Air conditioner turns on when startup
 

I have an 05 RX8 with 9000KM. Intermittently on startup, the air conditioner will turn on by itself (green light comes on) even though the air conditioner was off before shut-down (in heater mode; air direct to footwell). This has been happening for the last 3 or 4 months. Earlier this would happen about once per week but lately this occurs almost every 2nd day. Has anyone else experienced this problem?. I have not had dealer look into this problem yet. All else is well!

Hey - I have been having heating/ AC problems with my car for the past little while. I took it to the dealer and they told be there is a heating system notice - they will have to order in a part - but it should solve the problem.

Do you also have the defroster setting activated with the air directed in the footwell?

You should see a little 'defroster' icon light up along with the arrow to the leg portion of the seated figure on the display, if so. The A/C condenser will not blow cold air below a certain outside temperature, but the drier will activate to remove moisture from incoming air. I've only had the A/C light actually come on if I have parked underground in a moist/damp parking lot. Doesn't happen any other time.

read your owner's manual. I think YT1300 is right, its been discussed before.
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LilSexyBitch cam

I've had the same thing happening for the last couple of days ( especially when its really cold) when I start the car A/C automatically turns out. Pretty sure it was off before because i've never used A/C since I bought the car. Will consult manual tomorrow

Same here I thought I was going crazy

Thanks to all. Before engine shut off the air flow is deflected to floor only - no defrost. I suspect this is a quirky feature of the 8, not a bug! It seems to happen more often in underground garage at work than any other place, so air temp/moisture is probably triggering it. I will have dealer look it on next oil change but i don't want them to take the car apart to find the problem. It is more of an annoyance than anything. We can ignore these little quirks & enjoy what this car does best. Drive!

Basically, unless the heater control is set to blow straight out of the dash then you will sometimes have the AC compressor cycle on and off.

If the temperature isn't set to "cool" then the compressor will act as a dehumidifier to take moisture from the windshield and carpeting. It does work very well, but doesn't do much for gas mileage...

Chris...

Even if the defrost is set on... The A/C light shouldn't come on. Get them to look at it.

For All: Even when the defrost is set on or a combination there of, the A/C light won't come on even if the A/C is cycling on and off.

I believe the AC light is only supposed to come on if the unit is actually "cooling" the car.

Chris...

The manual states: p. 6-8 "if the air is deflected to the floor only or floor + vent the compressor will cycle on/off but the light is not supposed to come on". From now on, i am going to set to vent only to see if same problem occurs on startup - also in the interest of high octane $1.00/litre gas consumption!

Hmm. Interesting. If the light isn't supposed to come on, then why does it activate? It is using part of the A/C system, so I suppose that under the right circumstances that light might come on to actively dry the air... but I would suppose that you'd actually want to try and cool the air.

Ah, now I recall - the light only comes on for me if I have the temperature set to anything less than 3/4 to full heat, and only in this underground parking lot that I have to park in. The ambient temperature usually is reading around 22-25 C when it does.

It doesn't do it any other time, and it doesn't cause anything to go bang, so I'm not too worried about this.