Many RX-8 owners have had problems with their A/C, but after several searches, I was unable to find any reference to my particular issue. In sum, I think there is some kind of blockage in my vents when my A/C is on.

The details: I was driving in very warm and humid weather this weekend, and my A/C worked fine for the first 30 minutes or so. Then the airflow coming from all of the vents started to drop. Even after turning the fan up, switching to and from RECIRC, and trying all combinations of vents (i.e., dash only, floor only, defroster, etc.), I was unable to get the usual airflow. The very little air that was coming through the vents was cold, but there was almost no flow. I also heard a faint whistling from the center ducts, as if something were blocking the airflow.

Here's the strangest part: when I got near home and turned the A/C off, the airflow started to return to normal. After five minutes or so I had all my airflow back (although at this point the air was very warm).

Has anyone else had this problem? Any thoughts as to what this might be? Any potential easy fixes? I'm taking the car in for routine maintenance later this week, but it would be great to explain the problem (and any possible fixes) in more detail to the dealer.

Thanks for any comments or suggestions!

 

For the benefit of those who might have this problem in the future, the problem was a iced-over evaporator. When I turned the A/C off, the ice melted and the airflow returned. The car is at the dealer now -- we'll see whether there is a fix for this problem (other than turning the A/C off periodically on a hot, humid day).

 

My left-center vent always puts out much less CFM than my right-center vent.

 

I believe that's because it's further away from the blower and the air hits the right vent first. My round passenger vent blows like a yard blower... :D, and the driver's hardly blows.

I tend to close the passenger round vent to max the flow to the other three.