air conditioner question

[jcarey]

I have a 2008 outback. The air blows cold then warm then cold then warm. This goes on constantly. The output air never goes below 60 deg. Does anyone else see this issue?

Thanks for and info.

 

John

[idosubaru]

odd for such a new vehicle, have it covered under warranty. something this new often won't have just "age" issues like a car a few years.

[McDave]

Sounds like it's low on freon and as a result the compressor is cycling off and on. If it's not under warranty, have a shop check for and repair the leak, then top off with freon, or evacuate and recharge depending on if they had to open the system to repair the leak. Sometimes it's as simple as a service valve or hose that needs tightened so a full evac and recharge isn't needed.

[Rooster2]

Same thought as previous poster.........your system is low on 134a refrigerant. If you are a good do it yourselfer, add a can of 134a to the low pressure side of your A/C system. The letter "L" is embossed on the cap of the port. Filler hose and refrigerant can is available at any auto parts store. The store counter guy should be able to give you advise, plus directions on the can should make this job easy for you to do. If this fix doesn't work for long, then you will need to find the source of the refrigerant leak.

 

Any A/C work is expensive at a shop, so diy can save you some money.

[unibrook]

My car is a 2001 Forester with 90k miles on her.

 

From my searching online, it seems like the usual suspects for leaks on cars 5+ yrs old are: 1. O-rings at ports and 2. Condensor rusting out and getting a hole in it.

 

If #2 happens to you, and your car is 5+ yrs old, tell the mechanic to replace all the O-rings while he is in there -- just for good preventive maintenance. That way, you won't have to go back into his shop a few weeks later to have them replaced for $187.30 like I did.

[jcarey]

Thanks for all the replies. The car is under warranty and has been in the shop 5 times since June to address this issue. The dealer first found that the system had to much freon causing too high of head pressure. They redid the charge and this didn't help. They then tried a new expansion valve again no help. Their tec stated the compressor had a problem that prevented it from operating correctly and would not put out anything under 60 deg air. They then ordered a new compressor , took from mid July to mid September to get the compressor and then after installing it the dealer said everything is OK. The same problem I started with still exists. No colder than 60 deg air no matter what the outside temp is. When you have the air on you can feel the cold air start then warm air blows then cold again. I don't detect the compressor cycling (never did) but I may not be hearing it. It is as if something is shutting off the cold air flow like a vent door closing and then re-opening controled by some thermostat type of control. Bottom line is that now the Subaru rep is to look at the car some time in the near future. I suspect he will say it's working as designed. If so, then the air in the 2008 outback is marginal at best in Arizona at 115 deg outside temp.

 

My real question for the forum was if anyone else has seen this on a 2008 outback. Thanks again for all your help. Sorry for the long reply.

 

John

[rlsimpso]

Do you have regular ventilation controls, with a knob for hot and cold, or climate control? I had a problem where the damper was not closing all the way, causing hot air to mix with the AC air.

 

This is a long shot, but are the fan that pull air through the radiator working correctly. I ask because I had a 87 GL with a similar problem. It had one engine driven fan and one electric fan. The electric fan was replaced one winter. The summer after that the AC was not as cold and barely worked at high speed, high for a GL anyway. I found that the electric fan was blowing hot air out the grill instead of drawing in. The wires on the connector for the eletric fan were reversed, so it was yellow to black and black to yellow. I switched the wires around the fan worked correctly. This fixed the problem with AC.

[jcarey]

Thanks for the reply. It seems that the cold/warm cycle IS connected to the compressor cycling on and off. At idle the "NEW" compressor cycles on and off every 10 seconds or so. This very quick cycle of the compressor seems really to fast to do any good to keep the compressor from freezing up or anything else that could be good for the system. Well maybe the system won't freeze up as this cycling seems to keep the temp output at 60 deg. The clutch is really getting a workout. I know that compressors cycle, but this one seems to cycle too often. Any comments?

Thanks in advance.

 

John

[McDave]

Thanks for the reply. It seems that the cold/warm cycle IS connected to the compressor cycling on and off. At idle the "NEW" compressor cycles on and off every 10 seconds or so. This very quick cycle of the compressor seems really to fast to do any good to keep the compressor from freezing up or anything else that could be good for the system. Well maybe the system won't freeze up as this cycling seems to keep the temp output at 60 deg. The clutch is really getting a workout. I know that compressors cycle, but this one seems to cycle too often. Any comments?

Thanks in advance.

 

John

Like I said in post #3, it's low on freon. If you can't get the dealer to take care of it, at least have a shop diagnose the problem and consider letting them go ahead and fix it if it's cheap enough. If it needs major repairs though, take the diagnosis to the dealer and insist they fix it under warranty.

[Rooster2]

Thanks for the reply. It seems that the cold/warm cycle IS connected to the compressor cycling on and off. At idle the "NEW" compressor cycles on and off every 10 seconds or so. This very quick cycle of the compressor seems really to fast to do any good to keep the compressor from freezing up or anything else that could be good for the system. Well maybe the system won't freeze up as this cycling seems to keep the temp output at 60 deg. The clutch is really getting a workout. I know that compressors cycle, but this one seems to cycle too often. Any comments?

Thanks in advance.

 

John

 

 

 

Still sounds like you are low on 134 refrigerant. Air temp coming out the A/C vent ducts should be about 45 degrees F when system is on max cold setting, and the system is working properly. My guess is that system cycling should be about every 45 seconds, not 10 seconds, when working properly. Something must be wrong at the Subbie dealership in their service department for your to bring the car back 5, now maybe 6 times over the course of a hot summer, and they still don't have the A/C problem fixed. When a mechanic works on your system, he knows when his work has fixed the problem. A/C pressure testing instrumentation, and a simple thermometer placed in a vent duct will tell you that. If your A/C system is leaking refrigerant, it is not that difficult to detect that. Why the dealer would release the car to you, when they know that the problem is not solved is a mystery.

 

You have a lot more patience then me to put up with this nonsense. It is time to really complain hard to the dealership, and Subbie factory rep guy about this on going problem. You may even want to threaten them with their replacing your car at no cost, or returning all your money under state "car lemmon law." Of course, they won't want to do that, but your raising a cloud of complaint may get them highly motivated to really fix the problem.

 

If there is another Subaru dealership that is within reasonable driving distance, I would take my car there for a fix under warranty claim.

 

Subbie air conditioning works great in both my Subbies, even on the hottest days. The design of the system is not the problem, just the repair clowns that you have been dealing with.

[mwatt]

if the A/C system is in fact fully charged, there are several things I can think of: is the AutoTemp (Climate Control) module malfunctioning? ---or--- is the thermo-sensor probe that sticks into the evaporator core (to measure evaporator temperature) malfunctioning? ----or---- is the cabin interior ambient temperature sensor (reports interior temperature to climate control module) malfunctioning? Those are some things you ought to question your dealer about.....

 

there was another '08 Outback owner (out in Oregon?) that posted a similar concern many months ago....I think he mentioned that he got better A/C performance when he ran A/C "manually" rather than on AutoTemp...

Edited October 2, 2008 by mwatt