Air conditioner woes

Hey all, im new here and i really only came on to help out my mom.  She has a 2003 Mitsubishi Outlander and her air conditioner isn't working.  It goes for about 5 min after initial start up of the day, then starts blwoing hot air.  It will randomly starts blowing cold air again at random times of the day.  It gives no warnign or anything it just does it.  Also the "A/C" button flashes, i am not sure of why that happens either.  Sometimes i can play with it and it blows cold air again, but most of the time it's all hot air.  Can anyone offer some assistance or any reasoning for this happening and what i should do?
 
Thnx in advance !

Oh and it has just under 130k on the od.  if that has any bearing.

There was a recall for the fan motor...you might want to check with a Mitsu dealer and see if that's the problem.
 

Really?  we have taken it i for service, why havent they told us this? 
 
Do you happen to know when it was issued and for waht models?

That recall might have nothing to do with your problem...just a guess because I had the same problem with my '03. best bet is to just see what the dealer says about it....it's worth a try.
 

my dealer is just one giant scam.  They have scorned us before, but are the only one anywhere near us. 
 
you had the same air conditioner problem?

Just take it in and see if the recall has anything to do with your problem. I did have the same problem.
 

thnx man, sorry for all the Q's not all too familiar ith this car, know my own one more.
 
thnx again

No problem and good luck.
 

Another possibility is that the refrigerant is low..and the system detects this after running for a short period and shuts it off. 

Get a recharge kit and see if that works

I would give the freon recharge kit a try, it sounds like it could be just that. You can get them at any autozone, advanced, or NAPA, verry easy and straight forward to hooking it up.

we took it to a local guy and he recharged the a/c, but it did it again the next day, he couldnt figure the problem
 
what exactly is freon? can there be a freon leak? 

They haven't used 'freon' (R-12) for maybe 10 or so years, I don't think you can even buy it anymore (for sure not legally).  The repalcement (R-134a) is hard enough to get..you're supposed to have refrigerant recylcing equipment even for that.
 
I'm starting to think there's a messed up relay,switch, or something electrical.  Can scan tools check for this?

i have been using my aircon....for a a few days straight and i have had the same problems....it is cold then goes to warm air.....and after a few mintues it goes cold agian....i just had the coolfan thing fix on my vechical as well....it is interesting the same problems people are experiencing are on the 2003......i havent figured out a fix yet...

Yeah, thanks for clearing that up bnilguy, I meant to just say refrigerant..lol, as you can see I'm not verry fluent with A/C systems, but either way that seems to not be the problem anyways, since yo u already took it to get "recharged".

my uneducated guess is that the fans just cut out.  but i dont know why it blinks, the "a/c" flashes instead of staying steady.  It did not even work at all today, so i dont evenknow anymore.

Also, just want to thanks you guys for all the help you've been.  Way more helpful than other forums I have tried.
Thnx ! 

hey bigbird....ihave been reading this post.....is swear...my outlander started doing the same thing......i have only owned it for a month now....but now that is summer i have been using the a/c and the same thing as you light was blinking and hot air instead of cool is comming out....keep us posted if you find a fix.....as i am keen to get it patched up on mine.....thanks......
 
G

If the refrigerant is low it will blink, it knows its low and keeps the compressor from running and makes the light blink so you know to get it looked at.
The 134a is a smaller gas than r12 and has a habit of sneaking out of the system over time. However the most usual place for the AC to get an actual leak is the evaporator inside the dash. This makes it an expensive repair because of the labor involved.
 
The refrigerant 134a is available at AutoZone or similar at least it is here in Cleveland.  It can be a do it yourself project provided you can figure out where to connect the adapter and the hose is long enough to allow you to refill your own system. That is if its not so low that it has to actually be tricked into running to get enough refrigerant into the system however if its that low it usually has a leak that needs to be fixed.  Its worth a shot the refrigerant isnt that expensive.
 
 

Thanks BGN....it is good to know the car is smart enough to start blinking to tell you to fill up.....

hmm, i will look into that.  does anyone know how to refill it or check fo a leak?