I recently had a check engine light come on on my car. It’s a 2003 Ford Crown Victoria. I went to my local AutoZone and the reader tested that the PCV valve is bad. so I replaced the valve and I ended up replacing the tube the valve connected to from the crank case because it was cracked and had a hole in it. The previous owner lived in the desert, but the car has barely over 100,000 miles, and I’m confident that they never replaced the hoses. After replacing the parts I cleared the check engine light by pulling the battery lead now the car blows hot air. I checked to make sure there’s plenty of refrigerant. The condenser itself inside of the engine compartment is ice cold what could be the problem? I noticed that the event valve on the other side of the engine has an older hose as well so I’ve ordered a new hose. What else should I be looking for? Thanks in advance.
I checked to make sure there’s plenty of refrigerant.
How did you check that? The only way to be sure is to evacuate the system and charge in the correct amount of refrigerant by weight.
The condenser itself inside of the engine compartment is ice cold
It's supposed to be hot.
what could be the problem?
A large number of things. What are your high and low system pressures?
the reader tested that the PCV valve is bad.
The reader can't possibly know that. Anyway it's unrelated to your AC
After replacing the parts I cleared the check engine light by pulling the battery lead
What were the codes? You could have cleared them with the reader.
The condenser itself inside of the engine compartment is ice cold
The condenser is out in front of your radiator and should be hot.
I noticed that the event valve on the other side of the engine has an older hose
I've never heard of an event valve.
What else should I be looking for?
If the AC system is functioning (evaporator lines are cold), then you probably lost the calibration on the temperature blend door when you unhooked the battery. Fords are dumb like that. Need a good scan tool to recalibrate it.
The condenser itself inside of the engine compartment is ice cold
Are you meaning the evaporator? The condenser takes liquid R-134a and cools it. The condenser should be pretty hot. I probably wouldn't have risked touching it. The condenser is in front of the radiator.
You might want to go to a mechanic who specializes in HVAC for this kind of thing. You need a set of manifold guages to analyze the AC system. They can be had for cheap at Harbor Freight. I fixed the air conditioner in my old Ranger, but I throughly researched everything in advance. I have a minor in aerospace engineering as well, and I have a head for numbers
There is a decal under the hood that states the amount of refrigerant by weight that should be in the AC system. To much or too little refrigerant in the system will cause the AC to not cool properly. The only way to know that the AC is operating when the weight of refrigerant is unknown, is to evacuate the system with a refrigerant recovery machine and use a reverse scale to put the right amount back in.
Air conditioners can be extremely dangerous if you don't know what you're doing. The high side can get up to 300 PSI if it's extremely hot during the day. Even the so-called "low side" guage with a properly operating AC system is over 50 PSI; car tires are only inflated to 35 PSI
Be careful.
