A/C not getting cold

check your cabin filter first

 

Because it needs to drop the temperature of the vehicles interior too. What color is your car ? What is the outside temperature ?

 

Make sure it in in rec mode not outside air. Also turning off eco mode lets the ac run at full power. If it doesn't feel cold then your going to have it looked at. It may take a couple of miles to cool the car down to a nice level.

 

Good question DrDiesel.
Dark blue, that's a hot color, strike one. 95F strike two. Moon roof strike three. You roll your windows up all the way and park in the sun, YOUR OUT!.


It will take some time to cool that down all that hot interior mass. If it's 95F out side and 120+F inside your car DO NOT RUN YOUR A/C ON RECYCLE!. It is easier to to cool 95F air then 120+F air hands down. Then after the interior cools below outside temp then you can use recycle air.

This is a 2013 car I don't think you need to check your cabin air filter yet. Unless you have been Baja desert dusty off road dirt racing or parked every day under trees that drop lots of leaves and pollen.

Question ? is this your first car, first car with a/c or you are comparing a non hybrid car with a hybrid cars a/c ?.

 

Did you open the windows for a few minuets to exhaust the hot interior temperature. Blue will
hold heat more than a lighter color. Was the sun-roof shade open during the day ? Direct sunlight
through the sun-roof will create higher interior temperatures. I always open the windows to
exhaust the hot interior and run the A/C around 70° to 75° in ECO Mode with the recirc mode active.
Get a thermometer at the local parts store and stick it in the center vent. This will give you accurate
temperature information.

 

There was a recent study done on car skin colors and heat. They found that it made no difference what color it is, the skin reached the same temperature regardless. Dark colors might get warm faster, but they all reached the same temp in a matter of minutes, and it made no difference to the inside-the-car temps. Might have been Consumer Reports that did the study, can't remember for sure.

 

sounds like consumers reports, not always right. Black is always hotter then white , 5th grade science experiments remember so basic . Any painter with any practical experience knows this or will discover it the hard way if they don,t know. If you remember the old days of black vinyl seats and jumping in with shorts on and burning the backs of your legs, compare to the same car with white seats was bearable.

And yes driving the first two blocks or so is best with windows down will help. But if you just want fast comfort and not one of the MPG freaks ( sorry but true) enjoy your comfort, crank up the A/C all the way no ECO SB and run that baby full blast. ENJOY YOUR A/C
I own a Prius C and the A/C is on all the time. After I added 3M crystalline window tint on all windows that really helped. It blocks both UV and IR. It dose not have to be dark to block IR. IR wavelength is what strikes a object and produces heat. This is all basic HVAC and energy management class 101. Putting the lightest shade window tint on that large front window is #1 no one will ever know its so light.

 

rdg,
This report is Boe Gus. Go up to any white car in a parking lot and put your forearm on it.
Now go to a black car. Have a burn kit ready. Coming from two black cars to a white Gen3 with the solar
sunroof is like night and day.

lech,
I agree with the 3M crystalline. It is a new amazing technology!! The stock glass does have decent IR rejection but this film makes it even better.
However you got it wrong about a Gen3 sunroof. That is a PLUS. It is a Solar Sunroof, it runs the interior fan whenever it is in the sun and it is hot out. I don't have data, but when I open my car door after sitting in the sun all day and I'm greeted with the fan blowing fresh outside air in my face until I power up the car.

A sun shade for the big front window helps too.

Does ECO mode do anything to the AC?

 

its the interior color the is most influential.

 

sorry, i thought it was just a normal sun roof. Oops!

As for ECO , Here in San Francisco city with all these hills driving I get better GPM with it off, both me and my wife. I'm a hard driver and she's a soft driver. Both of us get 44 to 46. We can bump it +2 MPG if we try real hard to drive like one the those ECO MPG Wack Jobs in a Prius doing 65 in the fast lane when every one else is going 75+.

 

lech,
I was asking if the ECO switch does anything with the HVAC system. I don't think it does on this car.

It seems a lot of people think that the ECO and PWR buttons have ANY influence on fuel economy.
They don't. They only change the way the engine responds to a pedal travel, the response curves are different.

Full Throttle Pedal = Full Engine Power,,, no matter what you do with those silly switches.

(One guy said he looks down and presses PWR before doing a lane change! Distracting and useless.)

Only your right foot controls power and fuel economy.

 

Someone ought to do some real world testing on a black Prius with Misty Gray interior vs. a Blizzard Pearl Persona with the black interior.

 

Well lets try this first, if you jump in the car and go to AC, the interior ducts need to cool off first, so for the first bit the ducts will be hot, then they will cool off. If your driving and into the sun, the front of the car seating will remain hot just the sun passing thru will keep thing toasty, when you change direction and the sun to your side or rear, it will cool off or seem like it as the sun is not shining on your chest. Blowing the air at your face and body will only just slow the process down. circulate the air betters the cool down affect.

 

I only drive in ECO but supposedly ECO drops the AC down to like half to get the best mpg, you have to turn off ECO to get full AC.
At least that's what it says in the manual and what I have read here.

 

Bill, I agree about throttle mapping, but if ECO reduces AC compressor usage, it would have to effect fuel economy.

 

With gauges, yes.

We have an 11 Rolla (red) with a black interior and I have the charcoal gray in the Prius. Hands down the Rolla gets much hotter much faster. Of course I suppose once the temps are in the triple digits, it probably really doesn't matter much...

 

Oh yeah with proper instrumentation.

I'll have to find it, but there is a spec sheet on Gen3 glass IR ratings. Search it.
The Gen 3 has an amazing ~55% Heat blockage, I think, IR, and all the others have a good rating.

But I'm with you on interior color. That's why I have that light colored leather in my Gen3.
And with the Solar Roof it is like not other car!!! I still use a cheap fabric hoop sun shade in the front.