C5 Corvette A/C Issues 

Super helpful thank you so much

Can't believe I've had my C5 for 3 years and the A/C has never worked- light just blinks. The crazy thing is, I've dumped thousands of dollars into the car, including an ECP radiator and a new condenser, but neglected to have a more than likely simple issue addressed over several summers of driving. It is finally time. Hopefully no major, costly a/c fix- otherwise it's getting new exhaust instead. 🤣🤣

OMG..... dude!!!!!!! You have no idea how you helped me out with your video.... how can I ever thank you????! I live in Hawaii and had I taken my C5 in to the shop for this AC issue they would have said it was this or it was that or I need this or that..... BS!!!!! U made it so super EZ and MISSION ACCOMPLISHED! Thaaaaaaaaaaaank uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu❣️❣️❣️

Drivers side footwell??? Corvette guy doesn't no much about hvac. Fuse Tester, you can hold any fuse to any light source and tell if it's blown

If you leave passenger side Temperature knob on middle white dot(square), it will follow the driver side temp so you don't have to always adjust both. That's why the knobs are different.

Did you ever get it fixed? I have a similar problem the passenger side vents are always blowing cold air but the driver side works just fine blows both hot and cold

One thing else to have checked on the AC is the condenser drain if it is clogged the water that builds up on the condenser will end up in the passengers foot well and on the computer that is located there. It happened to my Dad lucky it didn't fry the computer. When it happened messages started popping up on the dash that had nothing to do with his car. After he parked it he put a fan inside to dry it out. Next morning everything was fine. I looked it up and the computer or BCU Body Control Unit you can't buy one new. If it had been fried you would have to buy a used one then take it to a dealer that is able to reprogram it to the options on your car. No telling how much that would cost.

corvettes come with two separate blendor vents. that work independently. they have two separate actuators. They can fail. There is a HVAC computer module that can also cause the doors not to move from the heater core to the evaporator. You can go two your code diagnostic menu reset the HVAC code to clear and reset the module to reset the actuators. This is not an easy fix if the actuators need replacing.

I had the same problem of losing Freon on a previous car. It turned out to be a simple rubber o ring that was damaged and the valve in the Freon inlet leaked so I unscrewed it and replaced it.

Mine had an AC problem recently. Bad valve on the high side. You could see it bubbling and under the UV lamp they dye was bright as the sun. New valves, a full charge and good to go. Also don’t use the kits with the leak seal. It’s not good for the compressor. Always use pure 134 plus whatever oil additive. Leak seal bad. Very bad. Good luck man!

Got my own issues. Started overheating. Decided to change out the thermostat and give it a fresh dose of coolant. 2 Days later I had a massive leak. The needle jumps from 0 to 239 the fans kick in and bring it down to 220. Got to wait 4 days before I can get it into my mechanic. Bummer dudes

Leave it to the GM Gremlins to do something as strange as blowing hot and cold air out of your HVAC vents

Thank you!

My is stuck on defrost.. any ideas 💡 thank you.

Never put leak stopper in an ac system that is leaking. It will just cost more to flush all that crap out when you take it to someone that knows what they're doing. Also, it is not "super easy" to top up a refrigerant charge. You need to have a good set of gages to monitor what the high and low pressure side are doing so you don't over charge and damage the compressor. The ACDelco compressors on these cars are basically crap and will poop their case seals about every 30k miles. When the A/C stops working the crappy window regulators get used a lot and fray their cables. So it's a good idea to order new window regulators at the same time you buy your new AC compressor, haha.

Had the same issues, Freon leak and driver side hot only passenger cold. The leak was at the compressor seal. Can’t complain too much, it held for over 20 years, so yes a leak will most likely happen with a moving part first ie compressor. It’s extremely difficult to access and remove the compressor. Speaking of longevity, I still have the original alternator going strong in the 1998, I bet none of the 2000+ owners can say that. On the earlier models they made the alternators in France. The hot/cold problem is the passenger actuator in your case. Yt has a vid on how to remove it through glove compartment, and, you need to remove the dash. Drivers side is easier. Only buy from a reputable brand. I bought the cheapest, it only lasted a year, and the second one didn’t even work out of the box. I don’t think you need to buy Dorman, they are just a ok aftermarket brand anyway, and overpriced now because everyone recommends only buy Dorman for this. Just don’t buy a no-name. While the corbeau seats look cool as hell, I can see what you did there with the seatbelt to keep the airbags working. I am not sure this is safe though and defeats the purpose of the tight bucket seats. You are not sitting centered in the seat with the belt in (9:44), so in an accident might slip off it, and the belt cutting the chair hard might even rip it if the metal underneath is close to the foam, or at least stretch a lot as the shoulder of the seat buckles. I think I found why the seats didn’t age well. In the beginning I never thought of the seats as a bad feature of the the the the car, looking back at the original brochure, they look nice enough even now, smooth and un intrusive. The problem is the replacement leather, for one. The original was very thick, supple, high quality leather, which none of he replacements have. The second problem is the glossy vinyl surface coating of the replacements. The original had a very matte color, mostly from the leather itself. And no corvette’s leather seats have survived, which is why they all look like greasy cheeseball now. Better options C7 or C8 seats, or a custom upholstery shop using good leather without plastic surface layer. If bucket seats, they will need the double harness (not sure if there’s a way to transfer the airbag sensor, but driving without an airbag I guess is an option)

oh yeah AZ is hot, in NJ I pretty much never use ac, I just put the top down on my hot rods;)

Very good

Hey Chris what was the problem ?My C5 has this problem ,drivers side can adjust for hot or cold but passenger side blows cold air. I dont get it.

The A/C knobs are the same on my 04. One freely moved. The other is limited.

What size the rear tires ? 325/30/19??

Chris, I don’t need to remind you where you live. If anything on that car needs to work, it’s the a/c. Do yourself a favor, get it to a reputable shop and get it repaired correctly. Great job with your channel, love the content.

I had to replace my entire system, then the "new compressor" failed, and I had to do it again, now it is fine, but that was like 2600 dollars, it sucked.

OMG......I JUST BOUGHT A 1999 C5 TODAY......B4 DRIVING IT HOME 6 HOURS AWAY.....I SAID SCREW IT.....DUMPED IN ABOUT 1 AND A HALF OF CAN.....COLD ASS AIR.....

Indications are it might be your actuator. There are a couple of videos that show the general fix on most GM cars. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-kP3zLeMJ57s.html Actuator 2000 Corvette ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-ddMrFiGj70s.html Control module

I’m guessing maybe he has a slow leak that caused the problem to happen again.

Have you had any dash issues?

My C5 had the same problem - blowing cold air out the driver's side, and hot air out the passenger side. There's a valve under the dash that is supposed to open and close at the passenger's behest (right control knob on the HVAC head). This valve stuck in the "hot air" mode on mine. While driving, what I did was exercise the valve a bit by turning the control knob to full heat and letting it sit for a few minutes. Then I turned the knob back to full cold and checked the vents. WALA! The passenger side was now cold.

My corvette only blows air thru defrost and floor .. what would that be ?

There is also a manual gas door release in the trunk. Funny story when I rode with my Dad to pick up his C5 after he bought it we stopped to get gas and had no clue how to open the gas door. I flipped through the owners manual and found that one first lol so we popped the back hatch to get to it. After we got home we found the one in the center console.

Had a similar problem 2 years ago. Right side cold, left side hot. Turned out to be a slow leaking O-Ring on the compressor. Shop charged me $220 to replace O-rings and recharge. So far, so good. In West Texas - must have AC!

Sorry it's not working but I still learned something anyway!

Chris, I bet it will probably be your condensor. Very common item to leak on Corvettes. I use to work at Chevy and we would sell boat loads of those for Corvettes. C4-C5 Corvettes mostly. It could be something else, but more than likely the condensor.

Leak stop kills compressors. There is an r134 additive with a leak detector. Use an ultraviolet light to see. Also at that age, you may need to change some o-rings. Always use greenies.

If you go to the passenger side follow the high pressure line, from front to back. make an imaginary line from the dipstick to the closest corner of the battery. There you will see a lump on the high pressure line. Right there, is a o rig. Mine was leaking and had two bad actuators.

You have dual climate control keep the passenger knob(right knob) set to the center part between the hot and cold meter where the dot is so you can control the temp from the drivers side (left knob) only

my 99 doing same thing.... I heard the dash needs to come out to fix actuator door... not cheap !! probably tear into mine myself soon, been putting it off long enough !

Chris, I have a 2004 C5 the problem I have is after replacing the Radiator the air is not coming on also the fans do not come I love your content. I was just going to replace all fuses and relays related to the HVAC system I'm really not in a troubleshooting mood, LOL but any advice you can supply I'll use thank you I'm 70 years old but still having a Blast!!

Alot of our past GM vehicles has had this problem with the actuator that controls the fresh air blend door. I've had our Suburban's A/C do this in the summer, and our Trailblazer's heater do this in the winter. Both times it was a faulty actuator that controls the air blend door of the HVAC. I also had this problem on our Cadillac's A/C and a Pontiac Bonneville we use to own.

The most common leak is from the high pressure switch which is an easy fix but will lose all the freon and have to evacuate the system and recharge it and the other issue is your actuator is failing .You might check the a/c condenser front of radiator for any leaks if that the case you will have to replace the condenser.

I had two issues with my AC. My radiator had a crack and was leaking so everything was running hot. Also I had a vacuum line leak in the vent control so I could change where the air was coming out of. Once it was fixed runs like a champ.

Can be very costly to find a leak in A/C, some garages won't even look at them. Anyway good luck and keep us posted.

After a trip to Phoenix this weekend I’m putting my Vette in for A/C repairs as well. I’ve had a noisy compressor for the past year or so. This weekend it proceeded to get very loud when initially engaged. It’s dragging my newly rebuilt alternator down as well. I’m going full compressor, drier, condenser, orifice tube & water pump. It’s going to run me $1400. Ugh

So just a couple things. First, adding freon will not solve the issue of cold air on one side and warm on the other since there is only one evaporator. Second, it's not a good idea to charge the HVAC system with out a gadge set that allows you to read high side pressure. The low side pressure is just part of the equation and you can easily over pressurize the system and not know it.

I'm about to buy a C5 Corvette, but this is really sad to hear that seems to be super common

Nice try Chris, I would have tried the fuse again.

Do you have a follow-up to this recording?

It was the first time of my life refilling an a/c and my dumbass didn’t read the instructions so I started pumping the Freon without turning the a/c on and I caused a leak thru the compressor. Any idea if I just might of blew out an O ring or did I mess the whole thing up? My a/c used to work before then.

Thank you so much. My vette is blowing hot air , I'm hoping this is all that's wrong. I've never put any freon in so cross the fingers.

The passenger nob set in the middle means the driver side controls it

My 2003 C5Vette had same problem - I had to get a compressor replacement (ouch)!!

you set the drivers side at 100 degees

Good and informative video thank you

Fixed my ac thanks to your video thanks 💪🏾

T

All my gauges stopped working, at night I have no light at the gauge cluster. Could this be a computer problem?

My right side (Passenger) knob on my dual A/C unit doesn't work. When I turn the knob, the temperature stays the same. Could this be an easy fix?

Don't EVER put that stop leak on AC system. Clogs it up..

My ac light comes on and back off when I press it. Would this be the best option to do first? or what do you think? I just recently got a C5

Chris where is the cabin air filter for these need to change these out on mine but can not find it

Is there a ghost cam for a c5

Hey Chris how much you think a person should charge to replace the front crankshaft seal in a C5 Corvette

Hello, I liked your this video. Its summer here and we need this one. One of your video you mentioned the insurance company name for pleasure drive. What was it ? I think let me try that one.

Great video bud!

Thanks for the video chris...I was hoping a recharge would do it for you but unfortunately not, you will find the problem and be back to cold air again buddy.

134a is not Freon

Have u been able to fix a-c