Uncool A/C

**albert_b** · May 17th, 2005 04:02 PM

Just wanna share my experience...

A couple of weeks ago, I had this problem with my car's air conditioning. Specially during our uber hot summer afternoons when the sun's directly above our head, it doesn't seem to be able to cool the car's passenger compartment, more so if I have 3 other people with me in the car. I distinctly remember bringing the car 2 months ago for a refrigerant refill, so it shouldn't be that ... then again could it be leaking? I had it checked, there was no problem.

Recently, I made this long trip up to Caliraya Lake. We started our travel fairly late in the morning, sad to say we caught the monstrous traffic at Bicutan and it was 1pm. Suddenly, as if it had a mind of its own, the thermometer needle in my console, suddenly started moving up and down. I observed it for a while and realized that it jumps up when I was moving slowly but goes back to its normal position when I speed up. Since the road to Caliraya ain't exactly like NLX, I was moving at a fairly conservative pace, I was in the brink of overheating. Luckily, we made it to the resort before it became critical, I immediately cooled her down and refilled the radiator with cool water. I think I've poured in over 3 liters of water! She was dry to the bones! It was amazing the engine didn't seize up. Lucky me ... or so I thought.

I said to myself, maybe, water was no longer sufficient. With temperatures in the shade during the afternoon reaching beyond 40 degrees celcius, I was convinced that I needed something better. So I got myself to buy 2 liters of radiator coolant to mix with my "pure water" radiator. At first I thought the problem was over, for a while my thermometer's needle was again still and stable but it didn't stay that way. The following day, the problem was back. Now this time I'm really worried.

I brought my car to an aircon / electrical shop and found out my aircon fan's motor is busted, carbon brushes were all used up. We replaced the whole motor and everything's ok. My car's a/c is now cool again and its been 3 incident-free days... maybe its just me but I feel its even cooler than before.

**albert_b** · May 17th, 2005 04:12 PM

btw, the aircon fan cost me 600 pesos, the 2 liters of coolant (caltex) was a little over 500 pesos.

**the_wildthing** · May 17th, 2005 05:16 PM

Nice.

Yep, fan's the easiest to check because you can see whether it's turning or not.

If the aux fan is not running, turn off the A/C to reduce the load on the engine. If it is running and the main fan isn't, turn on the A/C so the aux fan will turn, and see if there's improvement.

**OTEP** · May 17th, 2005 09:47 PM

Yup ganyan ang going rate talaga for a/c fan rebuilds. I don't really like shops that force you to buy a 'new' or surplus fan just because they are too lazy to work on the one you already have.

If taking out the fan does not require major surgery to the face of your vehicle, the service costs Php 400.00/fan at Mario's.

**KCboy** · May 17th, 2005 09:55 PM

normallang ba talaga pag maiinit ang panahon, d lumalamig ganu yung aircon ko, but kanina, hapon na mdyo umuulan na, ang lamig ng aircon ko....normal ba yun, lalo na pag old na yung car?

**OTEP** · May 17th, 2005 10:05 PM

Kapag hindi lumalamig when you are stopped, baka mahina ang aux fan or busted na.

Pero mainit talaga ang panahon ngayon.

**KCboy** · May 17th, 2005 10:08 PM

dinala ko na kasi sa freshaire sa may quezon avenue, new palit lang yung aux fan ko kaya im puzzled talaga y d malamig pag tanghali at napara ko yung kar sa labas. sana it's nothing.

**albert_b** · May 18th, 2005 11:04 AM

Originally Posted by KCboy

dinala ko na kasi sa freshaire sa may quezon avenue, new palit lang yung aux fan ko kaya im puzzled talaga y d malamig pag tanghali at napara ko yung kar sa labas. sana it's nothing.

If bago naman ang a/c refrigerant mo and wala namang problem ang aux fan mo then yung a/c mo itself (condenser ba yon?) could be the culprit.

If ok naman siya, it's either your engine bay is way too hot or your passenger compartment is taking in too much heat from outside (no tints?). In both cases, your a/c cannot move heat out efficiently enough.

**Dieseler** · May 18th, 2005 11:11 AM

In my case naman, malamig naman when the aircon is on, but when I switch on the 2nd aircon (yung dual), parang humihina ang lamig. What's the problem kaya?

Also, when I'm running, parang masmalaming compared to when I'm idling. Is this another problem?

**morrissey_05** · May 18th, 2005 06:20 PM

this happened to my wife's mitsu. ran it at night at talagang ala ng lamig. so i brought it to the best place i know, Mario's. wasn't disappointed. magaling yung gumawa. he checked all possible causes even after he concluded na kulang lang sa freon. so freon load lang