AC Issue
06-16-17, 04:25 PM
#1
AC Issue
Hey what's up guys,
So as soon as the hottest part of the year comes to Vegas, My AC decides to start acting up. It worked perfect in cooler temps but started acting crazy yesterday when it got Into the triple digits. What should I start with as far as diagnosing it?
There's two main issues I'm having with it and it started about 3 days ago. I got to work and had to take a call so I sat in my car on the phone for about 10 minutes. After about 7 minutes or so of it idling with the ac on, it started to surge and the air started coming out at ambient air temp but only at idle for after a while.
As of right now, the air blows out ice cold driving and in stop and go traffic but the idle is really iratic. I noticed that when the car is sitting, at Idle and the idle starts surging with the AC on, the compressor stops. Also, inside the dryer eye, the gas looks like it stops completely as well.
The second problem is as soon as I turn the AC on, the engine temp starts rising really fast. It's about 110 here today and my car runs at about 88-93c. Once I turn the AC on, within a few minutes it's up to 106c and I'm shutting the AC off. The temp will go back down to high 97c-98c within about 5 minutes of me shutting off the AC
My car is a 92 JDM FD with a full 3" exhaust. I have the stock twins on running sequential. PFC with the fan set to come on at 88c. I have an S5 FC thermoswitch on. I recently upgraded the stock radiator to a Brand new Koyo N Flow and installed an ETS front mount intercooler. I have the stock underbelly tray on it but It looked like a section of it was blocking airflow to the rad and condenser so I made a kind of duct. This worked really well to keep temps down but didn't fix the heat issue with my AC on.
I know the compressor flicking off and on would indicate a leak of freon, but would it be normal for it to pretty much happen instantly? Is my compressor going out? It takes the pleasure out of driving my FD when it's 110f outside and I can't turn on the AC.
Thanks!
Frank
So as soon as the hottest part of the year comes to Vegas, My AC decides to start acting up. It worked perfect in cooler temps but started acting crazy yesterday when it got Into the triple digits. What should I start with as far as diagnosing it?
There's two main issues I'm having with it and it started about 3 days ago. I got to work and had to take a call so I sat in my car on the phone for about 10 minutes. After about 7 minutes or so of it idling with the ac on, it started to surge and the air started coming out at ambient air temp but only at idle for after a while.
As of right now, the air blows out ice cold driving and in stop and go traffic but the idle is really iratic. I noticed that when the car is sitting, at Idle and the idle starts surging with the AC on, the compressor stops. Also, inside the dryer eye, the gas looks like it stops completely as well.
The second problem is as soon as I turn the AC on, the engine temp starts rising really fast. It's about 110 here today and my car runs at about 88-93c. Once I turn the AC on, within a few minutes it's up to 106c and I'm shutting the AC off. The temp will go back down to high 97c-98c within about 5 minutes of me shutting off the AC
My car is a 92 JDM FD with a full 3" exhaust. I have the stock twins on running sequential. PFC with the fan set to come on at 88c. I have an S5 FC thermoswitch on. I recently upgraded the stock radiator to a Brand new Koyo N Flow and installed an ETS front mount intercooler. I have the stock underbelly tray on it but It looked like a section of it was blocking airflow to the rad and condenser so I made a kind of duct. This worked really well to keep temps down but didn't fix the heat issue with my AC on.
I know the compressor flicking off and on would indicate a leak of freon, but would it be normal for it to pretty much happen instantly? Is my compressor going out? It takes the pleasure out of driving my FD when it's 110f outside and I can't turn on the AC.
Thanks!
Frank
06-16-17, 06:52 PM
#3
Rotary Enthusiast
iTrader: (32)
Surging idle and no compressor sounds like it might be your PFC messing up the compressor relay signal. Does changing the fan switch position have any effect? Take a look at the AC signal check screen on your commander, see if it is indicating a compressor on command or something else, like flickering on and off. If flickering, it could be the classic power fc grounding issue.
06-16-17, 06:54 PM
#4
Constant threat
You didn't say it specifically, but are your fans turning on? Both of them? Because what you describe sounds a lot like no fans, or one not coming on.
That A/C condenser is a freakin' thermal nuclear generator during normal operation, it adds a tremendous heat-load to the cooling system.
You are a brave man taking on that sort of heat in an FD. I park mine when it gets above 70 degrees F, lol!
That A/C condenser is a freakin' thermal nuclear generator during normal operation, it adds a tremendous heat-load to the cooling system.
You are a brave man taking on that sort of heat in an FD. I park mine when it gets above 70 degrees F, lol!
06-17-17, 12:04 AM
#5
Both fans come on and visually look like they're working fine. They feel like they're pulling a ton of air.
I just did a sensor check and the ac lights up and stays on consistely on all fan speeds.
I took the car out for a drive right now. It's 90f out here at 10pm and the AC worked perfectly fine. Temps stayed in the 90s and no surging. It seems to only do it when it's really hot outside during the day.
So the condenser itself get really hot? The condenser is extremely close to the radiator.. about 1/8". I know the dryer is extremely hot after a couple moments with the AC on. Wasn't sure if that was normal or not. I'm wondering if Vegas is just too hot for my car. It's supposed to get almost 120 this coming up week.
I'm wondering if I should try to add a pusher fan onto the condenser itself. See if that does anything.
If I only drove my car when it was under 70, I'd only drive it about 2-3 months out of the year! Haha
I just did a sensor check and the ac lights up and stays on consistely on all fan speeds.
I took the car out for a drive right now. It's 90f out here at 10pm and the AC worked perfectly fine. Temps stayed in the 90s and no surging. It seems to only do it when it's really hot outside during the day.
So the condenser itself get really hot? The condenser is extremely close to the radiator.. about 1/8". I know the dryer is extremely hot after a couple moments with the AC on. Wasn't sure if that was normal or not. I'm wondering if Vegas is just too hot for my car. It's supposed to get almost 120 this coming up week.
I'm wondering if I should try to add a pusher fan onto the condenser itself. See if that does anything.
If I only drove my car when it was under 70, I'd only drive it about 2-3 months out of the year! Haha
06-17-17, 07:50 AM
#6
RX-7 Bad Ass
iTrader: (55)
You may be low in refrigerant. The AC in the FD should work fine without overheating the car even in desert heat.
Dale
Dale
06-17-17, 04:03 PM
#7
Do you have a datalogit? Can you post the map and a log of the A/C cycling? Sounds like it needs tuning for the idle surge. Stock ECU is going to run the A/C idle compensation the best. It's basically an after thought on standalone ECUs.
106C isn't that hot for the A/C on. Let it run until it's 109C. If it stays under 109C (stock temp gauge doesn't move) you are OK. Or if you don't want to push it, you're honestly out of luck. Don't drive the car when it's that hot out. It's normal for cars to run that hot in such severe conditions, rotary or piston. That's just how it is. I have done stop and go with A/C up to 95F ambient in the desert on my FD.
Remember, stock thermoswitch kicks on at 108C, and stock water temp gauge doesn't move until over 108C. Mazda knew it would get this hot. That doesn't help the life of the coolant seals of course, but that doesn't mean it's too hot if you see temp climbing there.
106C isn't that hot for the A/C on. Let it run until it's 109C. If it stays under 109C (stock temp gauge doesn't move) you are OK. Or if you don't want to push it, you're honestly out of luck. Don't drive the car when it's that hot out. It's normal for cars to run that hot in such severe conditions, rotary or piston. That's just how it is. I have done stop and go with A/C up to 95F ambient in the desert on my FD.
Remember, stock thermoswitch kicks on at 108C, and stock water temp gauge doesn't move until over 108C. Mazda knew it would get this hot. That doesn't help the life of the coolant seals of course, but that doesn't mean it's too hot if you see temp climbing there.
Last edited by arghx; 06-17-17 at 04:24 PM.
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06-23-17, 02:28 PM
#9
So an update on this.
Argxh, I have a datalogit, I'll try to get a log sometime this week.
So temps have been pretty hot this week. Tuesday was 117f outside. I decided to run it with the ac to see how much past 106c it would get but planned on shutting it down if it got hotter than 109c. Well, it went up to 106c, back down to 104, peaked at 107 but fluctuated between 104-106. This was in both moderate stop and go traffic and freeway when the temp was 117f outside. Air comes out ice cold except for if I'm at a stop light for more than a few minutes it'll come out cool, but I think that's a given with the temps outside.
Today when I drove to work, it was 105f outside. I had the A/C on the whole time and it came out ice cold the whole time and fluctuated between 94-96c. Not bad at all.
I think I just over reacted too fast thinking the temp wasn't going to stop going up. Although, I did notice some differences. Today and any day when the ambient temp is not over 110+ it doesn't surge like in the video. It seems like when the ambient temp is over 110f is when it starts to surge like that with the ac compressor coming on. The car drives noticeably different too. I can literally feel the car bog down a good bit when the compressor comes off and on when it's like that. Is that a sign the compressor may be going out? Or is that just something that may be happening because it's so damn hot outside??
Argxh, I have a datalogit, I'll try to get a log sometime this week.
So temps have been pretty hot this week. Tuesday was 117f outside. I decided to run it with the ac to see how much past 106c it would get but planned on shutting it down if it got hotter than 109c. Well, it went up to 106c, back down to 104, peaked at 107 but fluctuated between 104-106. This was in both moderate stop and go traffic and freeway when the temp was 117f outside. Air comes out ice cold except for if I'm at a stop light for more than a few minutes it'll come out cool, but I think that's a given with the temps outside.
Today when I drove to work, it was 105f outside. I had the A/C on the whole time and it came out ice cold the whole time and fluctuated between 94-96c. Not bad at all.
I think I just over reacted too fast thinking the temp wasn't going to stop going up. Although, I did notice some differences. Today and any day when the ambient temp is not over 110+ it doesn't surge like in the video. It seems like when the ambient temp is over 110f is when it starts to surge like that with the ac compressor coming on. The car drives noticeably different too. I can literally feel the car bog down a good bit when the compressor comes off and on when it's like that. Is that a sign the compressor may be going out? Or is that just something that may be happening because it's so damn hot outside??
