[Coytee]

I've got this 2019 Tourer that I bought from the estate of a friend. Cutting to the chase, I understand it has a drivers AND passengers a/c or heating. (the Synch button)

I'm on the road for work.....leaving in an hour or so to drive 100 miles one way. Makes it VERY difficult for me to 'swing by' the dealer since I'm gone so much so am trying to garner some thoughts to see what course of action makes sense (if any)

Summer has arrived, heat has gone up. The A/C on this car is NOTHING like any other car that I've owned. I'm just now noticing this so don't yet have accurate 'symptom's', so the following is gut feeling WITH some close observations

1. Might take 30 minutes for it to start to blow "cool" air. Note, I said cool. If you stick your head into a working refrigerator, the air is distinctly cool in there. If you instead, stand in front of a house fan, yeah, you might feel cooler because the air is moving but, it's still ambient air that's moving, not 'cooled' air. What I seem to get out of it is ambient air movement..... then, a while later it DOES begin to cool down.

2. Related to above, I distinctly noticed this yesterday..... the PASSENGER side has the cooled air while, at the same time, the DRIVERS side has this "ambient" air...so in contrast the drivers side feels warm compared to the cooled side on the passenger side.

3. I fiddled with both of the thermostats, I pushed the synch button, thinking I might have a dirty contact or something in there.... let me be clear, there is a clear and DISTINCT temp difference between the left and right side, even with everything as maximized to cool as I can make it (unless there is something else that I'm unaware of)

4. Since passenger side does show cool (NOT cold) air, that implies it's got some level of freon in there, compared to the drivers side which would make me think it has zero freon, or maybe the a/c compressor belt (if one exists) might be slipping or broken. (I've not yet opened hood to look at anything)


I'm wondering if this type of thing is normal? Aren't both driver and passenger sides supposed to be the SAME when you push the synch button?

I'm schedueled to be on the road every day for the next two months, so getting this looked at is going to be a specific challenge for me (probably have to have wife take me there, then I take her car kind of thing so we'll have to plan this out..... so I'm yammering on here to see if anyone has an idea of what I might be in for)

I appreciate your thoughts.

I might add, "if you use your AC in summer or heater in winter, your MPG's will go down" (or so, is my understanding)

I'm OK with that. Even with potential reduced MPG's, I'm still stomping what I got in my Toyota. I DO however want to be comfortable and that means cool (COLD) air when I want it and heat when I want it....so for me if that impacts mileage, that's an acceptable tradeoff.

Yesterday, I was eating dinner, looking at car through window. Thinking "if this is all the cooler air you have to offer then I may have the wrong car 'for me'"

I like everything about this car thus far, except for the apparent lack of "cold" verses "hot" air when desired. Seems very tepid.

 

[Hunter Mike]

Most likely the charge of the refrigerant is wrong. If you’re not under warranty you need a shop that can service 1234yf which may take a few calls to find.

if the refrigerant is the wrong charge it can cause the symptoms you describe. The evaporator isnt fully cold and the passenger side seems to be the benificiary. If you’re in Eco mode the output will be reduced so turn Eco off if you haven’t already. Synch just keeps both blend doors in the same position. Dont turn up the pass temp thinking that it will help you as that just lets more heat from the heater core into the mix.

Theres no belt drive in a HAH as the compressor is run by electricity. There’s a small penalty in EV range be cause of the wattage needed.

Try this…turn the car on with the temp at its lowest. Open the hood and feel the two lines going from the compressor to the cabin. One should be cold, the other warmer. The compressor is on the right side under the washer reservoir. You’ll see a fat flexible line that connects to rigid near your oil filler cap. The skinny one is near the brake distribution block.

 

[RCarlL]

That doesn't seem normal. If you hit the 'auto' mode button and sync the two sides and set the temperature down so that the a/c should turn on and blow cold air- you should get cold air pretty quickly on both sides.

On my 2019 and 2021 Accords the A/C system worked great. If you parked in the sun- it might take a minute for the system to start blowing really cold air... but after that 30-60 seconds both cars produced very cold air.

It sounds like perhaps your car needs to visit the dealership... hopefully you can work out something before summer hits. Is your 2019 still covered under its 3yr/36k mile bumper-to-bumper warranty? It might be a stretch- but it's technically possible if the car was originally purchased later in 2019 or early 2020 and you haven't gone over 36k miles yet.

 

[Coytee]

Thank you for your thoughts/comments. Yesterday, on the way back from my on-site visit (100 miles away), I had plenty of time to leave it on.

It DID get cool (not what I'd call "COLD") but it got pretty cool. My take is like any car, it takes it a moment for the A/C to overcome the hot temps inside the car and/or maybe the hot temps inside the ductwork kind of thing BUT, you can still feel the cold air almost immediately and over a few minutes, the car is cooling down.

This isn't working that way. I was probably down the road 20/30 minutes (A/C on coldest setting and fan on pretty high) It finally did put out cool air but I wanted to notice.....how is the right verses left side?

The drivers side (on synch I'll remind) was putting out cool air and the passenger side was putting out colder air. I had no means to test but I'd say it might be 10/15 degree difference between the two sides. Therefore, in contrast, the drivers side feels "warm" (since the passenger side WAS putting out pretty cool air)

Interesting stuff. Again, I appreciate the thoughts. Today, I'm more local AND my day ends early. My intent is to go by the local dealer and get their thoughts. I think I'll be able to drive there (10 miles from where I'll be working and THEY will know where I'm working) my hope is to have them stick their hand/face in there to get a gut feel of the difference after knmowing from where I've driven and get their base thoughts. Then, go from there.

The car is a 2019, I don't know the month of purchase. It has right at 17,000 miles on it.

 

[Dels]

I remember reading about a 'blend door actuator' malfunction in some cars where the valve/door/whatever does not work, which in turn, does not blend the air that comes out of the vents. When the air does not blend, it can result in temperature variations between the driver and passenger vents.

May or may not be your problem, but the symptoms sound similar.

 

[Coytee]

Hopefully "The Rest of the Story", but it might (with the above comment about a blend door) only be the update of the story.

Yesterday, I was in a nearby town instead of 100 miles away. There is a dealer here. I happened to finish work early. Was going to go home when it dawned on me, let me drop in to at least let them sense the temp differences so they have a clue what I'm talking about.

Got there and they did more than that....they got it in for a look-see. He came back saying that there are some gasket seals in the system and they were leaking. He went on to say this is not an unknown issue to them. They've got the expected parts ordered and I'm going to drop the car there Sunday so they can have it for a while. (for a while because Monday through Friday, I'm back on the road 100 miles away, in the opposite direction). Fortunately, I still have the trusty Toyota Camry (which I'll mention, we bought new in 2005 and the A/C STILL works 100% perfectly today, it has never been to shop for any A/C issues)

So at least I'll be feeling cool, if not looking as cool! (the car has had someone back into it two different times so it's got some door dings and is time to be retired.....note that ONE of the people who backed into it was my own sister!!)


Oh, side comment....the service guy (who takes car in and gets your name/address person) said this wasn't covered under warranty.... HUH? I gently pushed back.... he recanted and said nope, the car should still be under warranty BUT, there is still a charge.... HUH??

He went to his pal two cubicals down and asked his pal. His pal said "this was a service item (like an oil change) and since it's evidently never been serviced, there is a charge"

WHA??? So I then asked.... "so tell me please...what is the frequency of the service? Tires rotate every "X" miles, engine oil gets changed every "X" miles, what is the service interval for the A/C to be evacuated & recharged??"

As you might imagine, he had a blank stare and no answer. He upped me to the service manager.

Kind of makes me wonder if they're paid a salary/hourly, or get some form of commission on the work they "bring in".

 

[Hunter Mike]

They are paid extra for “customer pay” service. It’s what pays the bills. Put “absorption rate” into your googler machine.