Why i hear from quite a few ppl keep telling me that cannot set our car's aircon temp to full? They say the compressor cepat wear out, engine more load thus more fuel consumption etc....

Is there truth to all these? Cuz i ALWAYS leave it at full. Is there truth on the aircon compressor will wear out much faster cuz it keeps running?

i've heard that too, but don't dare to confirm
i noticed that when we turn on air-cond, our fuel consumption will be increased

nope, neve notice on my volvo, but on the innova can feel the power decrease (it has 2 air con compressor, for front and rear passenger) really can see the diff when all is turned on max.......power drop (hence press more on pedal, and increase fuel consumption) thats my experience lo....but about wear an tear on the air con compressor? how much can u save ? buy the car memang to use it ma, just use it with peace and fix when necessary......i think those problem only starts to come up after 5 or 8 years (which already time to buy new car looo)

aircond takes about 5-10hp of your car. jus like underpowered car trying to climb slope, they turn off ac for abit more power remember?..better dont max it.

compressor runs on timing not power .
i mean , if temp drop .. it will run until the temp get right and then off .

if adjust the aircon temperature panel to 16c (max), the compressor will keep running in order to reach the temperature, it will cut off itself once reached 16c... if for those car which their aircon not efficient, maybe the max temperature itself can go only 22-25c but adjusted to 16c, so the the petrol will waisted for nothing...

for aircon efficiency, we can try to adjust to max temperature... when we felt cool on certain temperature (assume 25c), try to increase by adjust the temperature panel slowly till the compressor cut off itself... once it cut off, then the level of the temperature panel was around 25c, compressor able to cut off itself and we feel cool and save fuel too...

no what i meant was the reason why ppl telling me not to set the temp to the max cool is that the compressor will operate longer....thus wearing it out faster. if set at quarter full temp, then the compressor will run shorter period.... got such thing mer...

yala i know when u set the temp not to the max cool, u can hear the compressor not running for longer period of time. if set at max cool, then the compressor once reach it desired temp, stopped. but not stopped for long....

but once we on aircon, for sure compressor will on and off repeatable even increase the temperature panel level which are not cool at all under sunny day... unless we dont on aircon at all, for sure dont have any wear and tear on compressor...

EDIT:
actually not 100% not wear and tear... the compressor belt still attach with engine even the compressor not working

This post has been edited by gkl83: Feb 8 2007, 09:17 AM

regardless, unless we are living in siberia....we need it

abit of power oso not until 5-10hp lar bro..

So all those recommendation of CANNOT SET TO MAX COOL settings are just pure crap right?

Okla... nxt time i will ignore...

It's not pure crap, just have some effect, but rather good or bad..

For car power,
If max, compressor always running, so car loose power a bit
If low, the car will have a bit more power when the compressor OFF.
If aircond off, the car will have the power without the drag from compressor.

For lifetime of compressor, i heard 2 versions.
Version1) If MAX, the compressor can tahan longer because the compressor didn't ON and OFF so many times.
Version2) If MAX, since the compressor running at all time, then mati cepat.

So, for me, i never care which 1 last longer or good or bad..
Just use how it is designed for..

When u are hot, then put to MAX lor, if u want lower temperature, then put to LOW lor, if u are too cold, or climb hill, then OFF aircond lor... simple enuff...

but what i practice is, when starting the car, the aircond is OFF.

This post has been edited by stormchaser: Feb 8 2007, 05:24 PM

Well, I think it's just a matter of controlling the temperature according to the outside temperature. Of course, the temperature can be set towards the lowest side when it's a very hot day outside. On the other hand, the temperature should be increased when the outside temperature falls in the late evenings, nights or early mornings.

It makes no sense to leave the a/c temperature setting on the lowest side in the mornings or at night.

best is, set the temp to mid or lower, then blast the air to mid or third quarter, max here n there is no use, max temp FC high,blow speed max , hot air from engine comes in

depends , normally set to full is ok .
unless u got some underpowered car like kancil 660 .

the mere sound of the air con when tuned to the max freaks me out
never ever that i tune it to the max

they myth depends on how to look after the air-con. just like your engine, it needs periodical service and maintenance. so compressor oil and air-con flushing and freon maintenance should be kept maintain all the time. if your compressor is running low on lubricant, it will breakdown early. if there is no frean gas due to leakage, then the compressor will have trouble working properly. and if there is blockage on the airway. then the compressor will work so hard that it will get faulty soon. for me, leaving on to the max is a need, cause i prefer not to sweat while the air con is working either.

if not mistaken, the air-con works accordingly to the timing of the engine. when the compressor is working, the timing of the vehicle will increase. correct me if i'm wrong

air cond temp turned to the max lah.....not the fan.....

the sound comes from the fan....which is controlled by the fan speed knob....

TS was referring to the temperature knob......

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Added on February 9, 2007, 12:24 amagree....just turn on the air cond and uselah....otherwise.....buy car without air cond loh.....

regarding the service thing....i do not fully agree......

nowadays air conds are designed to last long......just use only....once the air cond not cold enough....then start to service it like changing the spoilt parts......

i have 4 cars at home and I can't remember when was the last time I serviced my car air cond.....never got leaking or the air cond not cold yet.......iswara already 5 year old, hyundai 3 year old, kia 3 year old, kenari is 6 year old.....and the last wira before sold, changed when it was 5 year old (the cooling coil spoilt) and sold it at 10 year old without air cond problem.......

air cond service is not really necessary like changing the gas for example.....if the system is working properly...no need to change gas....the gas will not deteriorate in the system.....if have to often add gas meaning the gas is leaking so just change the spoilt part......plus once you start to change, better do a full inspection on the whole system and change any other parts that looks spoilt too.....else....the good parts will start to spoil faster as it needs to work more to compensate the not so good parts......

This post has been edited by tester1979: Feb 9 2007, 12:24 AM

true..you might be thinking somethings wrong at 1st..hahaa

ya ho. lower the fan speed and max the temperature try lo..k la maybe max 5hp

right, when ur ac compressor work hard, ur car will lost power

err, ops
my mistake

but then, if i turn that to the max, my air con panel will "chut sui" one laaa
cannot also

nope, I think you all got it wrong la. I think I now what exactly what you mean. Like this. In old old cars, eg: mitsubishi gallant supertouring 1.6l. or some nissan sunny 160y. You can turn the aircond to max, but then it will make your engine freeze literally. For some weird reason, you can make the aircond cold and yet freeze the engine by adjusting the thermostat. This is normal in old cars. Some come with two thermostats, 1 for AC, 1 for engine temp, yes you can change engine temp but then if you set AC controller to coldest but engine temp medium/ low, you don't get the AC to the coldest. Well its just this sort of thing. If your car is prehistoric where you need to warmup more than 5mins and the radiator does not have that temp stabilizer, then it will have an effect. As for loosing HP over AC, well it used to be alot with old cars, but new cars, its very little and go ahead and turn it to the coldest. In new cars I don't mean a new Kancil as smaller cars are even easier to notice the power drop. I had an old Auto kancil which for some stupid reason the AC would become hot whenever you stall the car in "D" lets say in a traffic jam. If you put to N then its ok But to me its better to have the coldest temperature rather than increasing the fan speed as that requires more power. So overall its not a myth, but then you can hardly notice it. Its not going to transalate into better performance, and its up to you if you want to save fuel open the window or be comfortable. For me the rule is The car IS my slave, not I'm the slave of the car.

Correct me wherever I am wrong.

my thoughts exactly....

but ur slave is drinking u dry on petrol... u feed or slave more if they work harder....

jz keep the traditional style, u treat me good, i treat u good....

err...nolah....it won't affect that much....the air cond turned on with max and without max makes little difference.....most difference in petrol comsumption is when you don't on the aircond at all....

anyway.....i have never turned on my temp settings to max before because my car no need to do so also cold enough already

Old cars have the hot water of the engine flowing into the AC system as a heating system. The compressor is on all the time and the hot water is used to control the temp. If you crank it up, the hot water actually gets cooled by the AC so the engine can get frozen (so to speak).

Also, there is no timing change when you turn it on. The throttle is increased to compensate for extra load sorta lke you tekan a bit more yourself every time the compressor is on during idle

Fuel consumption figures will increase but then how much depends on a few things.

- the car - cos different car have different engine output so it will affect the consumption differently

- the guy who put the gas in - cos if the guy was being a bit cheeky that day and didn't use the meter relying n the windows to check for bubbles then most likely he over pressured your system causing your petrol bill to go up.

Take note though maxed temp and low fan can cause the AC system to ice up. The cooling coil is so cold cos the fan is slow enough for the temp to continue dropping that it becomes a solid block of ice. It will slow and make the air coming out warmer. The only solution is to of the AC but leave the fan at full blast so that the air can melt the ice.

well said.....probably the most comprehensive explanation in this thread.......