Vegas Heat=Dying smart

[flywithsean]

So I took my smart on a nice highway drive from Boulder City to my house in NW Las Vegas. This is about a 42 mile drive. I went out to Boulder City in the morning and returned at 4:00PM. The temperature was a nice crisp cool 107 degrees. Two Problems.

1. The A/C never cooled the car down. I had the A/C at the coolest setting with the highest fan setting and on recycle. The lowest speed I got to on the highway way probably 50. Also note that I have 20% tint on my side and rear windows. Today I did the same drive in my Prius and though it was only 103 today, the A/C was blowing icy and within 5-8 minutes had reached 74 in the car.

2. After 2/3 of the trip the car was seriously losing performance and it became difficult to even maintain 65mph without the gas pedal almost to the floor.

I am sure someone in Phoenix has had similar problems in the past week.

[SuperGeek]

Originally Posted by flywithsean

2. After 2/3 of the trip the car was seriously losing performance and it became difficult to even maintain 65mph without the gas pedal almost to the floor.

I am sure someone in Phoenix has had similar problems in the past week.

Pedal to the floor should give you 80+mph with A/C and everything on.

Losing that much performance after 20-30 miles of driving? You'd better get that car checked at the dealer soon. Call the 800 # if you're out of range, they'll tow it in at no cost. If you have something like an A/C compressor siezing or some coolant flow problem, you could damage something else by driving it.

[flywithsean]

Originally Posted by SuperGeek

Pedal to the floor should give you 80+mph with A/C and everything on.

Losing that much performance after 20-30 miles of driving? You'd better get that car checked at the dealer soon. Call the 800 # if you're out of range, they'll tow it in at no cost. If you have something like an A/C compressor siezing or some coolant flow problem, you could damage something else by driving it.

I am VERY familiar with how this car performs as I have had it since January. I drove the car last night when it had cooled down to 90 and it was perfect and the A/C was cold. I usually drive 70+ on the highway with no problems and don't need the pedal anywhere near the floor. Too much hot desert sun for her.

[factor9]

Originally Posted by flywithsean

So I took my smart on a nice highway drive from Boulder City to my house in NW Las Vegas. This is about a 42 mile drive. I went out to Boulder City in the morning and returned at 4:00PM. The temperature was a nice crisp cool 107 degrees. Two Problems.

1. The A/C never cooled the car down. I had the A/C at the coolest setting with the highest fan setting and on recycle. The lowest speed I got to on the highway way probably 50. Also note that I have 20% tint on my side and rear windows. Today I did the same drive in my Prius and though it was only 103 today, the A/C was blowing icy and within 5-8 minutes had reached 74 in the car.

2. After 2/3 of the trip the car was seriously losing performance and it became difficult to even maintain 65mph without the gas pedal almost to the floor.

I am sure someone in Phoenix has had similar problems in the past week.

Flywithsean, I've been driving in 102 F in the Sacramento valley with a passenger and 8 bags of groceries, a dog and clothes from the cleaners, and I've had no trouble with my A/C, power as well as performance. Yep. my mileage dropped down to the low 40's/gal., but that's it. I totally agree with "SuperGeek" that you really need to bring your car in for a serious check up. I doubt this is the first time you've used the A/C in Las Vegas. How did your smart perform in 85 F heat, 90 F? I thinki we're all real anxious to find out what your service dept. finds. I just can't believe that "desert heat" immediately fought your smart into submission

[flywithsean]

This is the first time it has been this hot. The 90s haven't been a problem for it at all. The temp topped out at 110 mid way through my journey. The performance was great until that point as well. We are a higher elevation than you in Sacramento also. 2300 feet and lots of elevation change during the drive. The A/C coming out was blowing cold and fast but it just couldn't keep up. Not a cloud in the sky and sun was blazing right through the front window since it was the afternoon and I was heading West.

[GoMXracing]

was a little warm here today(was showing 0over 100º on gauge) on my way home at 7 ish(pm)..... i had no AC issues (was in the 40`s)once on fwy.and up to speed...... but was fighting the wind pretty good. (was gusting to 15 knots) and it was a little tougher then usual to go 80MPH , i was working car not to the max, but harder then normal... fighting the wind.... had to pay attention more then most times.

i have 17`s on car and no tint.

i have noticed if you start off in a cooler car (shade) ......its allot easier to control temp......instead of starting off at a fully heated unit and ask it to pull it down

[sharonlee]

God Bless Michigan!!!

[JohnnyBGangsta]

Here is a few things that I have noticed in the heat:
1. My A/C doesn't cool very well on days +100
2. When I start my car to leave work it runs fine, then my first take off the engine is extremely loud as if the air box was off or I was running with no muffler
3. Even with A/C completely off i can at times feel power loss under heavy throttle
4. My drivers side door will rattle.

Now the reason I bring up the door rattle is because I heard that here this past week they had an issue at the ports in CA. In the heat the door latch would not latch all the way and the door would open back up so they held all cars from leaving the port to go to dealerships. In the morning time the would check the door again and the latch worked properly. They tried it again in the heat and the latch failed again. From what I was told is that they replaced something physically in the latch then released the cars.... I don't know if this information is true or is false but once again I am having an issue with my door making noise when it is hot out and at the same time I heard this story.

[kkish]

In Phoneix but a shorter commute mine cools down quickly and stays cool. No real loss of power but again my commute is only ~5 miles. Monday it was 110 on the drive home and was comforabel in 1.5 miles after the car soaked in the sun all day. Today at lunch time took a co worker to lunch and it cooled down quickly and it was only 106 we only went ~ 2 miles each way and turned down the ac as it was quite cool before we got to the resturant. Sounds like you got a problem.

[factor9]

Originally Posted by flywithsean

This is the first time it has been this hot. The 90s haven't been a problem for it at all. The temp topped out at 110 mid way through my journey. The performance was great until that point as well. We are a higher elevation than you in Sacramento also. 2300 feet and lots of elevation change during the drive. The A/C coming out was blowing cold and fast but it just couldn't keep up. Not a cloud in the sky and sun was blazing right through the front window since it was the afternoon and I was heading West.

Flywithsean, I actually live up in the Sierras at 3,300 ft., but it takes less than a half an hour to be down in the valley and into the temps your dealing with. So, yes, I've driven in similar situations, just not quite up to 107 F. But, that's not the point. There have been several threads debating the quality of the A/C in all kinds of conditions. Some owners say that the system doesn't work at 85 F, while others complain that it gets too cold at 85 F. It also seems somewhat odd to me that your smart's A/C would be humming along at over 100 F, and then, BAM, all hell breaks loose and your A/C totally poops out and your smart's engine's begins to lose power big time at 107 F! All I'm saying is that before we all decide that smart fortwos cannot handle desert temps, we may just want to have the A/Cs evaluated by authorized service departments just to ensure that there is nothing they can do to improve its output and/or attenuate it's impact on our car's performance.