Chevrolet Optra Aircon Problem

[VespaSeeker]

Hi ,

I drive a 4 year old Chevrolet Optra , the car had a full Chevrolet service only a few months ago .

The problem is now if i am going on a long journey ( more than 1 hour ) the Aircon stops working , it gradually gets warmer and the fan gets less and less , yesterday when it packed in i tried driving with the windows down but the car got very hot quickly but then the aircon started working again ??? Confusing the hel_l out of me , anybody got any ideas ?

Also next to the aircon button in the car there is a button with a small car on it and a arrow inside the car ,can anyone explain fully what this is please?

Does it mean when pressed and iluminated that you are airconditioning the air inside the car ?

And when not pressed the air comes from outside the car and then conditioned , if so does this mean you are sucking up all the toxic fumes from outside or are they somehow filtered out ?

I would just like to know how much of BKK's delightfull traffice fumes i am breathing in while driving .

Do car aircons work the same as home aircons and need gas top ups ? If so any idea how much this costs for a car ?

Thanks

[Deeral]

The two pictures of the car I(usually) indicate that you are either circulating the air inside the vehicle through the aircon system or taking air in from out side.

it is usually recommended that occasionally you take a "gulp" of outside air to replenish the air in the car. It will of course be warmer and require the air con to work harder for a short time, but might ward off drowsiness.

there are filters on all aircon systems - they need cleaning or replacing from time to time - they also de-humidify the air.

as for the mystery turning off......have you got "climate control" in your vehicle? THis is very useful and minimises the energy use up by the aircon system - which takes its power from the engine - i.e. - it uses a significant amount of extra fuel.

This would mean that you have set the temperature in the vehicle to a certain level (e.g. 28C) - when the chosen temp is reached the air will slowly shut down and only start again when the temp inside the vehicle warms up again.

[metisdead]

"The problem is now if i am going on a long journey ( more than 1 hour ) the Aircon stops working , it gradually gets warmer and the fan gets less and less"

This could be an indication that the aircon is freezing up.

[hkt83100]

This could be an indication that the aircon is freezing up.

Quite probably. I had the same problem a long time ago, went to an aircon shop and had them clean the whole system. The cooler was quite dusty and the mixture dust/condensing water clogged the whole system. Freezing was also frequent. After the cleanup all problems were gone.

[fredob43]

If you set the aircon to out side air (sign) arrow out/in you can set the temp as low as you want. Will not freeze. If you set air car only (sign) arrow in car, if you set the temp on high, it will freeze up and will stop untill it melt's common fault. I would guess that you have two knob's one that control's the fan speed and one that dose the temp If Im right then that's your problem. Dont turn the temp knob more than two third's. when it's in the in car position, bingo,

[soundman]

Your air is a little low on gas and the evaporator is turning into a block of ice after extended use in humid air.

Exactly the same thing happened in my Camry.

Serviced the aircon system (leaking evaporater replaced, clean drain outlets, re-gassed) and it hasn't happened again.

[VespaSeeker]

Thanks for the reply's , going to take it to B KWIK on saturday and see is they can give it a clean / service .

[stingray]

"The problem is now if i am going on a long journey ( more than 1 hour ) the Aircon stops working , it gradually gets warmer and the fan gets less and less"

This could be an indication that the aircon is freezing up.

The AC freezing up, this is correct, therefore the fan comes less, because of ice inside. Check your termostate of the AC, maybe the AC works allways on full power, and the termoelement no cut off anymore. therefore overfreesing and no air can passing troug the "icebox".

If you don't want repair, during driving you can switch the AC button off from time to time, the fan stil working and you will see after 2 minutes the air comes again out from your vents. after 5 minutes you can turn the AC button on again.

[VespaSeeker]

Hi , well tried to explain the problem to the missus but fell on death ears and she let B-Qwik people replace the gas , 500bt and no difference at all .

They told us the filters needed to be changed by Cherolet dealer .

But to me it sounds more like the thermostate problem maybe being broken and sticking on full all the time ( we set it 2 or 3 clicks from full ) and the ice box freezing up .

As some people have described this is what seems to be happening , loss of cold air and fan power , then if we stop the car for 5 minutes it comes back to working again .

So off to Chevrolet next which should be fun as last time they took the the car for 2 weeks just too service it , missus told me this was normal in BKK so i gave up complaining .

I will try my best to tell them only check the thermostat but for sure more than this will happen .

Off to B- Kwik again today because the lights have stopped working, we have side lights and full beam only so will probably be told we need a new car ! which will be much to the amusement of the missus as this is what she was shouting at me last night as we were driving back from pattaya in near darkness !

[Lumumba]

"The problem is now if i am going on a long journey ( more than 1 hour ) the Aircon stops working , it gradually gets warmer and the fan gets less and less"

This could be an indication that the aircon is freezing up.

The AC freezing up, this is correct, therefore the fan comes less, because of ice inside. Check your termostate of the AC, maybe the AC works allways on full power, and the termoelement no cut off anymore. therefore overfreesing and no air can passing troug the "icebox".

If you don't want repair, during driving you can switch the AC button off from time to time, the fan stil working and you will see after 2 minutes the air comes again out from your vents. after 5 minutes you can turn the AC button on again.

This currently happening in my 4 yr old Optra. I usually switch the aircon off and turn the fan to the 3 position, I still get a cool air for quite some time, then it gets a bit hot and the aircon comes on again cool, and this is pretty much what I have been doing for about 4 months now.

Its usually hard to explain this to the garage and you find out, the problem is not resolved after all the changes.

[Deeral]

icing sounds about right on looking at the other threads - THe weather has been VERY hot lately so this might be that the systems are being overloaded - full on and medium fan speeds and the incoming worm air is insufficient to blast away the buildup of ice.

i would suggest checking filters first as there is a lot of dust about in the last final hot weeks before the wet starts.

[VespaSeeker]

Well had the gas changed and new filter fitted and air system checked at the Chevy garage and still having the same problem .

If i drive the car at 120km its ok for about 2 hours then i will have to switch to outside air coming in which always smells abit and starts the missus off complaining , but going over this speed the aircon ices up after about a hour and i have to switch to outside air for about 10-15 minutes or pull over and turn the air off and let it de-ice for about 10 minutes , i know its doing this because there is a large pool of water under the front of the car after i stop .

So i am just wondering why this iceing up is happening when i drive faster ? i dont think its the thermostat because it seems to be working , turning it up and down you can feel the difference in temperature easily .

So anybody got any more ideas ?

[Deeral]

"the Aircon stops working , it gradually gets warmer and the fan gets less and less"

OK - just go over a couple of things, please........

What gets warmer? The air from the vents or the overall interior of the car?

The FAN - what gets less - the volume of air coming through the vents or speed of the fan?

[VespaSeeker]

"the Aircon stops working , it gradually gets warmer and the fan gets less and less"

OK - just go over a couple of things, please........

What gets warmer? The air from the vents or the overall interior of the car?

The FAN - what gets less - the volume of air coming through the vents or speed of the fan?

The air from the vents gets warmer and volume of air drops from the vents too , you have to turn the fan up to 4 ( fastest ) to get the same volume as you normally would from the number 1 setting .

As i said swiching to outside air or turning the aircom of for 5 to 10 minutes fixes it , but i just want to know why its icing up like this when the car is driven over a speed 120km per hour

Cheers

[Deeral]

If it was icing why would the air get warmer? - It would get less but stay cold, wouldn't it?

Is the fan actually slowing or is the airflow restricted - i.e same fan speed, less air?

You don't have climate control - right?

just a thermostat.

..and the fan speed remains the same- it is just the airflow that is restricted?

BTW - most manufacturers suggest that you give the car a "gulp" of outside air every now and then.

i'm just trying to think this through.

If the fan slowed due to an electrical fault, then reduced airflow might cause icing, but, contrarily icing wouldn't cause the fan to slow, only restrict air flow.

[VespaSeeker]

If it was icing why would the air get warmer? - It would get less but stay cold, wouldn't it?

Is the fan actually slowing or is the airflow restricted - i.e same fan speed, less air?

You don't have climate control - right?

just a thermostat.

..and the fan speed remains the same- it is just the airflow that is restricted?

BTW - most manufacturers suggest that you give the car a "gulp" of outside air every now and then.

i'm just trying to think this through.

If the fan slowed due to an electrical fault, then reduced airflow might cause icing, but, contrarily icing wouldn't cause the fan to slow, only restrict air flow.

Ok , just returned from driving too and back from BKK to pattaya , 1 hour 45 minute each way , all i can do is describe excactly what happened .

Driving to Pattaya on toleway staying under 120km per hour this time , after 1st 45 minute i switched to outside air for 8 minutes ( missus switched it back because of smell ) dont know why it should smell bad too because filter replaced last week , anyway 10 minutes later puled over for gas , but did not turn of air --- so far working ok

Then back on the road , about 25 mintues later notice air starting to warm up and less air coming from vents ,the fan still seems to be going the same speed because fan noise does not change , so anyway switched air off , left fan running , air turned really cold and regained volume after about 1 minute ( this is why i think its icing up , soon as the aircon is swithed of the air comes back threw leading me to believe the ice is melting inside the aircon box and allowing the air to flow through freely again ) , then after 2 minutes more the air started to warm up , i left it another minute or 2 until too hot inside the car the then switched the air back on , air came back cold and good volume after about 1 minute .

Did this i think once more before arriving into Pattaya .

So then bassically the trip back was the same , just i turned the air off a few times more because we never made a stop .

So like i said before i think the icing up explanation fits the problem ,its just why is it doing this ? also why does the air smell so bad when switching to outside air , feels like were getting slowly gassed !

[Deeral]

OK - so I agree - the icing theory still stands.

now I don't know if you're like me and can't read things like radio switches and aircon switches without my glasses on.

But - I'd take a good look at the inside/outside air switch and make doubly sure which way it's working.

Like you I can't think why it should smell - unless there is something restricting the airflow from the inside or out side.

If it is circulating air from the inside of the car, (the aircon works least - as it is sucking in already pre-cooled air). but one would assume it could therefore ice up more quickly

THe next thing I'd check is WHERE does it suck in the air from inside the car - could it be something as simple as a carpet blocking the air intake?

If that was the case - turning to outside air - a different intake, might slow or stop the icing which would start again when you went back to the partially blocked intake - the fan speed or tone would probably not change alot.