Puny air conditioner

[SmartDigger]

best AC I have had in last 3 cars

[GiantKiller]

I think there are some problems with some aircon on some cars. Mine works great. But the 2009 I drove recently for a week barely even felt cool when on full blast.

[smartfloridadad]

an 08 and in st pete ,it cools the car faster than any other car I've ever owned and keeps the temp without any problems

[theguywiththelongestname]

I have an 2008 passion, and I live out here in the blisteringly hot Mojave Desert CA. The smart ac has been doing a great job over the last year. It's one of the best ac units I've had in a car for a long time, much better than the jeep ac.

[jonnysan]

Originally Posted by John_H

I have no idea what my compressor clutch sounds like.

I'm wondering how they checked the charge; just looking for pressure? If the system had too much air when they added refrigerant, that could be a problem too.

If they forgot to evacuate the system before charging (like what would happen on a shift change, for example) and simply threw the charge into the system assuming it had been evacuated, a poorly working system would be the result as described, as you have said.

[Macaw]

Just ran into a problem with our 09 air and it is obvious that that air is running though the a/c and the heater core at the same time. A/C on and temp set to lowest setting luke warm, 1 notch up ice cold move it 2 and luke warm anything over 70 is pure heater. I'll take a look at it this weekend but if its not obvious it's off to the dealer (4-hr round trip)

[piglith]

09 here and works adequate. Certainly not like my F150's but equal to my Accord's.

As far a thread title all's I can say, It's a Puny car, how could you expect more?

[a2jack]

This is only the second summer for our 08s.

Our friends in Canada have had many problems with their earlier Smart CDI AC units. It seems many have seal leaks on the lines back to the compressor.

R-134 is very thin and many had to switch to a refrigerant with a denser molecular structure such as Duracool. A2Jack.

Duracool®.com 2004 - Duracool® is The Recognized Leader In Hydrocarbon Refrigerant Technology

[dancote]

I've taken my car back to the smart center for this A/C problem 4 times now. Everything checks out on the bench. System purged and refilled. No leaks. No fault codes being produced. Everything checks out on test equipment.

Nonetheless, the A/C essentially quits working at about 20 minutes of driving. This is regardless of the outside air temp. The only way to get continued A/C is put it in Max A/C.

My dealer's been great about getting this checked out and they're now going to the source to see what else can be done.

I have years of test experience and have learned that even though things check good in a test/lab environment they don't always behave the same way in the real world.

Keeping my fingers crossed.

[a2jack]

Most repair shops, including Smart Centers, do not have the expertise, or equipment to repair our AC units. Most can only check pressure, add coolant and check for visible leaks.

Most of the AC lines on the Smart are under the belly pans. Other leak areas are hidden away under the dash panel in the heater assembly.

The front AC unit is installed in the dash panel then assembled into the car as it comes down the production line. This is why after market installation of AC in a Smart is not economically feasible.

Most good AC shops will check for leaks, if non are found, they will VACUUM out all the old R-134, Add a dryer, a stop leak, recharge, and wait.

(BTW by "Max AC" do you mean pushing the dash temp control to it's lowest setting?

After rereading this thread I agree with Dune. It sure sounds like the cabin temp regulating circuit is the culprit here. A2Jack.