Compressor is working when it's not selected

bradleyheathhays · October 24, 2019

I have an '02 Taurus with 85k miles on her that I just bought. Today when I was checking something under the hood I noticed this metal line cold and dripping with water...

I had the air on but turned to the position of arrows pointing out of the dash and floor vents only. The defrost or a/c function was not selected. It seems to be doing it consistently. I haven't traced all the parts of this car's a/c system yet but I don't know of anything else under a hood that turns cold and sweats. Why would my compressor be working when it's not selected? What tests should I run?

HeySkippyDog · October 24, 2019

I have an '02 Taurus with 85k miles on her that I just bought. Today when I was checking something under the hood I noticed this metal line cold and dripping with water...

I had the air on but turned to the position of arrows pointing out of the dash and floor vents only. The defrost or a/c function was not selected. It seems to be doing it consistently. I haven't traced all the parts of this car's a/c system yet but I don't know of anything else under a hood that turns cold and sweats. Why would my compressor be working when it's not selected? What tests should I run?

You admit in this post that you had the AC on. The compressor doesn't care what vents you're blowing air through.

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Colossus · October 24, 2019

He said he had the air on meaning the blower fan, but did not have the A/C turned on.

davester · October 24, 2019

Many vehicles will run the A/C compressor to dry the air a bit when the system is set to blow air on the windshield (fully or partially on defrost)...

HeySkippyDog · October 25, 2019

He said he had the air on meaning the blower fan, but did not have the A/C turned on.

"Air on" to me means cold air. "Fan on" is different.

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bradleyheathhays · October 25, 2019

I see. Sorry to have confused anyone. I should have said fan instead of air. The a/c was off as I stated in the very next sentence. My compressor seems to be running when only the fan option is selected.