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Air conditioner only blows cold when accelerating now.


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As seen, I have had similar issues with my 2013 Spark and it's a/c issues. I even took it in for the noted recall, change with sensors.

Yesterday was the first warm humid day I turned the AC on. At first no cold air. Then as I accelerated up a hill the air turned cold, but when I took my foot off the gas, the air turned back to normal. So in driving 100 miles yesterday, I would say that maybe 10 miles of this I felt cold AC air.

I would also hear a clicking noise every 30 seconds coming from under the passenger side panel/glove box. And at times cool air would come out but not every time.

I did buy one of those OTC AC recharge kits with guage, to see if it was a quick fix. When following the instructions the guage adjusted to normal levels and I did not want to cause any more damage by adding refrigerant.

Taking this to the dealer is not what I want to do since they ripped me off with their "diagnostic" fee to determine the battery was dead last year. I will if need to tho.

Overall, I need to know what is or isn't happening that can shed light to perhaps my own mechanic.

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There were actually two recalls on the a/c, from what I recall. Honestly, there was a marked improvement, but I feel it still could have been better. Retired Old Gearhead, on this forum, shot a little extra freon into his system, and said there was an improvement, that he is happy with. Hopefully he will see this post, and chime in. If your bumper to bumper is still in effect, there should be no diagnostic fees, if not, I would consider an independent. GM labor rates, are off the charts. Keep the group informed.

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When I had my 2013 Spark I had the air conditioner recalls done. The first dealer did the work improperly, and didn't replace all the necessary parts, and refused to do so stating it was unnecessary and everything was working as designed. I eventually went to a different dealer and they replaced everything, and did the job properly. The recall work did improve the air conditioning, but it still was not adequate for Summer time in California for me. My car eventually starting having the clicking from the passenger side, (sounded like the recirculate option was being activated/deactivated over and over.) I was told there was no problem with that either, was working as designed.

Even after the work my car was similar to yours, the air functioned okay while accelerating but once you are off the gas pedal the cold air disappears. If it was over 90 degrees out the a/c would not keep me cool at all. I hope that GM has a better solution for it now then they did in the past.

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There were actually two recalls on the a/c, from what I recall. Honestly, there was a marked improvement, but I feel it still could have been better. Retired Old Gearhead, on this forum, shot a little extra freon into his system, and said there was an improvement, that he is happy with. Hopefully he will see this post, and chime in. If your bumper to bumper is still in effect, there should be no diagnostic fees, if not, I would consider an independent. GM labor rates, are off the charts. Keep the group informed.

Here's my chime Walt: The xtra freon...or whatever they use now..did help ..I think about 1.5psi over..had the mechanic do it so no kit was bought as it is tricky to get just 1.5psi. The clicking he hears is that he has re-circulate on..and that unit does not work intermittently and causes clicking sounds..I find the AC works better with re-circulate off..that re-circulate system is repairable under warranty but extremely hard to replicate..so not even worth a trip to the dealer..just a bad design and I don't think it would make much differences. Before doing the freon top-up..check with your mechanic as just a tiny bit too much can ruin the entire system so be warned on that trick. I find on my Rover, if I set it to "Auto-Temp-Control" say to 75°F it behaves similar to the Spark the way it was...blowing cool then outside air very similar action as it seems to blow warm on a stop and cool at speed then back to warm when booting to pass someone. Rover blows way too cold when set on manual and even at the lowest setting I constantly have to turn it off and on...OK..'Nuff said on that...

PS:...It's not the xtra freon that does the fix, I think the xtra pressure activates or trips some sensor to kick in the constant cooling...

Edited by Retired old Gearhead
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  • 1 month later...

OK so I have a 2013 I bought in Jan of this year so was cold out didn't worry about Ac. I've been using the Ac on and off like warm days and such and seemed to work fine. Now that hot mos are here this thing doesn't work well at all. At idle it pretty much blows warm air. But when driving it's perfectly ice cold. It's out of warranty and called the dealer they said the compressor was replaced in 2014 under warrsnty . So seems to be a major issue with these cars more I research it. Does idle ha e any part to play in this ? I noticed at idle parked the rpm is low. Like 800. Wether Ac is on or off the idle stays the same. Shouldn't idle bump up with Ac on ? I feel if I idle the car to at least 1k and maintain that idle it starts to blow cold. To anyone with good working Ac what is your rpm at idle ?

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The compressor was never the cause of these issues..some sensor and rewiring was done under recall (now expired since April-2016)..some fixed the issue others screwed up A/C as well as other things relying on sensors...Sounds like you have cold air at speed..In your colder location..I would live with it..BTW..Normal RPM is 600 at idle--3 bars on the guage >>A/C or no A/C..idle is the same..

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  • 3 weeks later...

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