Mine is blowing 57 degrees at the vent (read when 90 out) and only moderately hard.

When I turn my tiny Toyota Yaris AC on, it blasts hard and freezing cold. Curious if these weak ACs are typical or if I just need a new compressor or something of the sort. Refrigerant level was good, and I cleaned off my condenser with condenser cleaner. Next up is some Reflectix insulation coming in that I'm going to layer the floors with, under the carpet.

So anyone know their vent temps?

 

My '03 is similar, on very hot days the vent temp is high 50's easily. I've evacuated and recharged the system, condenser fan works, pressures look normal, tried clamping off the heater hoses to make sure it wasn't a blend door issue leaking heat into the ducts from the heater core. I'm beginning to suspect the system has too much oil in it for lack of any other explanation. If I get further into diagnosing it I will report back.


And no, I don't think ours are normal, I drove another '03 before I bought mine and it cooled fine.

 

Don't use econ mode.

 

On a hottish day, say about 35C, mine reads about 15c-16c at the dash vents when stationary using full A/C not Econ. It's better on recirc or when moving.

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure using Econ = disables the AC Compressor completely aka as vent mode.

 

Mine blows at 41-45 as of yesterday. It was 100+ degrees. Gets a bit warmer when idling. Even going down a surface street it's pretty cold.

You may have a high side restriction. There is a metering device like an expansion valve or block. I forget which one this system has. That basically regulates flow of refrigerant into the evaporator under the dash. Lots of times its that rather than the compressor. Only way to really tell is have a quality set of gauges to watch both sides of the system.

 

In my opinion, the A/C is one of the best working systems on the D2. I've had several examples, and they've all been frosty cool in the summer with no maintenance.

 

Loving the feedback, it's great to compare experiences. Seems like a fair share of people have AC performance like me, and some have great performance here. But nice to know that there is room for improvement.

I never turn on econ. If it got to that, I feel like I would just roll my windows down. I know how much money I'm wasting on gas, what's a few more dollars for AC, I say.

Shiftonthefly1, those are some nice temps. Ok, so I was planning on loaning some manifold gauges from AutoZone to check high and low side pressures, is that the direction you're pointing me in?

Also just noticed today for the first time that the driver side center vent is not open all the way. The adjuster switch to open or close it has been broken, just flaps back and forth loosely without effect, but today I compared my side to the passenger side and realized it's blowing hard and strong on the passenger side but about 50% as strong on my side. So I'm going to take apart this fascia one of these nights and see if I can fix that. Any tips for removing the fascia to get to the dash vents?

Kenso, yes, I've considered evacuating the system and starting fresh. Never done that before, does the old oil come out easily enough, do you know?

 

My A/C has always been poor. I've noticed when I have the refrigerant replenished it gets better, but it only stays "good" for a few months. It's not losing pressure, so it's not leaking, but I'm convinced there's something not quite right with it. I'm not sure how to diagnose it, though, and I'd be interested if there are ways to test the performance of the various components (evaporator, drier, condenser and compressor). All I can say is it'd be unfortunate if it's an evaporator problem, because that's way up in the dash and I'm sure is an expensive part.

 

If you have to add refrigerant, it's leaking. On your next "replenishment" add dye to aid in locating the source of lost refrigerant. Or if you wanna get right down to it, evacuate the system, then, charge with Nitrogen and listen for leaks. Find the leak, repair it, pull the system down into a deep vacuum then, properly weigh in your refrigerant.