A/C Does Not Continuously Blow Cold

Question

I have an '06 Chevrolet Silverado with a 5.3L L33 engine and 146k miles. I have been having issues with the A/C not continuously blowing cold air. It seems to cycle between cold and luke-warm. I have checked the refrigerant pressure and added some to bring it up to around 40psi on the low side (it was down around the 23-24psi range before I started, which I know is low). 40psi is (from my understanding) near the high end of the "full" range. The A/C compressor does cycle on/off without issue. The low-side is cold going into the cabin. The high side is warm (as I'd expect it to be). Also, when the A/C is on, I can hear it "whistle" (does not occur with the A/C off). The whistling will not replicate if I just let it idle and listen under the hood. I had my wife rev the engine a little, and even with it off-idle, I still couldn't hear it under the hood, but my wife was hearing it still inside the cabin. My thinking is, there is a problem with the actuator for the blend door, which I'm assuming is vacuum operated. Does this seem reasonable, or is there something else going on here which I'm not aware of? Maybe someone has some experience with this type of vehicle and it's A/C system.

Answer 1

There is a TSB 06-01-39-011A A/C - WHISTLE NOISE/BLOWER MOTOR STALLS/VIBRATES

This bulletin only applies to Delphi-built HVAC cases, which can be easily identified by visually inspecting the HVAC case from under the passenger instrument panel. The Visteon case is bolted together at the case halves and the bolts are silver in color. The Delphi case will be heat staked together at the HVAC case halves. If prior work has been performed on the Delphi case, the procedure is to bolt the case back together, so you may find bolts of many different colors. If there is any question, check the repair history and drop down the HVAC sound insulator panel to inspect the blower motor assembly. The Visteon blower motor will be bolted into the case. The Delphi blower motor turns inside the case and will have a plastic lock tab on the motor

Condition:

Some customers may comment on a whistle sound when the blower motor is on and the heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) control is put into recirculation mode. Other customers may comment that the blower motor stalls out or vibrates or that a "sticky" noise is present during air recirculation door operation.

Cause:

The adhesive foam used on the air recirculation door (air inlet valve) may not be properly secured, causing some of the foam to contact other HVAC components. The foam could potentially come in contact with the blower motor fan and/or the foam may stick to the inner HVAC case walls, causing the door to stick or hang up.

Source

Fix

Remove the blower motor

Locate the partially loose foam, repair or replace as necessary

See here for more detailed instructions

This may or may not be your issue, but it's at least worth a check. Depending on outside air temp, mixing outside air will raise the temp. Leave me a comment if this isn't an issue and I will do some more research.

Oh and to answer your other question it is not vacuum driving actuator. It's a 5-wire bi-directional electric motor that incorporates a feedback potentiometer.