greesha

I am in a bit of a pickle. Grandparents in 70s/80s are leaving for Texas on Tuesday.

Van is a 00 Express 1500 5.7 Conversion. Front + Rear AC.

AC lines going to rear are new, less than 2 years. AC charge performed yesterday.

My current issues:
When the ac is turned on, car struggles on the highway. Temps stay normal, just I need to use noticeably larger amounts of throttle.

Already not blowing as cold as it was yesterday.

Rear fan does not come one, blower motor seem stuck, already have another one waiting to be installed.

Here is my rear unit:


I purchased a UV light and goggles.
Light turns from blue to yellow around all the black gunk here:


My questions are:
Does that look like an OEM GM unit? Or an aftermarket? I have been searching parts diagrams on the GM parts sites, and can't quite figure it out. It site in the rear driver side behind the wheel.

The engine feeling labored, could that be something like a fan clutch?

The leak in the rears, my understanding is that the black gunk is insulation for copper lines. Could the leak be something as simple as a shop not tightening the lines properly?

I am NOT doing this myself, dropping it off at a shop monday morning, but would like to figure out what it could be, saves them time when I bring parts with me.

tsbrewers

I don't know much about it, but the stack of bosch relays right there tells me it was an aftermarket.

My total gut feeling is your compressor is bad. Or the bearings are bad. That would explain the sluggishness of the motor and the lack of cooling. Not sure why the fan in the back doesn't work though.

Rednucleus

I too vote bad compressor - that's the only thing that should significantly bog the motor down if it starting to seize up.

canucklehead

You would think that the belt would just slip rather than the compressor having the torque to slow down 240 horsepower. On my 2002 i can't feel any diff in engine power at all when the ac is on. My wife's 2.4 4 banger on the other hand yes you can.
Also a bad compressor should not hold an ac charge should it? If he just had it done....

pwf16129b

until the compressor seizes it would just create drag when it seizes then the belt will go and as long as the seal retains integrity it will hold freon contaminated freon but freon

greesha

Forgot to update:

Ended up replacing:

NEWCondenser, after they recharged again, it started hissing frion out of a hole. None of the 5 dealers in my area had one, one was kind enough to get it from a warehouse in an hour. Would have gone with napa, but we need it that day.
NEW Napa compressor kit, including orifice tube, accumulator and expansion valve, tech might have forgotten to replace the expansion valve as it is in the rear.

This was all 2 weeks ago. They made it to Dallas no problem, drove from Dallas to Galveston with the AC on, everything was fine.
Car sat for a week while they were on a cruise.
Started her up, AC still cold, 150 miles into trip the car started making noises similar to air brakes on trucks releasing pressure.

With AC ON, 1 minute its normal, then 1 minute it sounds like air brakes on trucks letting out pressure at lights, and engine feels labored in the process.