Prius (2004-09) :: AC Got Weaker And Weaker Over The Summer
Sep 16, 2010
Looks like my AC condenser on the 2005 has been taken out by a rock. Guess that's not too uncommon from what I gather. AC got weaker and weaker over the summer, took it in to the dealer to diagnose. They found a big freon stain/gunk buildup on the right bottom corner, and are saying it needs a new condenser to the tune. Long story short, insurance is giving us the runaround because this is a salvage/rebuild. I've done a fair deal of work on past cars (oil, brakes, hydraulics, head gasket, clutch, etc) but have yet to wrench on the Prius much. I've never worked on the AC system, but this situation has me seriously thinking about starting
From what I gather I need a 88450-47020 condenser assembly w/receiver. It seems like this should come with the replacement o-ring for the dryer cap (hoe to confirm that?). Other than that it seems like I'd just need the special hybrid AC oil. From the tech manual changing the condenser out seems pretty straight forward, particularly as there is likely no refrigerant to speak of in the system currently. What worries me is not being able to test it under pressure/vacuum, and whether to try charging the system myself or if its reasonable to take it to a corner garage and have them leak test it and charge it after I've put the whole thing back together.
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Over the winter the car starts right up and you can actually see the STEAM from exhaust, no shake. when the weather gets warmer it drives weaker, shakes more with black smokes at times especially at low RPM ~600-700. I put the car on neutral at stop so or I press on the gas paddle a bit to get less shaking. On cylinder 1 there is always a small pool of diesel at the injector nozzle. I have also turn the idle adjustment pin 2 or 3 times so the car won't idle at 3-400rpm and shuts off when there is strain on the car. 1995 Mercedes S350D....
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I haven't been needing the A/C til recently due to the heat. When I have passengers in the rear and the A/C is set to just be body flow ( vs. body and feet), the rear blows but is noticeably weaker than the front. When I set it to both body and feet, the rear vents don't have any body flow and it is the same flow as when the rear is just set to feet. I went thru the manual and there doesn't appear to be anything incorrect (I am not in S mode) but the rear is just very weak in general with the controls on full.
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I am the original owner of a 2006 Prius with 265k miles. I use Mobil 5-30 synthetic oil and I drive a steep hill every day and the engine knocks in the summer afternoons when I use cheap 87 Octane gasoline from Safeway or Costco. If I use better 87 octane gasoline (Chevron, Shell) generally there is less knocking. Also during the winter months no knocking even with cheap gasoline.
During summer I can sometimes make the knocking go away by accelerating or decelerating. The knocking is intermittent and generally occurs only during the steepest parts of the commute. The engine might knock for 30 seconds to 60 seconds before its goes away as I try to change the engine RPM.
Unfortunately I am burning some oil at a rate of approximately half a quart every 5k miles. Generally I watch the oil level, but there have been cases where the oil level has fallen below the lowest mark on the dip stick so I suspect I have some carbon build up.
I've read posts where others have used additives like gumout regane and I've read posts that say not to use additives.
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The other day, I had the death triangle come up, it's done it 4 times since I have owned it, anyway got the triangle to go off, but now the AC works some of the time, and sometimes not, the lights are not blinking.
I put a new ac pump/compressor on about 3 yrs ago, been good till now, took it to a ac shop, evaced the stuff, put new in, same thing, he said the clutch/compressor was working good, cleaned out the filter, really dirty, was hoping that was the problem, worked good last nite, did probably 10 miles with it, but not really cold/cold air, I have not checked the belt yet, also, sometimes when I come up to a corner, it will like chug up to the stop, like maybe the compressor clutch is kicking in/out. This is the car we use a lot in the summer for the fact of leaving it idle while we are in the store, for our dogs, so it gets lots of use. Also, when the air buttons are on, motor (engine) will shut off the on, when its not blowing cold air.
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This Easter I put summer tires on my "new" (owned about 4 weeks) prius -07, and cleaned and greased brakes.
With winter tires (almost new Nokia hakka xx, stud less) I got 4.5 l/100km (52mpg) easy and 4.2 (56mpg) at best, now I get 5.5 (42mpg) and 5.3 if I struggle, if I relax and put cruise control on I get 5.8 (40mpg). I travel 100km to work every day.
Summer tires is Michelin primacy (about 2 seasons?) pumped to 3.0/2.8 bar (over inflated).
Brakes don't seem hot after drive and they was really clean and easy to move after my service so my guess is that they work fine...
Mileage went down over the weekend so I see a clear link.
It was more fun trying to hypermile at 56mpg aiming for 60 then it is at 42 aiming for 45...
12v battery charged, just in case. Still same temperature out 1-8 C. Oil and all filters changed first week (will change trans axle oil in summer). Travel to work got 4% shorter so tire size must be a small reason to the +20% problem.
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My 2012 Prius Two did something odd today that it's never done before. Today, after leaving a meeting, I had two instances where accelerating from a complete stop was met with a delay followed by a jerky and sudden acceleration. This only happened twice out of the dozen-or-so complete stops I made. This only happened on my first couple of complete stops, then never did it again.
Here is some pertinent information:
- Silver Prius, no tint
- Car sat uncovered for about 2.5 hours
- Was 96 degrees outside, not a cloud for miles
- Turned the car on, opened the front two windows for hot air escape
- Turned the AC on to full
- Sat parked but car running for maybe 30 seconds before reversing out of parking spot
- Rolled up windows
- Battery fan was going strong
- No indicator lights came on to suggest an issue
- Happened on my first two complete stops at stop signs
- Never happened again
- Battery fan eventually simmered down
- Have 55,000 miles on the car
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I live in NJ and in summer I am getting a full charge of 8.1 miles. In winter i used to get almost 11 miles. I thought in summer the charge will be even more?.
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Every thing was perfect till suddenly my A/C blows hot air on hot summer days when it over 104 , everything works motor clutch , fans so when its hot outside the motor & clutch turns on & off and wont cool it all started when I refilled my AC, I might of over charge a little. Not sure how to fix.
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We have a 97 Jeep Wrangler that I have serviced regularly since I purchased new. It only has 97,000 miles since my wife and children drove it locally. During winter, the Jeep drives fine. As the weather warms up and especially when using the air conditioning system, the engine heats up within 10 to 15 minutes of driving. Once, when my daughter was driving in warm Spring weather, the Jeep engine seized up on a highway. We had it towed and the dealership flushed the coolant and it drove OK for a few days. We have noticed that the coolant is burning up in Spring and Summer needing replenishment frequently. We also had the thermostat, water pump, belts, and hoses replaced. The overheating problem (needle moves to red zone) still persists in Spring and Summer. If we switch off the A/C, the vehicle drives OK for about a 1/2 hour but Atlanta summer can be brutal without A/C.
Except for this issue, the vehicle is well maintained and in fact every time I get the oil changed, the mechanics ask if I would sell the vehicle as it is in such great shape.
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2003 jetta has a body clunking (serious) ONLY in the summer, when it has been in the sun...
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I have a 1WARM-PRO Compustar remote starter on my 2006 CR-V. It sucks the charge out of my battery so I have to plug in my battery all winter when I'm at home to keep it charged. Every summer I go to the starter shop to have my remote starter turned off. Up until this year, the guy did something to turn it off that took a couple of minutes and he never charged me. He no longer works there. The new guy wants to charge me because he says he has to go under the dashboard. The other guy never went under the dashboard. How I could do this myself?
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Was thinking what should tire pressure be on wheels during summer time, assuming you have stock wheels. More pressure = you go faster/ have better gas mileage, but have less handling ability. Less pressure = better handling but slower speed/ lower gas mileage.
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I have a 1992 Toyota Corolla that will not start in the summers when the engine gets hot This is the 3rd summer it has happened as I attempt to run errands on the weekend and make several stops. After the 2nd or 3rd location, the car will not start. I must wait 30-45 min. for the car to cool down. I have called tow trucks before and by the time they get to me they are able to start the car. They always check the battery and tell me it is fine. I even bought a new battery just to make sure the first summer it happened. Obviously something is heating up, but what?
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I have my ABS light going on at spring and summer time, almost every day, when the winter starts (I am in Minnesota), it goes on no more than twice in the entire winter. When the light is on the ABS DOES NOT WORK (I tried). This is going on since 5-6 years.
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My 2001 Volvo S60 2.4T 148,000 miles starts up fine in the winter and in the morning's in the summer. However, if its 85 degrees or above in the summer and the car is warmed up and I'm running errands, stopping and restarting the engine. The car will crank and sputter before it starts or it will not start. These are the dealers notes from last year: RPM signal not good. Checked for relevant codes none found. Tested fuel pressure it is OK. Found when problem exists the tach bounces and the RPM sensor signal is erratic. Needless to say I declined the extra $300 to pay for more diagnostics. When the problem reoccurred this year I took it to my local Volvo tech and they replaced the RPM sensor at the cost of $180 for parts and labor.
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With average temperatures going over 10 C, it's time to switch tires, so I did. I have a set of 20" ATP Inox wheels with Nokian NRVi 275/45 tires, that are only used for the summer (in the winter the stock 17" canyons are used), the wheels and tires are not new, they've been on the T last summer as well without any problems.
But now, I hear a ticking noise in all 4 wheels or tires when driving. The sound doesn't stop at higher speeds (only more difficult to hear due to wind noise), and it occurs on the same spot in every wheel rotation. It's like there's a big nail in all 4 tires, but: there isn't one, nor anything else, and there's plenty of thread left (> 1 cm).
The noise stops sometimes when braking or turning. I contacted and visited the dealer, and he couldn't find anything but assured me that it couldn't be that big a problem. What I checked:
- air pressure (3 Kg/cm rear, 2.6 Kg/cm front)
- all bolts properly tightened
- no nails, stones, whatsoever in the tires
- no loose cables, brake pads, or things like that
- thread wear is ok
- I have no TPMS so no lost sensors inside the wheels
If the problem persists, the dealer will take the tires off of the wheels and check inside, but according to me it's very unlikely that there's something inside all 4 tires.
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I have a 2006 Chevrolet Equinox. The issue is that during the winter the cruise control works perfectly. During the summer it doesn't work at all. During the Spring and Fall it is intermittent. It's not a big issue but, my wife and I are moving to England soon and she wants me to take it to a mechanic before we leave. However, I think I can fix this myself but, have nowhere to start.
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I have a 07 ES 350. Several days ago, I went to auto car wash without turning off the auto wiper blade. When I came out, I saw the wiper blades were higher than before. Then I loosen the nuts, and put them a little lower trying to make them back to original position.
But now I realized that it does have Summer/Winter mode. Is there any way to make sure which mode is it now? Should I pull down the blade after starting the engine, or before?
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I have a Honda Civic Hybrid 2005 that I drive fairly regularly. I keep up with all the maintenance never had a problem... That is until last year. In the heat wave of Northeast 2012, the car started stalling after long drives. It only happened in mid to late august when temperatures started reaching the 90's. In the fall and winter the problem went away. I took it to the dealer in around October and they could not reproduce at first then later came back to tell me that it was the IACV valve. It promptly went away for the entirety of the winter and has now returned in june. As far as I can tell it only happens in the heat when you are idle after driving. It appears that the RPM's go to low (400<) and the thing stalls... How did you fix it? Can I do it myself? Where the hell is this IACV maybe I can clean it out or something?
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I have a 2013 Lexus ES350 and the left edge of the rear bumper keep pops open during the hot summer days. The first time I saw this gap between my bumper and the frame I thought someone has hit my car's bumper. After close inspection, the bumper is smooth as butter just like the first day I brought the car home. I took the car last Saturday to a Lexus dealer for an inspection. The service guy told me there is nothing he can do and maybe bring the car back on a weekday so their diagnostic guy can take a look.
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