Air conditioning fault Corolla HB 2020 ?

[Nicolai]

13 hours ago, King Crimson said:

 Regarding to what others have said about the cold air that the ac produces, living in a hot country (compared to the uk at least) i'd say the ac it just fine and have no complains about it, it cools the cabin nicely in just a few seconds. I always leave it at about 24 celcius in the slow mode or eco i think it's called and occasionally turn it off when the cabin gets too cold, i don't know how you guys could leave it at the lowest setting without freezing lol. 

I've always thought that my 2013 Auris is a bit on the slow side on the cooling front. However, yesterday, I went on a short shopping run. The car had warmed in the sun and the cabin was hot so I turned on AC / Climate: 20 degrees Celsius, eco / slow mode and... for some reason the car cooled much quicker then I think is normally does. Cool / cold air from the vents within seconds. I guess the sensors makes the system cool quicker when the cabin is hotter. I drove off a happy bunny wishing it would do this every time...

(I always have all vents open, so no "user error" on this side).

[Luke717]

On 7/17/2020 at 7:42 PM, Timmon said:

make sure they put on your service notes that the car was supplied without gas, in case of any fault a few years down the line. 5 years and 1 day as the warranty expires, comes to mind.

Further update on this. Today I visited the dealer and they gave me a written report on the work they did last week and why:

Quote

Investigated into A/C not working. Found only 24g of gas in system so not correctly gassed at factory. Regassed system adding 500g of gas. System now working all ok.

They said this would also appear in the Service section of the My Toyota app (not there yet, though).

The now-gassed A/C works perfectly with actual cold air being delivered when required according to temp setting, just as it should do.

[Timmon]

Great news. Enjoy being cool!

 

[TonyHSD]

Nice one, happy they did it. Even Toyota once in a while can miss something, but most importantly they fixed at the end. 😉👌

[Luke717]

1 hour ago, TonyHSD said:

Nice one, happy they did it. Even Toyota once in a while can miss something, but most importantly they fixed at the end. 😉👌

Thanks, Tony, that's exactly how I'm looking at it.

[Luke717]

Update 13 August 2020:

I really didn't think I'd be adding to this thread, but the A/C fix my dealer made in July didn't fix things at all.

Last week, I noticed that no cold air was coming from the vents, just ambient-temp air, no matter what setting I dialled in to the controls. Deja vu - that's what was happening before.

It turns out that there is a fault in the A/C system. On Tuesday I went to the dealer who examined the engine bay with a UV light and sure enough, you could see the dye that they'd added to the gas when they regassed the system last month visibly splattered in the bay. So less than a month on from the regas, the gas had escaped from the system. The mechanics told me that the cause was a broken pipe from which the A/C gas had leaked.

Not sure which pipe; here's a photo of my engine bay: the pipe is one of the vertical ones on the left (I think) -

Fixing the problem requires a new part to be ordered and then a repair undertaken that will involve removal of the front section of the car to gain access to the engine bay to effect the repair. And this part has to come from Japan so we're looking at early September at the earliest for the repair, which will be under warranty.

Really disappointed with this turn of events. Looks like I have a new car with a 'Friday part'. Hoping the rest of the car is made with Saturday-Thursday parts!

Reflective thought - the dealer told me that the A/C hadn't been properly gassed at the factory before it was delivered. What if, in fact, that was done entirely properly but the pipe fault being present at that time meant all that gas leaked out. That's what it looks like to me.

So I wait for news from the dealer and, in the meantime, enjoy heatwave air 😞

[Stivino]

They should have found that fault before they filled it up with gas.

21 minutes ago, Luke717 said:

Reflective thought - the dealer told me that the A/C hadn't been properly gassed at the factory before it was delivered. What if, in fact, that was done entirely properly but the pipe fault being present at that time meant all that gas leaked out. That's what it looks like to me.

That is the most likely thing.

[Auris James]

Sounds highly likely that, as said was gassed at the factory, but leaked out.

Early September is a while.

My 2015 Auris Hybrid AC packed up on Friday! Had the car for 6 months. AC Just blowing warm air. Had diagnostic done at Toyota Dealer Wednesday and the Condenser rad is leaking in the bottom right corner. Thankfully Toyota used approved warranty agreed to cover full cost. 

Problem is can't get the condenser till the end of this month! Just grateful it was covered as wouldn't of been if stone damaged. At least it looks as if next week is cooler for us!

Once you eradicate the leak you should have no issues and working AC!

James.

[Luke717]

39 minutes ago, Stivino said:

They should have found that fault before they filled it up with gas.

That thought crossed my mind too. I suppose they just gassed it up. One other thing they could have done is asked me to bring the car back a week after the regas so they could visually check with their UV light whether gas had leaked. But I guess the fallout from coronavirus and lockdown has affected such proactive-type acts by car dealers.

[Luke717]

30 minutes ago, Auris James said:

Early September is a while. My 2015 Auris Hybrid AC packed up on Friday! Had the car for 6 months. AC Just blowing warm air. Had diagnostic done at Toyota Dealer Wednesday and the Condenser rad is leaking in the bottom right corner. Thankfully Toyota used approved warranty agreed to cover full cost. 

Problem is can't get the condenser till the end of this month! Just grateful it was covered as wouldn't of been if stone damaged. At least it looks as if next week is cooler for us!

I wonder if repair work such as our two examples involve uncommon parts, as it were, which aren't readily in stock somewhere in the UK supply chain. My dealer did tell me they would check to see if the part needed for my car is in Belgium, meaning it would get here pretty quick. Obviously not!

[Auris James]

1 minute ago, Luke717 said:

I wonder if repair work such as our two examples involve uncommon parts, as it were, which aren't readily in stock somewhere in the UK supply chain. My dealer did tell me they would check to see if the part needed for my car is in Belgium, meaning it would get here pretty quick. Obviously not!

I think it's impossible for Toyota to have every different AC component in stock. I'm sure as an example the AC condenser used in a Toyota is model specific and engine specific too. So keeping some in stock for all different models and engine variants would be a waste of money in stock that may not get used. Hence, Toyota just order, when needed.

I know from my 1996 Volvo 940 the AC condenser are different depending on Auto/ Manual and engine code. The Toyota Auris genuine condenser is £400 apparently. Aftermarket £150

James.

[AndrueC]

You'd think whoever was doing the regas would do a pressure test first. Seems pretty dumb (especially with toxic substances) to fill a pressurised system without verifying integrity first.

[Timmon]

Bad luck, right at the time you really need your air con.

Reminds me that after a great holiday on the IOW during the 2018 hot spell when we had 30 degree heat as well, My 2002 16 year old SAAB Air Con worked fantastically until I drove home and it gradually failed, leaving me with a hot 100 mile trip. Took it into my local garage, they fixed it by the next day, new compressor. Not bad considering SAAB were long gone as a brand. Didn't often need parts, but when I did, I never had to wait.

[FROSTYBALLS]

Reminds me of when we had a new Honda Concerto 1.5 - the Honda equivalent to the Rover 200.

Rover built the Concerto and every car was shipped down to Swindon to undergo Honda's QA. Any failures were shipped back to Longbridge for rectification before the process was repeated. Longbridge is across Birmingham from us - 14 miles away

The door switch that armed the alarm failed after about a month (the only issue we had with the car in the 3.5 years we owned it). Honda didn't have any replacements in Europe and wouldn't fit the Rover branded item as it hadn't been through their separate QA process - even though it would have been exactly the same part. Honda ordered the part from Japan.

The dealer had another new, unregistered Concerto, which, after some 'discussion' with me, they removed the switch from and fitted the switch to ours. No further problems.

We knew one of the dealer's technicians, and the other Concerto was without a replacement switch for weeks ......

[TonyHSD]

That’s bad to hear problem has returned. If pipe is damaged that have two scenarios, Possibly three. , first it has been fitted faulty pipe, second damaged while working on the car in the factory, and the last one the if car had a small incident during transit which may put some stress on the ac pipes and damage them just enough to loose pressure while ac is working. On delivery inspection the car seems fine but then after you use the ac frequently the gas has leaked out. Hopefully it’s not that third one. Please try to find out which pipe exactly, where located in the car ? 

[Luke717]

3 hours ago, AndrueC said:

You'd think whoever was doing the regas would do a pressure test first. Seems pretty dumb (especially with toxic substances) to fill a pressurised system without verifying integrity first.

Yep! 🙄

[Luke717]

2 hours ago, FROSTYBALLS said:

The dealer had another new, unregistered Concerto, which, after some 'discussion' with me, they removed the switch from and fitted the switch to ours. No further problems.

I was half hoping someone might suggest something like this...

[Luke717]

1 hour ago, TonyHSD said:

That’s bad to hear problem has returned. If pipe is damaged that have two scenarios, Possibly three. , first it has been fitted faulty pipe, second damaged while working on the car in the factory, and the last one the if car had a small incident during transit which may put some stress on the ac pipes and damage them just enough to loose pressure while ac is working. On delivery inspection the car seems fine but then after you use the ac frequently the gas has leaked out. Hopefully it’s not that third one. Please try to find out which pipe exactly, where located in the car ? 

Thanks Tony for outlining that. I will indeed ask about the pipe and try to get the details.

[Luke717]

2 hours ago, Timmon said:

...Took it into my local garage, they fixed it by the next day, new compressor. Not bad considering SAAB were long gone as a brand. Didn't often need parts, but when I did, I never had to wait.

I had something similar with my Audi A4 when it was five years old. Well out of warranty and beyond even goodwill. Independent Audi repairer sorted things out.

With this new Corolla, I've very mindful of warranty. This is a warranty claim so I guess I need to follow along with the Toyota/dealer procedures, including waiting weeks for a part.

[Mooly]

2 hours ago, FROSTYBALLS said:

Reminds me of when we had a new Honda Concerto 1.5 - the Honda equivalent to the Rover 200.

We had a Carina E bought new in 1994 and on holiday that year in the far north of Scotland I noticed that as my father drove off the brake lights seemed non functional. A quick check showed this to be so and a call to Toyota (from a phone box in the middle of nowhere) resulted in the car being trailered next day a distance of around 50 miles each way to a main dealer in Inverness where a brake light switch (which became an infamous recall as this became a common failure) was taken from a showroom model. The service was exemplary and the car was returned on a trailer just a few hours later.   

[Timmon]

19 hours ago, Luke717 said:

I had something similar with my Audi A4 when it was five years old. Well out of warranty and beyond even goodwill. Independent Audi repairer sorted things out.

With this new Corolla, I've very mindful of warranty. This is a warranty claim so I guess I need to follow along with the Toyota/dealer procedures, including waiting weeks for a part.

Yes. I wonder whether as early adopters to a new model, we might be unlucky in that some parts will be in short supply. Because the part you need would not normally need replacing for a few years, so spares are not in free supply yet? Just a thought. I am new to Toyota, but I would think spare parts would normally be easy to get. After all, my local garage can order parts by 12 noon and have them to fit the same day, for most cars they service.

[Gerg]

46 minutes ago, Timmon said:

my local garage can order parts by 12 noon and have them to fit the same day, for most cars they service.

At my local Toyota dealer, parts ordered in the morning are not available until the day after the next day.  This is entirely normal in my experience.  If the part turns up the next day then the spares staff at the dealership are sometimes a little taken aback. 

The original poster's fault is all the more frustrating when an independent garage/technician would perhaps know where the defective part could be cheaply repaired and/or reinforced so it doesn't happen again - if the car was out of warranty!

Bad luck Luke!

[chicken_george]

I thought recirculation mode on a really hot day was proven to be worse, as the initial air is hotter than the outside ambient temp. I think you're better off getting the feature enabled that allows you to open all windows from the key fob. When you're walking up to your car open all the windows to let the air out. Then have the aircon on fast and pulling air from outside.

Just my 2 pence worth.

[Luke717]

On 8/14/2020 at 3:34 PM, Timmon said:

I wonder whether as early adopters to a new model, we might be unlucky in that some parts will be in short supply. Because the part you need would not normally need replacing for a few years, so spares are not in free supply yet? Just a thought. I am new to Toyota, but I would think spare parts would normally be easy to get. After all, my local garage can order parts by 12 noon and have them to fit the same day, for most cars they service.

I'm new to Toyota, too, in this century 🙂 But this probably applies to most manufacturers: you plan for your supply chain being able to provide parts for items that are likely to require repair or replacement. Perhaps a specific pipe for the A/C system of a new model range isn't in that area. Not knowing who actually makes components like this or where adds to the scale of fulfilment, let's say. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Toyota_factories

[TonyHSD]

These are new cars but even so Toyota dealers should stock most of its parts as they may need to carry accidents repairs. We all know that here in uk practice is to scrap the car easily instead of repair but in many cases with new expensive cars insurance companies may approve repairs, ac pipes usually not a parts that are widely used as replacement parts but still, they should be able to source one quickly. If you have to wait more than 2 weeks they may need to provide with courtesy car if hot weather returns, it’s just a bad luck to happen to you on a brand new car. Wish you they will sorted for you in no time.