[Atebit]

Started a long road trip with the club this morning. It was extremely hot, so in addition to having the top down I had the AC running a bit to keep some cool air moving around & maybe get sucked into the seat cooling fans.

An hour or so into the trip, I had to keep turning the fan up to maintain the airflow. Eventually, there was almost no air coming out of the vents. It seemed as if the dampers had decided to close up. Damper controls had no effect.

Hoping a BEST reset would help, I made sure to shut off & get out of the car for 10-15 minutes when we all stopped at the rally point. When I restarted the car, the airflow was just slightly better, that is until I heard a pop & got spayed with ice chips from one of the registers.

So I’m assuming that either the condensate drain was clogged or there was ice buildup on the AC condenser fins, etc. when I get a chance I’ll try to find where the condensate drain is to see if it’s clogged. Anyone else experience this?

 

[GTS18BGTS]

Did you do the Glacier Tour Rally this morning out of Cranberry?

 

[Barryng]

I suggest you have the refrigerant charge checked. Typically, the most common reason for an evaporator to ice up is insufficient refrigerant. A properly working A/C system should never ice up even in with very high humidity return air as you had with the top down. Of course the expansion valve could be bad but that, in my experience, is not a high probability failure.

 

[Atebit]

Thanks! Just made a service appointment to get it checked out. Service writer agreed it shouldn’t be icing up.

 

[Atebit]

Took the 718 in last Friday, I expected to get just some hand waving. Turns out there’s a service bulletin for the AC “icing up” on my Boxster. So they did a flush & fill, made some adjustments & “reprogrammed the AC controller” per the bulletin.

Haven’t driven again in high heat/humidity yet, but the fact that this issue is apparently a thing at least gives me some confidence it will be better now.

 

[Treemagnet]

Took the 718 in last Friday, I expected to get just some hand waving. Turns out there’s a service bulletin for the AC “icing up” on my Boxster. So they did a flush & fill, made some adjustments & “reprogrammed the AC controller” per the bulletin.

Haven’t driven again in high heat/humidity yet, but the fact that this issue is apparently a thing at least gives me some confidence it will be better now.

@Atebit...just checking to see if the AC fix corrected your problem. One hour top down drive yesterday with AC on max at lowest temp and it only took 20 minutes (92 degrees & 80%+ humidity) for my BS to exhibit ALL the exact same symptoms. One hour later I drove home with the top up and within 20 minutes the same thing happened.

 

[Atebit]

Well, that weekend was the hottest day of the year here. Since the fix I’ve had no issues. The service writer thought that this service campaign was a dead ringer for my issue, so I suggest you take her in for the service.

 

[Treemagnet]

Well, that weekend was the hottest day of the year here. Since the fix I’ve had no issues. The service writer thought that this service campaign was a dead ringer for my issue, so I suggest you take her in for the service.

What are the odds my loaner will be a GT2 RS .

Thanks very much for your quick reply!

 

[DriveInHouston]

What are the odds my loaner will be a GT2 RS .

Just adopt a tired voice and tell the SA that this is not your day for more bad news. Your tax accountant just informed you that you will be liable for an additional $1/2M in taxes from your stock profits collected this year... Then absentmindedly add:

"Do you know whether the 911 GT2RS has the same problem?"

Then ask for an appointment....

 

[Dave718]

Hi all, I'm new to the forum. There seems to be some great advice and discussion about just about everything but I can't seem to find how much A/C Gas goes in a 718. Does anyone happen to know?

 

[MikePhDPE]

I can't seem to find how much A/C Gas goes in a 718.

There's usually a sticker under the hood that says the refrigerant charge. should be something like 1.5 lbs or so.

 

[Barryng]

Hi all, I'm new to the forum. There seems to be some great advice and discussion about just about everything but I can't seem to find how much A/C Gas goes in a 718. Does anyone happen to know?

Good question. There is most probably a decal stuck on some surface somewhere, maybe in the well hidden engine compartment, that tells you the weight of the refrigerant charge, but I do not know what it specifies as I have not seen it.

If you do not already know, the absolutely best way, and really the only way, to charge an automotive A/C system is to "weigh in" the charge. The manufacturer, using superheat at the discharge of the evaporator, subcooling at discharge of the condenser, and much testing, determines precisely how much refrigerant constitutes the ideal charge. Since every system is virtually identical, this applies to every car with the same configuration. Every competent A/C shop, without exception, has a cart that completely evacuates the system to an almost perfect vacuum, holds the vacuum for a period of time (the longer the better), and then charges it with an exact amount (weight) of refrigerant. Since the refrigerant gas in an operating A/C system simultaneously exists as a subcooled liquid, a superheated gas, and everything in between, it is impossible to use only a pressure gauge to determine the correct charge. The "gauge sets" with two pressure gauges you see A/C techs using should always be used with pyrometers. However, in reality, most A/C techs just guess at the amounts using just the gauges. In my opinion these techs are lazy and/or incompetent. In a large system they can sorta get away with that but with the very small amount of refrigereant in an automotive system, typically measured to the ounce, this is a piss poor way of doing it that will always have consequences (unless you get incredibly lucky and blindly get the charge exact). Without the exact specified charge, performance will vary from less than optimum cooling and dehumidification to the evaporator freezing up, but it will not be what the system was designed and expected to do. BTW, there is no such thing as just "topping off" an automotive A/C system. The only way to add refrigerant properly is to first evacuate the system to a vacuum then add the exact specified amount of refrigerant.

 

[Treemagnet]

My A/C problem had not reared it's ugly head since early October 2019 (post #8), so I thought our issue was an anomaly.

Today's two hour CV19 escape temp never dropped below 94 degrees (70% humidity) and the A/C was totally worthless after 35 to 45 minutes. Although, we enjoyed a few rogue cold water droplets & ice chips. Obviously, it's time to take our BS to the local dealer. There are a couple other insignificant warranty issues to tackle (e.g. frunk & trunk seals are not properly seated, buzzing from the driver's side roll hoop cover in colder temps (which they probably won't be able to recreate and fix until next winter)etc.

@Atebit - I want to be prepared when visiting our local P-car dealer. Do you or anyone else in our forum know the specific service bulletin that addresses the AC “icing up” issue?

Thank you!

 

[718Red27]

i'm in the same boat... i just picked up my boxster and the AC is cold yes... but doesnt cool the cabin very well... plus my windshield keeps fogging up on the bottom and its very annoying... for a new car, i'm pretty disappointed

 

[Olympic Blue]

Resurrecting an older thread.

First, my CS does not have the Dual Zone A/C

Came back from a 200+ mile round trip to Rocky Gap park MD.

Starting out we had the windows down for about 50+ mile heading out, as the outside temp rose, turned on the A/C.
it worked fine on the on the first part.

when we were leaving the park, the CS had been baking in the sun for 4 hrs, and the outside temp was 90 deg (Forgot to put my sunshade up) So turned the A/C to MAX. It initially cooled OK. then turned it back to normal .As we went on I had to increase the cooling level ultimately turning it back to MAX cool.

After about 90 miles the cooling had quit, hardly any air coming out of the vents, and it was NOT cold, just slightly cool.
So i shut the A/C off and opened the windows. After about 8-9 miles, with 2 miles to go to home, turned the A/C back on and it started blowing cold again.
After pulling it into the garage I noticed an unusual amount of water on the driveway.

My first thought was the condenser freezing up.

Then came here and I see others have had the same issue.

Guess I will call the dealership tomorrow, and see what they say.

Does anyone know the number of the service bulletin? and does it also apply to the Cayman in addition to Boxsters?

 

[Atebit]

I am sorry, I do not know the bulletin number. But, my Taycan is in for a recurring brake issue and I’m expecting a call from my SA this week for an update. I’ll try to remember to ask him to look up my Boxster records to see if he can come up with it.

 

[Olympic Blue]

@Atebit

Thanks,

Found this after doing more research.

Just found this info from @soldsco (https://www.718forum.com/attachments/ac-tsb-pdf.27731/) to the Technical Service Bulletin (reference number 122-Q4A9M-05) that I took to my dealer. They applied the software update and recharged my system and there were no issues from that point forward.

I already made an appointment to have it checked out. and I printed off a copy of the service bulletin to give to the SA

 

[Atebit]

That sounds like what he told me was done to my car. No issues since then, hope it works for you too.