Hey guys and gals. My fiancee and I purchased an 06 tC last July, and lately we're having problems with the A/C cooling down. We used the A/C a few times when the car was brand new last July and August, but since then just kept the windows down since she likes fresh air more than the A/C. Lately it's been 90+, so it's A/C time again, but its not cooling the car down at all. Last weekend we drove around for 1 1/2 hours, switching from turning the A/C on, to putting the windows down. The A/C keeps blowing out warm air, like it's just blowing the air from outside in the cabin. I've tried with the recirculation on and off, with the A/C button on and off, and all fan speeds, and always the same thing, warm air blowing in the car. The longest I've let the A/C run, while driving, was for ~15 minutes, and it was still warm at the end of the 15 minutes. Any ideas from you guys as to what we're doing wrong, or whats wrong with the car?? Sorry for the long post, but I didn't want anyone to just reply with "turn the a/c button on" or anything silly like that. Thanks in advance for any help!

 

This may be obvious, but is the button that controls the AC set to the mode that allows cooling the car. Most cars have a button that either allows the AC compressor to work or simply allows the fan to work. On my car, I have a button with 3 positions. One just makes the car blow uncooled air. Another blows cold air. An another is some economy mode I don't really know about. The Tc should have something similar.

Sorry if that is obvious. Otherwise, my guess is it is out of refrigerant (used to be Freon but I think they use something else now) like engifineer said.

 

The car has the dial thing where you can set it to the desired temp, and an A/C button, so its either on, or off. I've tried both ways, to see if maybe the switch was screwed up and worked backwards, but its hot both ways. I was thinking refridgerant was low maybe, but the cars only a year old so I didn't think it could be that.

 

time to visit the dealer it seems like... :?

 

warranty time (but check the fuse first)

 

also post back and let us know what the problem was!

 

If I remember right, something in the back of my mind is telling me there's a TSB (toyota service bulliten) out where there's something where the air won't cool right and such. I'd call the dealer and ask about it.

 

Yeah, I would say time for warranty if you have AC on and the dial is to the blue zone then it should be cold air.

 

Gotta love warranties!

 

I've always been told my a mechanic friend that even in the winter you should run your AC for a couple minutes every couple of weeks (no less than once a month)...this keeps the seals from getting hard, cracking, and loosing thier seal...I've had some real ratty cars but doing this I havn't had a problem with AC ever...In the winter just crank up the heat and let is go for a couple minutes...I've got a 15 minute commute to work and he says that will do it...

 

I know this is pretty old now, but just to let you know I took it into the dealer, turns out there was a faulty o-ring, and there wasn't any r-134a left in the system. They replaced the o-ring, and refilled the system, and its working perfectly now.

 

thanks for the report!

 

great news

 

I went in to see if I could get the TSB for the '05's done, but apparently that's only for the early versions of the '05's. Mine was a later run. So I'm kinda SOL. (sigh) That'll learn me for getting a black car...

 

thanks for the update.