2009 Cascadia A/C problem, help ?

Hi everyone. I am the unfortunate owner of a 2009 Cascadia 125SLP with a DD15 engine. The amount of problems I've had over the years have been numerous and costly. We could talk about it all night but this time its about my latest problem which has me stumped.

A year ago, one of my A/C hoses was leaking; it could be easily seen as a greenish liquid. This was my first A/C problem but it was easily fixed, hose replaced, the system was refilled with gas and tested OK.

However, 2 weeks ago, after my passenger side windshield started to leak (again!) in a heavy rain storm, rain got into my ventilation system. Everything continued to work except that a heavy rain smell could be noticed coming from the vents. The day after, my A/C started to show signs of weakening and was not cooling properly and the smell of rain continued. A few days later the smell of rain disappeared but my A/C was no longer cooling. Furthermore, a strange occasional noise of compressed air could now be heard coming directly from the vents, including those of the sleeper system which had no rain go in it. It sounds like a valve slowly opening to let air or gas in/out and then closes a few seconds later. This has me completely stumped! No A/C refrigerant leaks can be seen in the engine bay or under the dash but somehow I lost almost all of the gas. I bought a DIY r134a recharger+sealer system and my A/C got back to about half normal strenght. It didn't last long though, only a day later it failed again. Even if the system is almost or if not completely out of refrigerant gas, I still hear the occasional strange "air noise" coming from the vents.

Has anyone had the same problem with their Cascadia A/C or does anyone know what the problem is ? Evaporator, Compressor, other(s) ? Any help would be appreciated! Thanks in advance!

 

Thanks for your advice Pablo.

I guessed that the rain infiltration might have upset a sensor or two in the system.

However, I am still stumped on why this makes the system lose refrigerant gas. There must be a leak somewhere. I have inspected all of the lines & hoses outside the truck and everything seems fine. Under the dash that is a different story though; I would have to take the entire dash out to get access . Thank you Freightliner engineers...

 

Well it seems that the water infiltration was just a coincidence. I finally found the leak in the A/C after it started leaking so bad that it was obvious; greenish liquid everywhere on the inside of the bumper. The hard line that goes down the passenger side of the condenser was leaking where it is (was) welded. After some research online, it seems that it's a common occurence on the Cascadia. The factory condenser has very weak welds which are prone to leaking before 200,000 miles. Just another defective / badly engineered part that the Cascadia rolls out the factory with. Thanks Freightliner...

The good news is there's a new condenser available with a beefier weld on the hard line. It cost me $370. Just have the A/C system drained and you can change it easily yourself. The drain and r134a recharge cost me another $200.

If you have a Cascadia with failing A/C check that spot first... I spent about $180 on DIY sealers / gas recharges before I finally found the leak and it didn't fix the problem so don't bother with those.