I was wondering if anyone has played around with there air con thermostats to try and make there a/c just that tad bit colder? I have overhauled my complete a/c system on my 94 td42 gq wagon. It is working pretty good but it wouldn't hurt to be a bit cooler. It seems that the thermostat is cutting the compressor off just a bit too soon. And it looks like you cant adjust the thermostats in these, so i was wondering if anyone has tried fitting a colder thermostat? Or perhaps tried moving the original thermostat further away from the evaporator allowing it to cycle for a tad longer. I did do this once to a vs commodore i had with great results, i fitted a mechanical adjusting thermostat instead of the non-adjustable electronic one and i put the probe into the air vent behind the dash and then just adjusted it to the maximum without freezing the evaporator, it used to get so cold it would blow frost from the vent. So just got me thinking about trying to get my gq a tad colder. Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks
GQ Wagon Air Con Thermostat
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behind and /or just at the bottom of the glove box and against the firewall there should be an adjustable thermostat , looks like a stereo volume control missing the knob
I had a whole new a/c put in and it was adjusted too cold. The whole thing froze and cut out until it thawed out. Then it would freeze up again and cut out. Had to take out the glove box and readjust it down. Its still very cold but doesn't freeze up anymore.
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yeah , i have to re adjust mine down a bit as mine tends to freeze up on long drives , but only when it is really humid
I have 2 gq and they both do not have this adjuster is there any other way of making it colder?
yea i had a look on the ute and couldn't find an adjuster either.
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it maybe located somewhere different , but there has to be some sort of thermostat to tell the a/c when to turn off and on
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its been that long sinse i have even seen mine that i cant remember , just turn it a little one way and if it is wrong then go the other way
You're looking for a little box thing about an inch by an inch by an inch. It looks just like a dimmer switch with no knob on the spindle. It should be under the dash but if its not there I guess its got to be in the engine bay. I'm pretty sure clockwise makes it colder.
It will be silver in colour and have a silver tube that will go into the evaporator box, it will be mounted either to the evaporator box or bottom of the glove box support bracket.
It may or may not have a spindle on the out side of it, if it doesn't have a spindle it will have a white plastic end, you can remove this plastic and behind it there will be a grub screw.
The temp can be adjusted by turning this screw, it should be marked which way to turn to make colder.
This should be done with the aid of a temperature gauge and only after the rest of the A/C is working correctly.
It may or may not have a spindle on the out side of it, if it doesn't have a spindle it will have a white plastic end, you can remove this plastic and behind it there will be a grub screw.
The temp can be adjusted by turning this screw, it should be marked which way to turn to make colder.
This should be done with the aid of a temperature gauge and only after the rest of the A/C is working correctly.
The thermostat will be close to the evaporator and be attached to a pipe from it. It will be under the dash. Some of the factory ones had two little screws with a bit of anti tamper paint over them. If you scrape off the paint you can use a fine philips screwdriver to adjust them. DON'T BEND THE EVAPORATOR PIPE.
Some factory ones were electronic and can't be adjusted.
If the pipe from the evaporator to the condenser isn't cold you are probably low on gas.
You can also bypass the cutout by shorting out the terminals with a bit of wire so the system thinks its not being switched off.
To check temperature, stick a temperature gauge into the vent and turn the fan up to high. Then at least you can find out if the a/c is capable of getting cold. You don't want it any colder than about 2 or 3 degrees at the vent or it will start freezing when it gets humid.
You can replace the factory ones with after market adjustable ones.
Some factory ones were electronic and can't be adjusted.
If the pipe from the evaporator to the condenser isn't cold you are probably low on gas.
You can also bypass the cutout by shorting out the terminals with a bit of wire so the system thinks its not being switched off.
To check temperature, stick a temperature gauge into the vent and turn the fan up to high. Then at least you can find out if the a/c is capable of getting cold. You don't want it any colder than about 2 or 3 degrees at the vent or it will start freezing when it gets humid.
You can replace the factory ones with after market adjustable ones.
Hi Third of a herd, Did you ever figure this one out based on all the great advice here in this thread? I'd love to know what else I can do to my aircon to make it colder, what worked for you? We had a 49c day a few weeks back and I need more cool cheers KB
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