Rough idle while...

My A/C has never outright failed, but in June 2017 after almost 8 years and about 75K miles of trouble-free use, I suddenly discovered that it was blowing cold out of the driver's side but not the passenger side. I brought it to my mechanic and he pressure-tested and recharged the system. The A/C worked fine for the remainder of that summer, including a roughly 250-mile roundtrip drive to Carlisle (for the annual Truck Nationals) and back.

In April 2018, when I used the A/C for the first time that year, I discovered the same problem. My mechanic serviced the system and it improved somewhat. By July, it was blowing cold out of the driver's side and warm out of the passenger side yet again. I drove out to Carlisle for the 2018 Truck Nationals, in the middle of a heat wave, with the A/C essentially only working at 50% capacity. I made it through, and on the Monday after I came back from Carlisle, I replaced the blend door actuator to no avail. Fed up, I finally brought it to the dealer. The dealer called me the next day and told me that the system was about a pound low on refrigerant! So, they recharged it and put tracer dye in the system (which my mechanic had done but had not found a leak). When I got the truck back, the A/C was performing at a level I hadn't seen since late 2016 (in terms of coldness).

About two or three weeks later, I brought it back as per the dealer's recommendation and they used UV lights to find a leak. It ended up being an absolute worst-case scenario. The evaporator core was leaking, and the expansion valve had to be replaced as well. It took two days, the complete removal of my truck's dashboard, and almost $1,600 in parts and labor, but now my A/C is seemingly leak-free. If it's blowing warm next year, at least I've got a two-year warranty on the parts and labor so I won't be paying for them to rip it apart then, but I've got my fingers crossed!

 

I've never noticed this, I may have to listen now and pop the hood. Could be just hte engine is loud enough that i don't hear it

 

Where would this VSV valve be on a 2004 2.7? I see a lot of valves and gizmos under there but don't know which is which and don't have any schematics/pictures that accurately show exactly where the various valves, sensors and valves are location wise. My Haynes manual is a joke. just generic pics and diagrams.