'97 Corolla air conditioning ineffective at higher temps.

Local temp is up around 30ºC (about 85ºF) and my air conditioning is pretty
ineffective. At lower temps, towards 25º (77ºF) it works fairly well, but at
30º the air is merely not hot.

I use fresh air as it's pretty humid here (Southern Ontario) and
recirculated air gets kind of nasty pretty quickly.

I thought I had read that this was a problem with Corollas of this vintage.
I'm just wondering if it's worth looking into, or is this as good as it
gets? Further, roughly how much $$$ am I looking at if it is a fixable
problem?

Thanks for any thoughts.

Regards,

Robin

On Thu, 9 Jun 2005 18:55:58 -0400, "Robin S." <lasernerd@hotmail.com>
wrote:
[color=blue]
>Local temp is up around 30ºC (about 85ºF) and my air conditioning is pretty
>ineffective. At lower temps, towards 25º (77ºF) it works fairly well, but at
>30º the air is merely not hot.
>
>I use fresh air as it's pretty humid here (Southern Ontario) and
>recirculated air gets kind of nasty pretty quickly.
>
>I thought I had read that this was a problem with Corollas of this vintage.
>I'm just wondering if it's worth looking into, or is this as good as it
>gets? Further, roughly how much $$$ am I looking at if it is a fixable
>problem?
>
>Thanks for any thoughts.
>
>Regards,
>
>Robin
>[/color]

My wife has a '97 here in Florida and it blows ice cold at any
temperature.

I'd say something is wrong...


--

Scott in Florida

"Robin S." <lasernerd@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:3O3qe.13061$_n2.1077070@news20.bellglobal.com...[color=blue]
> Local temp is up around 30ºC (about 85ºF) and my air conditioning is
> pretty ineffective. At lower temps, towards 25º (77ºF) it works fairly
> well, but at 30º the air is merely not hot.
>
> I use fresh air as it's pretty humid here (Southern Ontario) and
> recirculated air gets kind of nasty pretty quickly.
>
> I thought I had read that this was a problem with Corollas of this
> vintage. I'm just wondering if it's worth looking into, or is this as good
> as it gets? Further, roughly how much $$$ am I looking at if it is a
> fixable problem?
>
> Thanks for any thoughts.
>
> Regards,
>
> Robin[/color]
Since the car is 8 years old, it probably could use a refrigerant re-charge,
should be under $100 and if you shop carefully, can be as low as $50.00.

--
Ray O
correct the return address punctuation to reply

"Ray O" <rokigawa@tristarassociatesDOT.com> wrote in message
news:60c39$42a8cfa4$44a4a10d$27620@msgid.meganewsservers.com...[color=blue]
> Since the car is 8 years old, it probably could use a refrigerant
> re-charge, should be under $100 and if you shop carefully, can be as low
> as $50.00.
>[/color]

Scott and Ray,

Thanks for the quick responses. I'll definately have someone take a look at
the AC now...

Regards,

Robin

"Robin S." wrote:[color=blue]
> Local temp is up around 30ºC (about 85ºF) and my air
> conditioning is pretty
> ineffective. At lower temps, towards 25º (77ºF) it works
> fairly well, but at
> 30º the air is merely not hot.
>
> I use fresh air as it's pretty humid here (Southern Ontario)
> and
> recirculated air gets kind of nasty pretty quickly.
>
> I thought I had read that this was a problem with Corollas of
> this vintage.
> I'm just wondering if it's worth looking into, or is this as
> good as it
> gets? Further, roughly how much $$$ am I looking at if it is a
> fixable
> problem?
>
> Thanks for any thoughts.
>
> Regards,
>
> Robin[/color]

Check to see if your condenser fan is running when AC is on. This will
cause the condeser to run to hot and cause pressure to get to high,
therefor will not get cool.

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"ccscorpion200" <UseLinkToEmail@AutoForumz.com> wrote in message
news:1_602992_72a2651d9950f3c2b0e2c37b24e37d15@autoforumz.com...[color=blue]
> "Robin S." wrote:[color=green]
> > Local temp is up around 30ºC (about 85ºF) and my air
> > conditioning is pretty
> > ineffective. At lower temps, towards 25º (77ºF) it works
> > fairly well, but at
> > 30º the air is merely not hot.
> >
> > I use fresh air as it's pretty humid here (Southern Ontario)
> > and
> > recirculated air gets kind of nasty pretty quickly.
> >
> > I thought I had read that this was a problem with Corollas of
> > this vintage.
> > I'm just wondering if it's worth looking into, or is this as
> > good as it
> > gets? Further, roughly how much $$$ am I looking at if it is a
> > fixable
> > problem?
> >
> > Thanks for any thoughts.
> >
> > Regards,
> >
> > Robin[/color]
>
> Check to see if your condenser fan is running when AC is on. This will
> cause the condeser to run to hot and cause pressure to get to high,
> therefor will not get cool.[/color]

To clarify, the condenser fan should be running when the AC is on. If it is
not running then you will get ineffective cooling. When you open the hood,
you will see 2 electric fans. 1 starts and stops depending on coolant
temperature and the other starts and stops depending on AC usage.

You can do a quick check yourself on refrigerant level. Open the hood and
look near the radiator for a vertical canister shaped like a small thermos.
The canister will have tubing going in and out and should (but sometimes
does not) have a small glass window about the size of a dime on top, called
a sight glass. With the AC is running, look at the sight glass (you might
have to clean it off with a rag or paper towel) and see if white foam
appears in the window. If you see foam, then refrigerant is low and air is
in the system so it needs to be recharged. A few stray bubbles is OK.
--
Ray O
correct the return address punctuation to reply