I bought an Echo for my daughter about a year ago. Weak AC, so I insulated the line in the engine compartment and got a noteciable increase in preformance, My Mazda 323 is ready to go and I'm concidering a Scion xA. I've seen posts at Edmonds about poor AC in the Scion. Any experiences or cures? TIA Mark S.

 

It's the same as the Echo, so I guess what you did in the Echo would work for the Scion, but don't quote me on that .

 

i haven't had any problems with the ac, but people expect different things from a car.

 

I notice on a lot of them (I work at a dealership and drive a lot of them, and I own one also) that the AC is kind of weak. What I'm finding is that after the car breaks in a little bit, the AC improves dramatically.

On my own xB, the AC didn't start working well until I had about 100 miles or so on it, but now it works awesome.

 

Just a quick question..............Why does the car need to "break in" for the AC to start working? Is that normal? Sounds kinda odd to me

 

I used the pipe insulation and alunminum tape method on my xA, defininitely improved the A/C.

 

i want to insulate my pipe to see if it makes it any better. my AC is REALLY weak when in idle it actually blows heat but once the car starts moving back to chilly air. Where should i insulate is my question? Any pictures would help.

 

Make sure your electric fan is coming on with the A/C.

 

My xBs AC works fine!

 

so i just park the car and turn on the ac and check to see if the fan near the radiator is moving?

 

i insulated mine and had my windows tinted

the window tint helped the most!

 

Engine running with the A/C on.

 

My 2005 XA Auto air conditioning compressor will only engage when the engine rpm is above 3500. It is fully charged and has no leaks. The car has 40K miles on it. At idle, it has NO air conditioning.....but, occasionally if the air is running strong and the rpms come to an idle the a/c will sustain for a minute or 2 but not very often...

What would cause this? I have evac'd the system, recharged it and have all the service gauges and all reads well....just cant figure it out. I have to run down the freeway with overdrive off to have air conditioning....

Initially, I thought it may be a weak compressor,but at 40K miles? And why would it sometimes work at idle??? Flaky pressure switch maybe???

Love the car, but HATE this problem.....:?

Any help would be appreciated...

LM