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Do you have cold, cool, cold, cool, A/C?


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2013 Granite (black) Spark, less than 1800 miles

Manual transmission

A/c on and off intermittently

Had compressor and expansion valves replaced 2 days ago and it is the same

Since I live in Phoenix and it was 118 degrees yesterday service felt it was the weather

Took a ride at 3:00 am and no change so I'm not buying that excuse

GM feels that it's drive able and refuses to give me a loaner until it's fixed - boy would I love to see one of those folks drive a black car in record breaking heat with little to no air!

Need help desperately so if anyone has the solution please let me know

Edited by Melanee Krauss
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Going to start a thread to keep track of the cold/cool A/C issue that some of us are experiencing. Also we can post updates and possible fixes. Hope GM gets to see this is not an isolated problem. We

Wow what a moron

I totally understand your position, and what your responsibilities are as a moderator. I enjoy exchanging ideas with members, and don't believe I have ever tried to engage anyone in a pissing contest.

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Well, I brought my Spark in once again to have the air fixed, and they checked the system again, and this time they said that the pressures in the A/C were "bouncing all over the place".

They supposedly checked it about 2 months ago and there was no problem :headscratch: .

So, this time they replaced the compressor, the expansion valve, and the orifice tube, tested it and said it is working fine once again.

When I drove home from the stealer, I had the A/C on recirculate with the fan speed on #3, and the temperature of the air coming out of the vent (according to my thermometer) was in the 45° range, and the temperature inside the car was about 69° after an hour of driving.

That's great you would say, right?

The only problem is that the display on the MyStink radio said that the outside temperature was 76° (it was raining heavily), which means that the A/C only managed to cool the interior of the car 7° in an hour once again - which means that the "repair" did absolutely nothing! :banghead:

Since it is supposed to be raining for the next couple of days, I will reserve my final judgement until I get a hot sunny day to really test it, but going by the above numbers, I am not hopeful. :sad:

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Hello. I joined the forum just to be able to join this discussion and hopefully provide a bit of insight from my situation. My daughter's 2013 Spark experienced almost a failure to cool so we took it to the dealer. It has 3000 miles on it. They replaced the compressor and receiver, found metal shavings in the compressor, and they recharged and tested the system, or so they say. We took the car home and within 2 days we noticed the same problem others are encountering. Sometimes it's blowing very cold for a few seconds, then goes to cool, then almost warm, and then the cycle starts over again. It goes through that routine at least every 30 seconds to 1 minute. So we took it back.

When we took the car back the dealer tested everything to make sure it didn't have a coolant leak. It didn't. They tested pressures and certain pressures were shy of what they needed to be while others were fine. The problem was that the low pressure reading kicked the compressor out until it built up the pressure (which explains the cool or warm periods) and then it kicked back in. Once the pressure dropped again, the cycle repeated.

There's no fix yet. I was told by the dealer that they received a Tech Bulletin or similar and were directed to not change any components in order to attempt repair. If the system is working normally but not cooling properly (sounds weird to say, but closest I can come to explaining it correctly), they were directed to do nothing. They were told to wait for GM engineers to provide a technical bulletin and official fix instructions and/or parts.

I was unsure if I was being fed a line so I've spent a couple days on the phone with GM corporate. Why have a warranty if they won't fix the problem. But their official stance is they are working the issue and they believe they know which part needs to be modified or completely changed, but they need the parts to be manufactured. It sounds like we're at the pre-manufacturing point now, perhaps testing ideas to make sure they fix the problem. Hopefully the testing will be a short duration and some parts can be made to replace faulty components to get pressures within tolerances. At this point GM only asked for patience and I have a case number to follow up on until it is closed once the vehicle is repaired to my satisfaction.

Best of luck to you all. It's not fun, but GM is at least aware and working it. I'd advise calling GM to get your own case #'s if you haven't already. That way no matter how many miles you drive the fix will be done as a warranty repair. Not sure if it'll become a recall item yet.

thats good news ! please keep us updated

im definitely making an appointment this week to take mine in .... i dont expect much but just so they have it in their records that mine is also giving me crap lol.

will report back !

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Another used Spark for sale, lol. I'm going to see how well this car holds up after a few years, then make the decision to keep it or dump it for another Hyundai myself. It's been in the 100's for a few days now, I'm glad mine is working good. When the weather is cooler is when I notice the cool/cold thing from the side vents. The hotter it is, the better mine works, probably because the pressure is higher on the low side when it's so hot, so it doesn't cycle like it does when it's low 80's or cooler. Let's see how GM addresses this issue, for now I have no complaints about my a/c, I just question the integrity of the car as a whole. Otay, wait until it gets hotter before you bring it back, I think the biggest problem was fixed when they replaced the compressor. Hopefully they charged it to the proper pressure according to the chart based on ambiant temperature.

Edited by austex04
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Otay, wait until it gets hotter before you bring it back, I think the biggest problem was fixed when they replaced the compressor. Hopefully they charged it to the proper pressure according to the chart based on ambiant temperature.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining - yet! :)

I can't really ask for too much more than what they did (that is of course IF they did it), since there really isn't too much more they can replace that would have an effect.

Like I said, I want to see how it works when it is hot & sunny, but I am a little worried that it's still working screwy.

Don't you think that it's weird that before the repair it would only cool to 7° below the temperature on the radio, and after the repair it cooled to exactly 7° below the temp again?

I'm holding off on all of the things I want to do with my car (fog lights, new wheels, stripes, and more) because if the air doesn't work to my satisfaction (my only real complaint with the car), I will have to get rid of it. :cry:

The Ford stealer already told me they would pay off the car if I buy a Fiesta, and since I didn't put any money down, I won't really lose anything but the payments I made so far.

Edited by Otay Sparky
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Called my local dealer and taking my car in tomorrow for diag

The service writer that took my call said he hasnt heard of any Sparks with this problem...which I don't believe for one second

Here's hoping that the techs know more than the guy I talked to :/

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Looks like more of the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing. Best bet is to wait for the fix to be announced, and then bring it in. Otherwise, it will probably be just a big run around. Amazing that these dealers don't read the updates, apparently they are being distributed.

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We went and picked ours up friday because I had an appointment to have the windows tinted. Just as you were told" the compressor was on backorder"..LOL Havent heard a word since and I called twice today with no return call. I bet there is alot of head scratching going on! This is going to be interesting to see if GM issues a recall or if it will be case by case. You know alot of people will just accept it and think that its a new car and " thats the way it was designed" Stay tuned! It will be interesting!!!!

Edited by Classing
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Good question, I have been wondering the same thing. It seems the people who have had the "bad compressor" replaced, still are having problems. As far as the 134A, who knows? That crap has been lousy, since they switched from R12, in the '90s. I am waiting for them to announce the fix that they at least admit exists, in their TSB, then I will take it in, otherwise it seems to be just a time wasting runaround.

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I have a question... How could this car be sold around the world for a few years and not have the same problem? Is 134A different in the states? Please explain..

Doing some more research online, I have come across that the US and EU A/C systems have different tunes to the computer (im guessing its a computerized clutch). This would explain the compressors not wanting to stay on, and not getting the system working all the time. Hopefully its as easy as a new flash to the computer...but with GM who knows.

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I bet all Sparks have this issue. Some people can notice it and some can't or climate masks it.

I have the same theory brudda

If all Spark owners lived in hot climates this would be a huge issue...for now, I guess there's only a few hundred of us they have to deal with

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At least GM is attempting a fix, Hyundai didn't do anything for previous generation Accent owners. Those a/cs did the same thing, my '10 did, even after the dealer evacuated and charged it to the full pressure. Even a test drive in another Accent proved the same thing. Hyundai corporate never bothered issuing a bulletin or attempted a fix for it, at least GM is working on it. It's not perfect, but sufficient for me. If GM finds a fix, though, I'll get it done, it would work better if it stayed cold all the time instead of when it wants to. I didn't notice it today, since it was hotter, but yesterday it did the dance for awhile. At least it blows ice cold in 105 degrees on recirculate at traffic lights.

Edited by austex04
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I have the same theory brudda

If all Spark owners lived in hot climates this would be a huge issue...for now, I guess there's only a few hundred of us they have to deal with

They claim to have sold 23,000 since their introduction, and they are projecting 35, 000 this year, this is what I've read, I am not swearing to it. I also believe they all have an issue to some degree with the a/c, and now in the middle of the summer season, they are becoming overwhelmed with people justifiably bitching. They are in deep sh** , and they are trying to come up with a solution. I remember reading a few months back, about this problem, and that they were working on a firmware upgrade. Regrettably, I didn't pay much attention while breaking icicles off of the car. I just keep a few notes, with what the car needs, and will need, such as the radio upgrade, a/c fix etc., and when the dust settles, me and my notes, and printouts from this site, are off to the dealer. I am not going to run back and forth, and tie the car up, unnecessarily, with their phantom fixes.

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Jeezus. Sounds like the AC compressor for this car is absolute junk. I guess some are just lucky and got ones that happen to be working correctly. GM needs to get compressors from a different manufacturer, because having to replace replacements is ridiculous. I just hope late model 14's and early 15's don't have this problem.

As a last resort you could just do this:

3885.jpg

:hysterical:

Edited by Trancer07
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