, warm at idle. Compressor kick in but high pressure side is approx. 250 psi and low pressure is 85 psi. Is there a valve that controls which evaporator gets the most refrigerant? Does it sound that the valves in the compressor are flapped? Is there a more technical forum for A/C issues of Toyota?

Thanks for your reply. Darrel

 

[toyotafan]

Wait, is it just not moving the air through the baffles and out the vents?

 

[Darrel Hillman]

Fan is perfect, both condenser and cabin. Air is not cool. You have to run on a highway at high rpm to notice any cooling. My question is what causes the low side pressure to be 85 psi at idle instead of 40psi???

Darrel

 

[toyotafan]

I asked around a bit and was told that the Sienna has an underpowered compressor (to help boost MPG as the A/C compressor can drop MPG by a lot) so it's not going to work well at lower speeds and it's a common complaint.

However, ... Are you seeing any cooling/overheating issues? Specifically in stop-and-go traffic, idle or low speeds? Do you hear the fan kick on at these low speed events?

 

[MuddyTacoma]

Fan is perfect, both condenser and cabin. Air is not cool. You have to run on a highway at high rpm to notice any cooling. My question is what causes the low side pressure to be 85 psi at idle instead of 40psi???

Darrel

Did you get this fixed? How big of a problem are the ac systems?