2004 Toyota Rav4 AC problem

I'm having an issue with the AC in my 2004 Toyota Rav4. This issue goes back to when I hit a deer and the condenser was destroyed. At that point i had put in an aftermarket condenser, vacuumed, and recharged. The issue since then is that may ac blows warm air on hot days when I am in bumper to bumper traffic or stopping at red lights. I immediately thought of the condenser fan, since it seems to cool fine when driving (natural air flow through the condenser), and because the impact from the deer was in that area. Sure enough, the condenser fan was not spinning properly. I replaced the fan and the new one is working properly. This didn't make a difference with the symptoms. So, I checked the pressures at idle over several minutes. The low side hangs around 50 psi (21psi to 36psi is normal range according to service manual). The high side slowly climbs and climbs to over 300psi (198psi - 227psi is normal), and if I give it some throttle, it goes really high to near 500. After i saw this, I replaced the TXV and condenser to OEM Denso parts. Vacuumed for an hour, and recharged. Symptoms are still the same.

Any help would be appreciate, as I'm at my wits end and don't want to just throw parts at it.
Thanks,
Richard Campbell

I would try to cool the fan with a water hose. If that solves the problem, then you need to look at air flow through the condenser. Is there a shroud missing? A missing fan shroud could result in inadequate airflow through the condenser.

No missing fan shroud. Before I changed the fan, i noticed it wasn't running at all, gave it a flick with my finger, and it took off. But, it wasn't blowing very hard. I then pointed a box fan directly into the condenser and the pressure on the high side started dropping. I thought for sure changing that fan was going to solve my issue. Well it didn't. Then new fan, although after market, blows strong. And the condenser is now new and OEM. Still the same issue. Thanks.

Any chance the discharge line between the compressor and the condenser got bent or kinked? That'd certainly account for poor refrigerant flow and abnormally high pressures.

A quick test for the cooling fan you can do is to put a piece of paper in front of the condenser and see if the fan can hold the paper in place. It's not a perfect test, but it's a decent indicator that air is flowing, and the fan is turning the right direction.

Thanks for the suggestions. The only 2 parts i haven't changed, besides ac lines/hoses, are the evaporator and the compressor. I just can't figure out how to prove it's one or the other. And i can't keep just throwing parts at it.

I even thought maybe it had something to do with the ambient air temp sensor that sits in front of the condenser. The deer damaged that area, and the sensor mount was broken. I have it zip tied in place. Yesterday, I took the sensor out and checked its resistance. 1800 ohms at room temperature. I used a hairdrier and watched it climb to 2800 ohms, and dipped it in ice water and watched it drop to 300 ohms. I feel the sensor is working properly. However, I checked voltage at the connector with the sensor unplugged. I was expecting to see a 5v ref and a ground. I found the ground was good but the power wire had 3.28v. Both wires go directly to the ECU. I really feel there is an issue with this, but my AC controls are all manual. So, I guess this sensor probably does not affect the AC. Thoughts?

I had an aftermarket fan spin backwards and cause what you are talking about. It was a dorman fan on a Camaro. Might want to check that.

Solved!!!
Turns out it was the radiator fan that I had installed back when I hit the deer. Poor after market part. It was spinning the wrong direction. It only installs one way and there is no way to plug the connector in backwards. So, this means it was wired backwards internally.

Actually figured it out before I saw your post, but that’s exactly what it was!

Cheryl you've been helping others for a very long time here on my forum and I just wanted to stop in and say thank you.