AC

This specific symptom is often linked with a failed/failing radiator fan. I'm pretty sure your model has two fans side by side. I'd expect them both to be running at high speed once the engine is warmed up with air con enabled on a warm day. You can observe them just by popping the hood and looking (with eyes not fingers!)

Also worth eyeballing the condenser through the front grille to make sure it hasn't been blocked by leaves or debris.

Good luck!

 

And if it turns out not to be one of your fans, The other question has it been recharged in its past or a friend in Accident and then to a body shop where they had to fix the bumper and maybe some other components underneath during the colder part of the year.
And now many months later when it gets hot you are now experiencing this problem ?

But it sounds like leadfoot probably has the more common failure mode suggesting the fans at idle

 

Hi Lech -- Thank you for all your videos and tips. They've been really informative and appreciated!

I have a 2010 Prius I bought new. It's been a great car and we have 107k on it. Two days ago I noticed the A/C isn't blowing cold air any more. The fan works fine, but the air blowing is cool not cold like it used to be and it's insufficient to cool the cabin. It occurs to me that my wife, who drives this car more than me, also commented a couple weeks ago that the A/C didn't seem to be cooling as well as usual.

Until seeing your videos I didn't know that the A/C should get checked every couple of years. Other than "inspect radiator and condenser" every 15k, I don't see any A/C items in the maintenance schedule I follow. I also didn't know that it's normal for refrigerant to leak over time and that it will need to be recharged on occasion. I've never had the refrigerant checked. I have changed the cabin filter periodically.

I did a basic inspection per your videos: the refrigerant window appears to be clear (no graying), but I saw bubbling when I started up the A/C. I gather this means it's low on refrigerant, which isn't surprising. I didn't leave the A/C on long to see if it stopped bubbling because I'm trying not to run the A/C at all until I can get it checked out by a pro.

I checked the condenser and found there is a dark area on the right side (see photo). Do you think my condenser may be leaking?

Any tips on how to approach this with a shop? I'm a little leery of my Toyota dealer as they seem to escalate repairs. A buddy of mine with a very similar Prius just recommended a independent shop he goes to and considers very competent and fair. I'm about to call them to see if they work on Prius A/C systems.

One other quick question: what are the most common solutions to A/C problems in order of likelihood?

E.g., is recharging usual sufficient, or do you most commonly have to change out certain parts?

Thanks again!

 

Oh yeah that’s a leaker mama.

Try to find an independent that specializes in Toyotas.
Hopefully and usually if they’re good that puts their capabilities up in above the Toyota dealership because they actually have to find stuff and diagnose things other than being parts changers.
It’s a good chance they also have Toyotas factory software but not all the time but that’s not a dealbreaker.

Many Prius I do feel are just a little low on refrigerant over the years no big oil leaks define refrigerant leak detector doesn’t pick up anything it’s just a cumulation of very small leakage and seepage throughout all the components gaskets seals hoses when you add that up over the years especially as they get older the leak rate sometimes increases.

The manufactures which are not Toyota and not General Motors and not jaguar Mercedes or any other manufacture they go to a third-party air conditioning supplier who supplies the air conditioning components and parts for them the dealers do not make them they do not test them they just say we need something that goes connected to this engine to this kind of dash and this is our sizes sell us a universal kit so we could throw it in many cars.

This is why when you actually look at the parts the majority of them have names stamped on them that have nothing to do with the car manufacturers at all.

Different countries around the world to sell the cars everywhere have different air quality management bureaucracy for leak rates on their cars including the United States so the manufactures try to pick components that have lower leak rates than what they used to this means brand new hoses brand new O-rings for even the case of the compressor the way it is bolted together all have a small measurable amount of leakage that is considered acceptable.

Even a metal cylinder with no seams with only one fill port that is welded shut has a leak rate that is extremely extremely small but refrigerant even goes through metal.

Occasionally I come across cars that I know the owner is the original owner never service their vehicle 15 years later I check it it might only be 1 ounce low those cars do exist some people just get really lucky.

There’s a lot of things that are not in service manuals it keeps the price of service down it’s something they could brag about having the lowest and longest service intervals.

Some manufactures in their service manuals have replacing the receiver dryer every five years so I’m even more often.

 

I was able to get my Prius into the independent shop I mentioned. The tech pulled all the refrigerant out and there was only 4 oz. He wasn't too concerned given the age of my car and refilled it to around 18 oz. It's blowing pretty cold again. The machine added dye to the refrigerant and he says he'll check for leaks if it doesn't keep blowing cold. I hope it holds!

 

No, sooner or sooner (not later) you will be back because a leaking condenser won't fix itself. It might last the season- or not.
Dye has its uses but the picture from before tells enough. That schmutzy dark stain is dirt mixed in with oil. The only source of oil in that area is a pinhole leak in the condensor.

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

Hopefully your shop is aware that Prius AC needs a special oil. Off the top of my head it's called ND11, or something similar to that.