Now that the sweltering summer is upon us, i've noticed a few problems with my AC.

1. At idle it blows warm (well, not cold, lets say that) air. I figure this may be normal as its hard to gear a compressor to work at idle and not explode at 9000rpm. Anyone else have this problem?

2. While it works fine while crusing, up near redline it will go back to warm air. This again may be normal, as some sports cars automatically disengage the compressor under given parameters (wot, boost, rom, etc).

I know there's a TSB for AC problems, but it says something about warm/cold cycling which I don't really expierence. Mine is always warm at idle, always cold on cruise, and always warm under heavy load.

 

The TSB will correct this problem..

 

not necessarily. It didn't on mine. My ac just blows. it blows hot air at that, and not very forcefully.

 

I have exactly the same issue and was wondering the same thing. When I got the car, I turned on the air while cruising home and nearly froze. I thought "Cool (no pun intended), I've got a good air conditioner"...that being a necessity in central Texas. Since then I've found the performance to vary alot at lower speed/rpms.

 

I think I've got the "cycling" issue.. if you crank it up to full high and put your hand in front of a vent, you can feel it go from cold to cool to lukewarm, and then back. Wouldn't have noticed for another month or so if the weather wasn't so messed up here...

 

I imagine that the magnetic clutch on the compressor will disengage past a certain RPM - AC compressors don't care for 9000 RPM's.

I think the high RPM's is part of the reason the '8 has an electric power steering system. Power steering pumps blow up at 9000 RPM - I know some RX-7 guys that have killed pumps from sustained high RPM's.

Can you see the AC compressor with the hood open? If so, you could see if the clutch on it was engaged and the pump was spinning at idle when the air is warm.

Dale

 

i just called my dealer and set up an appointment to have them change the AC computer..we'll see

 

Let me know if that works for you. It didn't fix mine, that's for sure. It maybe works better in cool weather, but in the heat of summer (85+ degrees) it sucks just as much as it did before the A/C amp swap.

 

I was thinking about getting an RX8 this comming weekend. I live in South Florida and I am a bit scared about this A/C problem. Do they all have this problem? Is there a fix for it?
-RX8J

 

I took it in and they seemed confident that the AC amp would fix it. But of course they had to order it...

 

Yeah, they had to order mine too. I haven't told them that it didn't work yet... I need to see if anyone else has a fix above and beyond the ac amp.

 

My 8 was produced after the A.C problem but it still wasn't cooling that well. And i couldn't figure out why, i would get cool air never cold air, then i would get a little warm air. and the other day i turned the ac on but put it to fresh air instead of recycle. And the air got colder then it's been before. The normal is to put the recycleing side right away and it usually cooled on my other cars i had before. Well anyways like i said i put it to fresh air and the air got cold, colder then it ever has before then after it got cold i switched it to recycling mode and it got colder. and it stayed cold during all the stop and go traffic around town. And i haven't had a problem with it yet. So try that if you think your ac isn't working right. It might or might not work doesn't hurt to try. But the air is cold real cold.

 

I've actually tried every combination that I could think of, that one included. But thanks for the info. Maybe someone else will have that same phenomenon.

 

The new amp didn't fix mine either.

 

So what is the verdict? Do all of the 8's have this problem or is it limited to a select few of them? I am going to the dealer on Sunday, and I will be critical of this issue (thanks to this forum). If the problem is not model or design specific, I can look for one that blows cold air (on a Sunday afternoon in FL I will be able to tell quickly). If the problem IS from problematic design I dont think I can tollerate it, and I'll have to wait for a fix till I get one..... and I will get one .... oh yes :p

-RX8J

 

I have noticed now that I got the new amp that when I turn on my AC that the default is max curculation. This was not the case before the new amp. Any one else experiecing this?

 

Depending on what vents are open determines that. No matter what you had it set on (re-circ or fresh air), it changes to the "suggested" mode when you change what vents are open. I think dash is recirc, dash and floor is fresh, etc.

 

an informal evaluation of my "coldness" on my way home this evening suggests that RPM in the 3250 +/- 250 RPM range produced the best results for me. Ambient was (according to the dash) 94 deg. F.

 

bought my 8 a week ago and have put 1000 miles an a weekend trip . it was 85 to 91 outside and my air worked great. i do have a automatic if that may make a diffrence i am not sure ,but all the problems on the earlier ones seems to be fixed in mine. Great power once the car learned how i drove and the handling is like no other car i have driven. so good luck on your search

 

I have had the AC amp fix for the past 2 weeks now. I dont have the cycling anymore. However, I do notice it gets significantly colder at highway speeds. Before the fix it would noticible cycle from warm to cold to warm to cold at idle or at speed. Now it goes from cold to colder to cold to colder depending if Im stopped or moving fast. This with 80 degree weather!!

 

A/c amp change did not fix my a/c issue as well.

 

A/c amp change did not fix my a/c issue as well.

 

A/c amp change did not fix my a/c issue as well.

 

must have REALLY not fixed it!

 

yesterday me and fiance went for a cruise it was almost 90 min of driven hwy, city, traffic and back on the hwy. at almost 90 degree temp..... the a/c would do the cycle ........but has any one expirience water dropps from under the pasanger side....