Air conditioner blows cold air for passenger side only

[lzr]

Hi, anyone happened to experience this: when a/c is working both air vents on passenger side release cold air, but on the driver side both air vents are at about room temperature? I wonder if there are separate pipes from a/c to driver and passenger sides, or it's a single pipe that branches out into four air vents? It's Subaru XV 4x4 2017.

 

[bmart]

Dual zone or single zone?

 

[lzr]

Dual zone or single zone?

Single zone. Just plain a/c

 

[bmart]

Surely worth looking on Y or the parts diagram for a solid answer. Was it always like this or just started?

 

[lzr]

Surely worth looking on Y or the parts diagram for a solid answer. Was it always like this or just started?

It's just first time I turned on a/c this year. Last year all air vents were more or less similar, although the air never was cool enough. I guess the first thing to try would be to refill freon.

 

[bmart]

An HVAC service is in order. Might want to have/do a leak test first. I just did the O-rings in my 2000 Legacy. Easy job. Also did the evaporator. Not fun, but not terrible. Much easier than many cars. They get gunky at the bottom and them rot w/pinholes.

 

[brianyoung]

My 2011 Forester needs ac charging every year. Last week was warm so I stopped at Walmart and bought the Supertech charging kit with the leak seal. Charged my AC in the work parking lot and now I have to turn the temp down on the way home! It gets COLD and didn't take much refrigerant. But I also wanted to say, with a low refrigerant charge my AC would only get cold on the passenger side. Driver side vents felt like ambient temp. After fully charging the system all vents blow very cold. Super easy to do and will save you a ton of money.

 

[lzr]

My 2011 Forester needs ac charging every year. Last week was warm so I stopped at Walmart and bought the Supertech charging kit with the leak seal. Charged my AC in the work parking lot and now I have to turn the temp down on the way home! It gets COLD and didn't take much refrigerant. But I also wanted to say, with a low refrigerant charge my AC would only get cold on the passenger side. Driver side vents felt like ambient temp. After fully charging the system all vents blow very cold. Super easy to do and will save you a ton of money.

I ended up taking the car to service, they found and sealed leak, and refilled. The gas itself costed about $300, but now it cools normal

 

[Dick Foster]

My 2011 Forester needs ac charging every year. Last week was warm so I stopped at Walmart and bought the Supertech charging kit with the leak seal. Charged my AC in the work parking lot and now I have to turn the temp down on the way home! It gets COLD and didn't take much refrigerant. But I also wanted to say, with a low refrigerant charge my AC would only get cold on the passenger side. Driver side vents felt like ambient temp. After fully charging the system all vents blow very cold. Super easy to do and will save you a ton of money.

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If it needs a recharge every year then something is amiss. You likely have a slow leak.

 

[brianyoung]

If it needs a recharge every year then something is amiss. You likely have a slow leak.

I've got a small leak somewhere. But with 198,000 miles it still is my favorite car to drive to work every day. I prefer the seating position over the 2017 that my older daughter drives. It has gasket oil leaks but I keep tabs on the dip stick.