i just moved to the DFW area from PA and as you can imagine i am using my AC a bit now. Still put the top down every chance I get, which thankfully is often However I have noticed that when I do run the AC the compressor seems to stop when I stop at red lights. Then once I get going again around second gear it starts right up again. Now in PA I almost never ran the AC, not sure if that has anything to do with it. But I sure would like to have it run while stopped. The fan continues to run, but all I get is warm moist air from the vents.

Has anyone else experienced this? My car is a manual, and I always have the engine stop option turned off so the engine does not turn off when at red lights.

 

Not normal in any state. You should continue to get cool air as long as the car is running. These cars have had issues with change over valves. I have had one replaced due to no heat. This situation seems a bit odd but could be some issue with a valve. You should have cool air regardless of moving or stopped.

 

Do you have the Auto Stop/Start enabled?

 

I do not have auto start stop enabled.

 

Definitely not normal then.

 

Are you sure. Auto stop on, the red light off. Auto stop off, the red indicator light on.

 

Are you sure its only when stopped?

I had an issue where AC would blow hot air, intermittently, when driving or stopped.
Within a few weeks I got the failed heater and Cooling System Fault message.
Sure enough it was a CO valve.

 

When I start the car it just blows warm air and its humid. When I stop at lights it immediately turns to warm humid air again. Once I get going the air is nice and cold.

I'll double check the light to make sure. However I always keep the auto start off, the car never turns off when I stop.

I guess I need to find time to get to the dealer. Just moved here and have a million things to do so it may be a week or so till I can get it checked out.

 

Sounds like you might have an issue with the condenser fan, if these cars have such a thing. While the car is moving, there is air blowing past the condenser, but as soon as you stop, the condenser stays hot and the A/C stops cooling.

 

Condensors are in the front bumper and there are fans for them.
One could check to see if they work when AC is on.

 

Finally made it into the dealer. Seems the 2 fans up in front near the radiators failed. Which as I'm told is rare so they had to order parts. But it's all fixed now and the A\C is COLD. It made a huge difference. Vacuum lines were fine. No idea what caused them to fail but hopefully it's not something I need to worry about again.

 

There have been a number of these fans failing, myself included. The most common theme seems to be gravel getting kicked up to the fan bearing housing. If you look to the front of the front wheels, you will see a plastic slatted cover in the wheel well. This cover protects the fan housing or at least is supposed to! Stay off gravel roads!

Frank C.

 

That's interesting. I do try hard to stay away from gravel, but as you know it's not always possible. The dealer didn't offer any suggestions as to why it might have failed but your explanation makes sense. Im gonna give that section a look to see if anything else is wrong up there or if other stuff is stuck in there.

 

If it happens again ask to inspect the failed part. Rotate the fan by hand, (assuming its its not frozen) you will hear it binding up if there is gravel inside.

Frank C.