Long story short, my A/C isn't functioning as well as I would like. But before I had a chance to service it, I encountered a potential problem:

I drove for 7hrs from southern California to the Bay Area and smelled slight hints of an electrical burn at the beginning of the trip, but didn't know where it came from. It would eventually go away, but as I reached San Jose with my A/C maxed, I punched the gas to pass somebody and settled down at normal speed and immediately after I lifted my foot off the gas I started seeing white cloud streaming into the cabin. Freaking out, I turned the A/C off, opened all windows, exited the freeway and thought my car was on fire, but I guess it was just condensation or water vapors (?).

Engine seemed okay after I turned the car off an checked and so far it hasn't happened again, but the A/C is still poor. Anyone familiar with this? How could that have happened?

 

hmmm.. Was there any sweet smell with this white smoke? Wondering maybe the heater core (same area as the a/c box inside the dash) might have ruptured causing this. But if the heater core did rupture enough for smoke, then you'd also have coolant all over the footwell area.

The electrical smell is what really bothers me, sounds like an electrical short. Any ozone smell or that's what you're explaining? If there was an electrical short + leakage of the r-134a refridgerant of the a/c that would be a fire, not cool, plus it would be toxic.

Was the car in fresh air or re-circulate? I'm wondering if you sucked in that smoke from the engine or outside into the cabin.

definitely get it to a dealer and don't let them tell you "oh we didn't find anything". I hope your car is still under warranty!

 

Unfortunately, I'm at 64k so no warranty for me, D'oh! The air was on recirculate as I was trying to maximize my A/C like the forum suggests. I don't remember it having any smell to this strange white cloud/vapor and I don't remember it being heavy and floating around like brown smoke would otherwise I would've choked up. I'll have to check more carefully under the hood and take a peak under the footwell. The faint electrical burn smell stuck around for about 30 minutes. The dealer quoted me with $220 for a full A/C service, while Jiffy Lube gave me $109 to evacuate and recharge, not sure if I trust them though.

Just so strange.

 

an electrical burn smell is definately something to take care of asap

 

$220 to look at the a/c that's crazy. To recharge an a/c at toyota dealers in michigan is like $90. yes your problem is odd, but keep sniffing around to locate the source of the problem.

Did you have any modifications done to any electrical in the car? Anything like best buy or aftermarket shops?