AC Randomly Stops Blowing Cold

nokuy · Aug 24, 2024

Wife reports that the air conditioning in her 2016 Yukon XL randomly stops blowing cold. Normally ice cold. It does start blowing cold again after a stop at grocery or having the system shut down for a period of time. She also reports that the engine cooling fan runs loudly at times and even after vehicle is turned off. The fan eventually stops after several minutes. I’ve researched the fan issue and found out about the coolant temperature sensor. Wondering if the two issues could be related. I’m fixing the sensor issue in the coming days so if I need to dig into other areas I’d rather do it all at once. Thanks

Doubeleive · Aug 24, 2024

nokuy said:
Wife reports that the air conditioning in her 2016 Yukon XL randomly stops blowing cold. Normally ice cold. It does start blowing cold again after a stop at grocery or having the system shut down for a period of time. She also reports that the engine cooling fan runs loudly at times and even after vehicle is turned off. The fan eventually stops after several minutes. I’ve researched the fan issue and found out about the coolant temperature sensor. Wondering if the two issues could be related. I’m fixing the sensor issue in the coming days so if I need to dig into other areas I’d rather do it all at once. Thanks

ya the temp sensor is a known issue along with the thermostat, (particularly on the 2015-2020)
you are probably on the right track, just be aware there have been many, many, many reports of problems with the temp sensors being bad especially on aftermarket ones there seems to be a severe rash of bad ones out there straight out of the box, I would grab a OEM one from a legit source, dealer or major autoparts.
some have reported having to replace them multiple times due to this.

reported symptoms are like you are having, fans running after shut down, ac not working, error messages like engine hot ac disabled, temp gauge stuck hi/lo, fans running high speed constantly.

nokuy · Aug 24, 2024

Doubeleive said:
ya the temp sensor is a known issue along with the thermostat, (particularly on the 2015-2020)
you are probably on the right track, just be aware there have been many, many, many reports of problems with the temp sensors being bad especially on aftermarket ones there seems to be a severe rash of bad ones out there straight out of the box, I would grab a OEM one from a legit source, dealer or major autoparts.
some have reported having to replace them multiple times due to this.

reported symptoms are like you are having, fans running after shut down, ac not working, error messages like engine hot ac disabled, temp gauge stuck hi/lo, fans running high speed constantly.

Definitely will grab an OEM sensor. They don’t cost that much to begin with really. Don’t want to do it twice (or more). Would be great if this fixed both issues. Thank you for the quick reply.

jyi786 · Aug 26, 2024

Might be low refrigerant? These rigs are HIGHLY SENSITIVE to the refrigerant being out of spec. My Escalade just had its compressor replaced, and was still not cooling properly. I just took it in today and they discovered it was overfilled...to the tune of .874kg. They evacuated and refilled to spec: .850kg.

The AC is now ice cold at idle and will freeze you to death during a drive.

2015LTZ · Aug 28, 2024

Doubeleive said:
ya the temp sensor is a known issue along with the thermostat, (particularly on the 2015-2020)

could you tell me the part numbers for these two items? i have a 2015 tahoe ltz.

Doubeleive · Aug 28, 2024

2015LTZ said:
could you tell me the part numbers for these two items? i have a 2015 tahoe ltz.

Temp sensor gm genuine: 2134333, 213953, 12608814
Thermostat gm genuine: 1511125, 1511097, 1511108

Doubeleive · Aug 28, 2024

jyi786 said:
Might be low refrigerant? These rigs are HIGHLY SENSITIVE to the refrigerant being out of spec. My Escalade just had its compressor replaced, and was still not cooling properly. I just took it in today and they discovered it was overfilled...to the tune of .874kg. They evacuated and refilled to spec: .850kg.

The AC is now ice cold at idle and will freeze you to death during a drive.

if there was a refrigerant leak or high pressure issue as in your case, this would not create a issue with the fan operation, the ac just wouldn't work properly. whereas if the vehicle temperature is not in spec it causes the ac to not work, fans to operate abnormally, temp gauge to read incorrect, it could even give a engine power reduced error, etc.
ac operation is a one way street, it has to be working (within certain parameters) for the fans to respond to the heat produced. if the ac is not working it has zero effect on the fan operation.
vehicle temperature operation is a two way street and sends commands other things engine, shutters, ac, ecm, fans, etc

Doubeleive · Aug 28, 2024

nokuy said:
Wife reports that the air conditioning in her 2016 Yukon XL randomly stops blowing cold. Normally ice cold. It does start blowing cold again after a stop at grocery or having the system shut down for a period of time. She also reports that the engine cooling fan runs loudly at times and even after vehicle is turned off. The fan eventually stops after several minutes. I’ve researched the fan issue and found out about the coolant temperature sensor. Wondering if the two issues could be related. I’m fixing the sensor issue in the coming days so if I need to dig into other areas I’d rather do it all at once. Thanks

it is possible that it could be 2 separate issue's but it would be best to address the reason for the fans being weird first and then see if the ac then operates correctly or not afterwards. If the ac continues to be intermittent then you will want to have it looked at.
the fans being the lesser of 2 evils, ac requires gauges and more advanced testing

2015LTZ · Aug 29, 2024

th

Doubeleive said:
Temp sensor gm genuine: 2134333, 213953, 12608814
Thermostat gm genuine: 1511125, 1511097, 1511108

thanks a lot. any idea which particular number fits my car? or are all 3 numbers interchangeable.

swathdiver · Aug 29, 2024

nokuy said:
Wife reports that the air conditioning in her 2016 Yukon XL randomly stops blowing cold. Normally ice cold. It does start blowing cold again after a stop at grocery or having the system shut down for a period of time. She also reports that the engine cooling fan runs loudly at times and even after vehicle is turned off. The fan eventually stops after several minutes. I’ve researched the fan issue and found out about the coolant temperature sensor. Wondering if the two issues could be related. I’m fixing the sensor issue in the coming days so if I need to dig into other areas I’d rather do it all at once. Thanks

This behavior is generally indicative of being low on refrigerant.

Those cans with gauges cause lots of problems, it is best to use a manifold to introduce refrigerant by weight after discharging and vacuuming the system.

AC Randomly Stops Blowing Cold

nokuy

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Doubeleive

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nokuy

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jyi786

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2015LTZ

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Doubeleive

Wes

Doubeleive

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Doubeleive

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2015LTZ

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swathdiver

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