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Interesting A/C issue... 2013 prius c

Discussion in 'Prius c Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by alhaynes86, Apr 23, 2019.

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  1. alhaynes86

    alhaynes86 New Member

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    2013 Prius c
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    have a interesting a/c problem with my 2013 prius c.. once going down the road at 40mph+ the ac works fine... hwy speeds it works fine... stop and go.. it dont work... in cabin airfilter is clean... the rad fan is spinning and pushing in the correct direction.. what ive noticed is this... when the a/c works... the in cabin air circulation is off.. while stopping and going (traffic driving red lights ect..) the ac in cabin air circulation comes on and get warmer.. so much so that its actually hotter than outside air.. no matter the temperature of the cabin.... compressor has been replaced.. i dont suspect a blockage as it works fine when the in cabin air circulation is off... this wouldn't be such a bad problem if i could just turn it off and leave it off but it comes on automatically during city driving... and will not turn off unless the car is manually shut down....so this is perplexing me... want to know if anyone else had this same issue and fixed it or what could cause such a strange issue.
     
    #1 alhaynes86, Apr 23, 2019
  2. dubit

    dubit Senior Member

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    Vehicle:
    2016 Prius c
    Model:
    Two
    Sounds like your running the A/C in "auto" and the way it's controlling the flap which diverts warm/cold air into the cabin is messed up. Have you tried turning the "auto" temp control off and run it manually to see what it does? I'm guess no, because of the way your post is written above. If you truly can't turn the "auto" off, then you need to have that whole HVAC system looked at.

    FYI - The "auto" function combined with "ECO" mode will turn off your A/C when stopped.
     
    #2 dubit, Apr 24, 2019
  3. alhaynes86

    alhaynes86 New Member

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    Vehicle:
    2013 Prius c
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    N/A
    this very odd thing was fixed today buy maybe what you would call a lucky "shot." it wasnt in auto... but eco mode was on most of the time and tried it with eco off... this car was leak tested and filled with a machine myself... here is the kicker.. i was looking in the window and seen slight bubbles... not many not violent bubbles but like 1 mississippi 2 miss.... kinda bubble deal.. so i thought??? is it actually possible its still low????? so i went to wal-mart got a can or freon with the gauge.. to test the low side with that and maybe pop a little more in if needed... no it wasnt low.. but i popped a quick squirt in there anyways like just cracking the valve really quickly.. and the the compressor cut off and no longer could fill it properly cause it was a bit to high for me to risk this much pressure from a can.. got in the car and she works perfectly... only thing i could think out of this is that quick shot and me releasing the hose from the low pressure side has dislodged something like a clog and now she runs perfectly... ill see how long this lasts.
     
    #3 alhaynes86, Apr 24, 2019
  4. sam spade 2

    sam spade 2 Senior Member

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    Vehicle:
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    Four
    This is not right. OFF is OFF. There is a button even.

    Having said that......there is a slight air intake even when OFF as a safety feature.
    That air could be warm if the AC is not running.

    And you didn't mention what you have the temp set to.

    Sounds to me like you have a failed AC control board.....wherever that is.

    Is this car new to you ??
     
    #4 sam spade 2, Apr 24, 2019
  5. ztanos

    ztanos All-around Geek!

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    Four
    Off is off, for the fan... but the temperature controller still stays functional... so if you have it set to 80 degrees and turn the fan off, the car is still going to allow 80 degree air to pass through the vents naturally.
     
    #5 ztanos, Apr 24, 2019
  6. sam spade 2

    sam spade 2 Senior Member

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    So I guess I was wrong and OFF really isn't OFF after all.
    I'm not sure that the fan ever stops running completely; just goes very SLOW.
     
    #6 sam spade 2, Apr 24, 2019
  7. ztanos

    ztanos All-around Geek!

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    Yeah, it's very weird, I don't know that the fans keep running, but you have to turn the fans on in order to change the temperature that the controller is set at...
    It's very annoying when I don't ever run the fan or the AC and in the mornings I have to turn the heat all the way up, then hit the off button... but then in the evenings, I turn it to Lo and turn if off again.
     
    #7 ztanos, Apr 25, 2019
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