How To Test The Air Conditioning?

[GrahamUK]

Can anyone tell me how I can test if the air conditioning is working? Because the air outside is still fairly cold, it is difficult to tell if the air conditioning is working. On a fairly warm day recently, I switched in the A/C, turned the temperature control to the coldest setting and set the air to recirulate. The air from the vents did not get cold. When set to fresh air, it feels reasonably cold, but can't notice any difference between A/C on or off. The light on the A/C button does come on and doesn't flash (which I know would indicate a fault).

Do you think this is enough proof it is not working properly? Is there anything else I can try? Car is a 2002 Avensis D4D GS. I bought the car in January from a Toyota dealer, so it is still under warranty. I haven't been able to test A/C properly in cold weather. If it needs repairing, does anyone know if this should be covered by the Toyota warranty?

Thanks

[Andy40]

That sounds fairly normal to me. Its too cold really to notice at the moment. Mine has just had a service and they tested the AC at my request and they said it was fine. Leave it for about 10 minutes and you should start to notice a chill I reckon. I dont think the Avensis has the coldest AC going, but I like it that way, some air conditioning gives you a splitting headache its that cold.

[wardp]

Can anyone tell me how I can test if the air conditioning is working? Because the air outside is still fairly cold, it is difficult to tell if the air conditioning is working. On a fairly warm day recently, I switched in the A/C, turned the temperature control to the coldest setting and set the air to recirulate. The air from the vents did not get cold. When set to fresh air, it feels reasonably cold, but can't notice any difference between A/C on or off. The light on the A/C button does come on and doesn't flash (which I know would indicate a fault).

Do you think this is enough proof it is not working properly? Is there anything else I can try? Car is a 2002 Avensis D4D GS. I bought the car in January from a Toyota dealer, so it is still under warranty. I haven't been able to test A/C properly in cold weather. If it needs repairing, does anyone know if this should be covered by the Toyota warranty?

Thanks

I also bought an Avensis in January, mine is a 1.8 vvti Vermont model with automatic aircon. During the cold weather the fan was automatically boosted to warm the car thoroughly but I have now noticed that after it has been perked in the sun the fan does not want to cool the car as rapidly as it used to warm it in cold weather. I think the aircon is cooling the incoming air but it is very difficult to tell even by switching the aircon on and off. Previous cars I have had with auto aircon, Ford & Citroen, have both been better at cooling the car than the Avensis, consequently as mine is also under the Toyota Appproved Used car warranty I am considering contacting my dealer, unless someone can say if this is normal.

The dealer who sold the car to me said that the warranty was almost as good as that on a new car, which is also stated on Toyota's web site so if it is not covered I will be extremely dissappointed.

Incidentally I had the interior light replaced under warranty as it kept blowing bulb/fuses but the dealer in Bridlington who did it would not confirm that it would be done under warranty until after the job was completed, they just kept saying it would depend on what the warranty company said. In the end I rang the Toyota Customer Service number who confirmed that it was covered under the warranty.

Good luck with the aircon.

Phil

[GrahamUK]

That sounds fairly normal to me. Its too cold really to notice at the moment. Mine has just had a service and they tested the AC at my request and they said it was fine. Leave it for about 10 minutes and you should start to notice a chill I reckon. I dont think the Avensis has the coldest AC going, but I like it that way, some air conditioning gives you a splitting headache its that cold.

Thanks, but shouldn't it cool the recirculated air? When I tried it, it was quite warm inside the car (had been parked in sun for a while). With air con on and set to coldest setting, the air from the vents seemed quite warm. Is that normal?

[wardp]

From my experience of aircon you are correct insaying that it should cool the recirculating air. Something I had forgotten to check!

I have just searched the forum for aircon problems and someone has said that the temperature of the air from the air vents should be 8C which gives us something to check.

Sounds like we are both going back to the dealer.

Phil

[GrahamUK]

From my experience of aircon you are correct insaying that it should cool the recirculating air. Something I had forgotten to check!

I have just searched the forum for aircon problems and someone has said that the temperature of the air from the air vents should be 8C which gives us something to check.

Sounds like we are both going back to the dealer.

Phil

Thanks. Let me know how you get on with the dealer

[GT4 BOOSTER]

all a/c cars i have owned , as soon as its on you can feel the cold air no matter what the outside temp is.if its not freezing to the hand its not working

to set air con you have to switch the cold vent to cold , turn the fan up to max,close all windows and sunroof plus sun roof blind , once the temp is reached your happy with turn onto recirc air , it will then reuse allready cold air inside the car , making the compressors life a bit easier

[Karma Supra]

Also look at the actualy air con pump and make sure the clutch is enguaging when you turn it on.... if the refridgerant is low the clutch ont eh pump won't kick in

If you need to get the coolant re-gassed I also highly reccomend replacing the reciever dryer... (its only about £30) and getting the system vacced down to get any moisture out.... it is a shame to get a car regassed to find it needs changing, as changing it requires depresurising and refilling the system!! (on my car about £100 a pop as I use dodgey old EU banned stuff :()

[Fat Slob]

I dont think I've ever had a Toyota with really icy air conditioning, they have all worked fine but just not that cold.

[telsun]

My air con light doesn't come on at all, why do you reckon that is?

[jstallan]

I took my Avensis (53 plate d-4d) back to the dealer last week becuase there was a terrible smell after the A/c unit was switched on.. They agreed to perform an A/C service and replace the pollen filter and that was done yesterday... Today there is a noticeable differnt in the performance of the A/C unit, but how cold it will get I don't know - perhaps at the weekend I might use the wife's T-shirt to test the chill :D :censor:

[Rigsby]

I have a 04 Avensis T4. When it went in for a service last month I asked them to check the A/C as I had noticed it wasn't cooling as well as it used to.

They said it needed "re gassing" which they did, but a few days later it happened again.

I took it in and after a couple of hours they said I had a leak on the system and I was loseing the gas.

Part is now ordered and will be fitted next week.

If it isn't blowing "icy cold" I would have it checked over.

[noddydog]

How can you tell when the system requires regassing?

[Rigsby]

How can you tell when the system requires regassing?

All I know is that it wasn't blowing as cold as it used to. The gas / refridgerant had leaked out of the system and wasn't cooling.

[GT4 BOOSTER]

How can you tell when the system requires regassing?

a low gas limit light starts to flash long before it runs out . You could always boil a kettle inside the car with air on recirc with air con on fully with all vents open or use 1 of those steamer things , for 20 minutes , this kills bacteria living in the condensor .cleans it out ,rids smells and makes for ice cold air con , as recommended by air con experts , i tried it by removing the glove box on my celica , put kettle on boil for 20 minutes on recirc air , then 10 minutes on fresh air to dry it out .What a difference it made too.

[GrahamUK]

How can you tell when the system requires regassing?

a low gas limit light starts to flash long before it runs out . You could always boil a kettle inside the car with air on recirc with air con on fully with all vents open or use 1 of those steamer things , for 20 minutes , this kills bacteria living in the condensor .cleans it out ,rids smells and makes for ice cold air con , as recommended by air con experts , i tried it by removing the glove box on my celica , put kettle on boil for 20 minutes on recirc air , then 10 minutes on fresh air to dry it out .What a difference it made too.

I'm obviously missing something here, but what did removing the glove box have to do with this?

[Fat Slob]

You would put the kettle in the passenger footwell in the vicinity of the vents for recirculate, sometimes the glovebox gets in the way of the kettle or steam, or in other cases just empty the glovebox if you are worried about stuff getting soggy (which it wont anyway)

[theskyatnightpm]

You would put the kettle in the passenger footwell in the vicinity of the vents for recirculate, sometimes the glovebox gets in the way of the kettle or steam, or in other cases just empty the glovebox if you are worried about stuff getting soggy (which it wont anyway)

I have an avensis 03, and I can't get it to blow cold air how ever hard I try,.Could someone tell me the problem ? ,Surely one should expect to feel cold air at some stage,most times it is warmish air I get from the vents.. regards Patrick

[igormus]

Can anyone tell me how I can test if the air conditioning is working? Because the air outside is still fairly cold, it is difficult to tell if the air conditioning is working. On a fairly warm day recently, I switched in the A/C, turned the temperature control to the coldest setting and set the air to recirulate. The air from the vents did not get cold. When set to fresh air, it feels reasonably cold, but can't notice any difference between A/C on or off. The light on the A/C button does come on and doesn't flash (which I know would indicate a fault).

Do you think this is enough proof it is not working properly? Is there anything else I can try? Car is a 2002 Avensis D4D GS. I bought the car in January from a Toyota dealer, so it is still under warranty. I haven't been able to test A/C properly in cold weather. If it needs repairing, does anyone know if this should be covered by the Toyota warranty?

Thanks

hello

you can test it easily by following simple checking:

- refrigerant heat exchanger surface condition and also IN /OUT tube temp;

- there must be hot discharge tube from the compressor and cool (with condensate) suction line pipe.

- visual rotation of compressor;

set temp as the lowest allowed by the climate and check the above when engine is running.

cheers

[Remko1]

I dont think I've ever had a Toyota with really icy air conditioning, they have all worked fine but just not that cold.

I have to agree on that. Until now I have never found a Toyota with an aircon which gives an ice cold temperature when switched on, unlike other cars like Opels (Vauxhalls). You will get cold air, but it's just not icy cold. And when the weather is hot and the temperature in your Toyota is really high, it might take up to an hour (!) before it's getting quite fresh. Which of course is not very soon...

I had my aircon refilled in early spring. It was not because of the freshness of the air that I realized my aircon didn't work (it was still cold outside), but because my aircon wouldn't demist my windscreen at all. My aircon works fine now, but I rarely get a real low temperature in my car (unless it's cold outside). And all the aircons in Toyota's I know have difficulties making you freeze allthough they are functioning well.

[Bry]

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