On extremely hot days like we've just had, I've noticed my a/c doesn't feel that cold when in idle. When I start driving the car, I feel the a/c get colder as I accelerate. When I come to a stop light, I can feel the a/c spitting out slightly warm air. Is that normal or is it because of the extreme heat that makes me think the the a/c is not cold enough?

 

I'd like to tell you , but I've only been in rainy wet weather even though I bought it last Halloween! Mine "seems" OK, but I'll definitely check that out as I am cruising to Niagara from Calgary tomorrow night for 3 weeks.

 

Would love to be able to respond to htis but we had like ONE summers day so far.....

 

That's been my only complaint, from day 1. You'll find that you need 2-2.5k revs for the a/c to generate any cooling. And then, only marginal at best, due to the early cycling off/on that never lets the cabin get cooled. This is way worse than even the cheapest sub-compact rental cars. But then, I suppose there has to be at least one item of discomfort, or our '8s wouldn't qualify as "sports" cars, lol!!

 

Ive been notising the exact same thing with mine. Given, the past week or two have been extreamely HOT, there is only so much that little thing can do.

 

IIRC correctly, the compressor turns off at idle and WOT.
Hence the hot and cold effect.
I'll have to double check on that though.

 

its the same thing in the durrent car im driving. its been explained to me that when idle, the car isnt turning the compressor as fast, so its not generating the same cooling effect. its nothing to be worried about. i just left it at that and decided 'it must be normal'. my buddy's civic does the same thing too.

 

has anybody had the air conditioner amp TSB done like in the US?

 

Same here. Its a bit of a joke. What can you do. But it sure seams to be substantially warmer at idle.

 

hahaha.. i thought i was the only one with this issue.. at idle it's not that cold at all, but when i drive around it's fine.. So if i need a blast of cold air i just redline it and it's all cold again! even when you take the AC off

Ya the last week has been crazy, got into my car on saturday and I couldn't even touch the shifter.. Had to take out my leather gloves and leave it on the shifter so i didn't get to hot when i returned


MrJynx

 

The A/C is the only thing about the car I don't like. I've had the amplifier replaced per the TSB and it is a little better, but it did not fix the warm air at idle problem. Fortunately, most of my miles are highway miles and I find the A/C very adequate when I'm on the open road. It's just a problem for me at stop lights.

 

I had the A/C TBS done and it has been working great ever since. I only get that issue at idle when I am pulling in warm air from outside. When it's inside air it works fine.

 

My car works this way also . . . Make sure you are on recirculate and not flow through mode, mine doesn't automatically switch like some cars with newer programming. On recirculate mode I sense some coolness at idle, otherwise the air actually feels warm. Not sure if the compressor really shuts off or if the problem is lack of air running over the condenser. On my Audi the rad fan ran at high speed when the AC was on to compensate for the air flow issue, when the fan connector burned off one time the Audi exhibited the exact same symptoms as the RX-8 has in "normal" operation, cooling only when moving. The fans on the RX-8 are so quiet that I can't tell if they are running at idle when the AC is on, if not the cooling will be pathetic.

 

My fan is always on recirculate. So, that is not my problem at idle.

 

Thanks guys. When my a/c is on, it is always on re-circulate. Anyway, I'm bringing my car in for its first oil change and I guess I will have them check it out as well.

 

I guess I have a high heat tolerance, I tend to drive with my windows down and sunroof open all the time and rarely have the A/C on unless I have a passenger who is dieing of heat next to me. If I start to feel to hot I drive faster to get more wind through the car, but then I can't hear the stereo so I turn that up, next thing you know I'm doing 200 and the volume is cranked to MAX .

Ok, not to that extreme but considering the cold and long winters I can tolerate a couple months of hot weather so I don't really find this to much of an issue.

 

Well, my dealer said there was a problem with the ac amplifier and replaced it for me today. It seems to be colder but today was pretty cool so I don't know for sure. The true test is when it gets like 35 degrees again.