OT: Fixed Van A/C Problem

We bought a 2003 Kia Sedona minivan back in October of 2002 and I must admit that it has been pretty reliable over the years. The only major issue we've had is the alternator went out last year, but that was primarily because we would idle the van for long periods of time with the A/C running in the hot Texas summer.

However, around April of this year, my wife (who drives the van 99.9% of the time) started complaining that the A/C was having a problem emitting cold air. She would pick our daughter up at school and have to wait in the front entry for our daughter to come out of the school. She would have the van running on hot days and started noticing that the air coming out wasn't very cold. This slowly got worse over time until finally it wasn't shooting cold air hardly at all - even when it was moving.

Now, I freely admit working on vehicles is not anywhere near at the top of my list of things I know how to do. I can change the oil myself, swap out batteries, and even changed transmission fluid once (with the help of someone who DOES know about cars), but that's probably the extent of my expertise. So, I figured the refrigerant in the van was empty and decided to take it to a local shop this past Saturday to get it recharged.

On my way to the shop, I happened to look down at the temperature guage when I was at a stop light and the needle started going up quickly to the "H". I thought that was very strange. When the light turned green, the needle had already passed the "H", and I began to really worry, so I made a u-turn and proceeded to head back home. However, once the van started moving, the needle started to go down almost as quickly as it went up. Immediately, a light bulb went off in my head, and I suspected the clutch fan was broke. (The clutch fan is the fan that turns on, usually when the vehicle is idling, to cool the radiator.) When I got home, I left the van running, put it in park, and opened the hood. Much to my amazement, the clutch fan was running. So, I shut it off and called the Kia dealership. The guy I talked to in service said the same thing I did "must be the clutch fan", but after telling him it was running, he said I'd need to bring it in so they could check it out further. I made an appointment with them and thought all day long what the problem could be. I scoured the web looking for similar issues, like a possible blown fuse causing the fan to turn off and on erratically, but everything was find.

Remembering we had taken the van less than a year earlier to the get the alternator replaced, I remembered the guy telling me they also filled the radiator as it was low as well. So, I thought maybe - just maybe - the fluid was low. Again, I went out to the garage and opened the hood. Sure enough, the radiator level was critically low - so low, in fact, I was surprised the radiator had never overheated. I filled it up, along with the reservoir, and took the van for another drive. Sure enough, the temperature guage needle never went above midpoint, and - best of all - the A/C was frigid cold the whole time I drove it (even when I was stopped/idling).

So, now I'm thinking:

1. The guy at Kia lied to me and they never filled up the radiator, which I seriously doubt it true (why would he say it then?).

2. The radiator (or one of the hoses) has a small leak in it. This could either be due to a hose coming lose over time, a rock or something hitting the radiator, or the Kia people doing something accidentally when they replaced the alternator. This would be odd as I have never seen it leaking.

I'll just have to keep monitoring the situation.