[soldsco]

My wife and I were traveling back to Orange County from Arkansas in my 17 BS. While going through southern AZ, we were seeing in some areas outside temps running at 113 degrees. When driving through the areas that were this hot, the volume of air coming out of the vents would slowly decrease to nothing. The temp inside quickly rises to being unbearable. We took the nearest exit with a store of some type where we would hang out for 10-15 minutes. After this break, the AC ran fine. We had this happen twice.

My first thought was that is it low on refrigerant causing a freeze up. I bought a recharge kit that has two indicator tabs that go into a vent that indicated full charge. I couldn't manage to get the actual connector on the recharge can to connect to the low side connector so I am assuming that it is indeed full. If that is in fact true, then the idea of a freeze up isn't likely.

The car goes to the dealer in the morning. Anyone ever have anything similar happen?

 

[boxedindc]

Sounds somewhat like what is being discussed in this thread:

Air conditioner or ice maker??

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...

www.718forum.com

 

[jns211]

Had a similar issue with my Boxster. After about 1.5 years of ownership, the AC started to intermittently blow air or not blow air.

The dealer replaced the blower motor and voltage regulator under warranty without any push-back or cost to me. I'd say this is probably an issue that's already on the radar for service departments.

Sounds like you are under warranty still, so take it to the dealer and get it fixed for free. The AC should always work in your car.

A/C Climate Control Shut Off under Heavy Load - Normal?

Hi all - first time owner of a 718 Cayman S here, which I bought 3 weeks ago. Absolutely thrilled so far, already added 1,500 miles to it since purchase. :) Question to the forum: went for a ride yesterday in upstate NY, Harriman State Park and then north on 9W, which is basically a long...

www.718forum.com

 

[Barryng]

Slowly decreasing air flow means the evaporator coil is icing up. When you stopped at a store for 10-15 minutes most of ice melted. It then iced up again after you got underway. Most likely reason for evaporator to ice up is low refrigerant charge. That also means there is a leak somewhere. Expansion valve could be bad but low refrigerant is much more likely.

There is no recharge kit on Earth that can determine if your system is properly charged, regardless of what package says. The only practical method of assuring a proper charge in an automotive system is to evacuate it to an almost perfect vacuum then "weighing in" the entire charge specified by the manufacturer, always on a label in the engine compartment. It is not possible (reasonably) to just "top off" an automotive system. Typically automotive systems are very small and the charge is less than 2 Lbs. This is so little refrigerant the amount charged must be accurate within an ounce. This is done automatically using a cart all competent A/C shops have. A system can be manually charged to manufacturer specified subcooling and superheat specs at specific ambient conditions but this is not at all practical. Please do not use a mechanic that tells you he can do it just using a gauge set and it will be good enough.

 

[soldsco]

Got the car back from the dealer today. Turns out there is a TSB on this very issue. There is a software update that runs the evaporator at a slightly higher temperature to prevent icing up that can occur even with proper refrigerant charge. The car checked out fine otherwise. The problem only occurred when I drove through 113+ degree southern Arizona and I don't plan to do that again anytime soon so I won't be able to test it out soon. I do have to drive back to central Arkansas from Orange County, CA again this week due to family emergency but I am going to take a more northern route this time. Temps on the route we drove last week are projected to hit 118 this week and I don't feel like testing this SW update in 118 degree weather.

 

[gearFX]

Is the TSB unique to the 718 models, or carryover from the 981 models too (which may share the same A/C system)?

 

[Racefox]

Soldsco: any news / updates on your end? I'm having similar issues: after driving for around 20 mins in 100 degrees, high humidity, the air flow would gradually reduce to a trickle, leaving me sweating like crazy. I have a different thread on this topic (link below).

Dealership was unable to find the issue. They said no leaks. Did you resolve your issue?

 

[Racefox]

Soldsco: any news / updates on your end? I'm having similar issues: after driving for around 20 mins in 100 degrees, high humidity, the air flow would gradually reduce to a trickle, leaving me sweating like crazy. I have a different thread on this topic (link below).

Dealership was unable to find the issue. They said no leaks. Did you resolve your issue?

Link: A/C Climate Control Shut Off under Heavy Load - Normal?

 

[soldsco]

The SW update HAS fixed my problem and from another thread it sounds that this has fixed the problem for others.

Scott

 

[soldsco]

I just got back to southern California from Hot Springs, Arkansas. This was our 2nd round trip to Arkansas to help care for my terminally ill mother. Yesterday, we drove 785 miles traveling from Las Crusces, NM to Orange County. We spent at least 2 hours in southern Arizona where the outside temps ran from 113 to 115 degrees and we had no problems whatsoever with the AC. Before the SW update, I had problems both on the way out as well as coming back. I do think this SW update really is the cure.

To help anyone else out with a similar problem, the TSB is attached below. It's reference number is 122-Q4A9M-05.

Scott

 

[Treemagnet]

Thanks for the TSB and ref # @soldsco. We have the same problem...at least we'll be armed upon arrival at the dealer for warranty work. I only wish there was a far different purpose for your round trip. My thoughts and prayers are with you and your family.