iowagary

Ok... I've had my tC for maybe 6 months but it's just starting to warm up here in Seattle. Yesterday it was in the mid 70s and I had the A/C on for the first time in a while. If I held my hand in front of the vent, the air was definitely cold, but not FREEZING. The car wasn't very hot when we started, but I'm used to running the A/C for maybe 15 minutes and the car ending up uncomfortably cold. Granted I only had it like 1/3 way up, but it just wasn't really getting COLD! I know that there were a lot of complaints about the xA and xB A/C, even though it was the same as on the Echo, which nobody complained about. What I'm wondering is:

1. Do other people have REALLY COLD A/C? I'm not going to complain about it if it's normal (I know how much the car cost), but if everyone else has freezing cold A/C, maybe something is wrong.

2. Anyone know if the A/C unit is the same as the one in the xA and xB?

Curious.

ReznorTC

mine is okay. Its never freezing, but its cold. And after a few mins it can get pretty damn cold inside to where you need to turn up the heat and put the fan all the way down. Im happy with it.

scoobyroo2002

Mine takes a few to get cold. But it eventually get's there. Wish it got colder faster but i can live with it. For some reason the cabin takes longer to get cooler. But if you stick your hand in front of the vent's it's ice cold..wierd HA!

I think it's the same A/C as in the camry since we have the camry engine.

scion_tC

give the a/c some time, this is a smaller car, so a smaller compressor, the cabin gets cold fairly quickly, if you are used to like a suv or a truck system it is gonna be different b/c the car is smaller. the smaller compressor also draws less power, so you have less power loss when the a/c is running. if you feel like it is not cooling enough, contact scion...also try this

vent out the car with the windows rolled down, then roll up the windows hit a/c, put it on the coldest dial settin, fan speed of 3-4, then after 5-10 min, hit recirc, and switch fan to 2-3. this should work well for you.

ssdm7683

I've only had my tC for 12 days.(350miles) And so far if i don't turn the temp control down a 1/4 turn, i end up having the A/C on the lowest setting. Keep in mind i like the cold. Much better A/C than our xB(cooler & more settings).

iowagary

Hey Scion_tC - I know to vent the car first to get rid of the hot air, but why the running the A/C pretty cold for a while before hitting recirculate? I always figured that as soon as the hot air was gone and I'm switching from "venting" to "cooling", it would make sense to have recirculate on so I'm cooling cool air instead of constantly cooling warmer outside air. Is there a reason to wait? I'm a sucker for tips. But I think people are right - it's not the world's best, but it just surprised me that on a 74 degree day (hardly a scorcher) things didn't get a lot colder a lot faster. I was probably just impatient and running the fan a little too low to start. I'll try it again next time we get some real hot weather.

scion_tC

sounds like u know what ur donig, run the fan a little faster, our compressor has 7 fan speeds, while most cars have 4...so if you were runnin 1-2 then it's not gonna cool down fast, the last time i had the a/c on it was 70 our and i had it fan 1 and the coldest dial and my g/f asked me to turn it off cause she was gettin cold...maybe ur car is a lil low on the refigrent...

fearturtle44

The A/C topic has been covered numerous times. It does appear the tC A/C does not cool as fast or as good as some other vehicles. Some have taken back to dealer for more coolant which seem to fix the problem. Most are like my A/C which is a B+/B grade and really not a biggie.

Kevin

iowagary

I just got my oil changed, but next time I go in, if I still feel like there is an issue, I'll have them check the refrigerant level - I don't think there is a huge problem though - more of the annoyance type deal.

Captain_tC

Ive only had mine on a couple of times so far as it is just starting to get warm. I notice it gets cold, but never really cold. I think the ac and heater for the tC could use some improvement.

iowagary

My heater seems to work fine - especially if you use the feet and body setting (which doesn't work too good with cold air).

bigalsbeans

Mine works great. If you want to see how cold the air coming out of the a/c is, buy a cheap probe thermometer (like they use to check food temp's) and check the temp. Mine came out at 38 degrees after only a couple of minutes.

Using Recirc after a minute or two should help get the hot air out sooner, overall mine cools down quite nicely.

surfcity40

remember the cardboard fold outs to cover the windshield from yore? close the shades when not in the car and until the car cools after you first start driving. we have a smoked glass roof. jeez, it can get hot and take time to cool off. the air is fine.

Krayzie_Los

The average automotive air conditioner generally only cools 30 degrees below ambient temperature. So if it's 100 degrees outside, you're only going to get roughly 70 degrees out your vents.