AC stops working at slow speeds in traffic

There are electric fans under the hood (fans? I don't know how many are in a Prius c, but the bigger Prii all have two of 'em, as far as I know) to make sure enough air keeps flowing through the condenser and radiator when you are stopped or moving slowly.

Are you positive the fan(s) work?

 

So you're saying that going below the 6 mi an hour the airs getting warm etc . Are the radiator fans running just out of curiosity? this is replaced condenser? You know there have been some issues with some condensers . Like these sort of things . Something about internal. Of the core how it's made .

 

What do the gauges say if you hook up gauges to the system both gauges high and low what do you see thru the cycles any high readings that collapse etc . To me it sounds like you've got a metal line that's very crimped you got a serious flow issue . Seems like . We have a cold fat silver line and a warm skinnier line ?

 

The poor customer is telling you what the problem is; the engine is overheating. Solve that first and the ac will be ok; ok but not great since it has a slow leak.

First, if the engine or inverter cooling system is overheating, the ac will be disabled.

Second, if the engine or inverter does not overheat while moving faster than 12 mph, it sounds like the engine has to continue running and the radiator fan(s) are bad. If the engine does not stop at low speeds it also has a weak hv battery. Probably some off brand aftermarket hv battery.

Finally, the ac system has a txv refrigerant metering system which will compensate for some degree of low refrigerant. Until its almost gone or there is a very high cabin heat load.

 

I find the c a very cute car, plus they put better colors on it than the liftbacks got. I still make an aww face every time I see one. If I didn't occasionally carry bigger stuff, I'd probably be driving one.

I spotted one last night with quite nice-looking wheels, but I didn't take a picture on my way into the place, and it was gone by the time I came out.

 

There's only one cooling fan in the c model, and these symptoms are about right for the fan running poorly or not at all.

We love ours as much as the day we bought it. Odometer will hit 100k next week or the one after.

 

It's a Gen 2 with an EGR cooler isn't it more or less ?

 

And an electric water pump and I guess half as many front fans.

 

It might be more accurate to say it's the gen 2 engine block dressed with gen 3 technology, accessories and equipment.

They held the distinction of being the most automatically-produced car in the world. Not sure if they have retained that record. But the commercial point of the Aqua/Prius c was to fine-tune the design and then keep pumping them out day and night with relatively few changes along the way.

Not that many showed up in the USA, but Toyota made mountains of them for the rest of the world.

 

Most of the C I see are going souf at about the 250 K . Quite respectable for that design . Gen2 has my stereo n all in already . And I've ice cold air.less than 2K in any of them . cannot get out of those.

 

The one person I have known with a c loved it as a commuter car with a mini v hatchback style and good mpg. It was noisy and not great on high speed freeways.

 

Yep, they sure are buzzy on a hill pull. And that short wheelbase does not help for high speed stability. But there are always trade-offs to be made.

For our use in suburban Pennsylvania, an area with lots of 45mph roads and relatively few interstates? It has been a brilliant family car for us. Our daughter particularly likes trips in it.

I fit my 6'4" self in there better than the big Prius, mostly because there's no center console penning me in.

I'd love to be able to replace it with another one once we're done.

 

By the time you're out of that byd will be sending some realness our way

 

I think the Corolla hybrid has taken its place as a value hybrid with excellent mpg combined with modern safety systems.

 

If only they were selling the hybrid hatchback model in the USA.