Apologies in advance for the lengthy post.

Since I live in NW Oregon and we rarely actually even need A/C this is a problem I didn't discover until I'd had the coach for a couple months.

The previous owner mentioned that the A/C needed recharging so I didn't really give it any thought until I had the coach in the shop for some routine maintenance. I asked them to do the A/C recharge while they were at it.

In the process they found and repaired a broken refrigerant tube and reported that the system blew nice and cold now.

Here's where it gets a little confusing: when picking up the coach I noticed that the 12v fans for the condenser were unplugged. When I asked about that they said the fans ran all the time and they hadn't figured out why, but that the system blew cold even without the fans so they just left them unplugged.

I realized it needed to be looked into further but since A/C wasn't critical at the time I decided to just go ahead and use the coach and have it looked at later. That was last Fall.

This past Feb and March we took a trip down to the Southwest. It was a little early in the season for a high-elevation trip so everything was fine at 6-7000 ft in southern Utah and northern Arizona but as we got further south the daytime temps got warm enough that the chassis air just couldn't handle it. I tried plugging the fans back in and they worked fine but it didn't seem to make any difference - the A/C was still anemic.

For what it's worth, I've read through the threads where Clint Webb, MWrench and others have made some excellent posts describing diagnostic processes but frankly some of it was a little over my head. I have a lot of willingness but perhaps a little less mechanical aptitude than I need.

So. I'm going to try try to figure things out using what I learned from these threads but if any of you recognize the problem from the symptoms I would appreciate your input.

This may be neither here nor there but the cruise control is also not working. Could that be related?

Thanx!

1995 Monarch
Spartan chassis
Cummins c8.3 300hp
Allison 3060

The only way the fans run all the time is the relay is failed and is closed. See this diagram :
https://www.google.com/search?...rc=aTOoKIb-wyWFwM%3A

The "anemic" performance is another issue. A properly equipped shop has to evacuate the system and use dye laced freon or test equipment to find the leak(s). In an old system one culprit is typically the compressor leaking at the shaft seal, head seal, or some other connection. Some Barths used hose screw clamps to connect the drier and evaporator hoses. They leak with age and there should not be any clamps, just proper fittings. You might still have R-12 freon and a changeover will be required. If you don't have the tools I would suggest finding a shop that is willing to do the labor - A complete new system might be $2,000 or more if you want dash air to work properly.

The condenser fans run any time the ignition is on and one of the a/c buttons if pushed. This may also include the defroster button.