2008 air conditioning barely working, any tips?

There must be a problem with your A/C. I drive routinely between SAN-PHX, etc, in 100+ temps with my 2006. My A/C has plenty of oomph; in fact, I usually set it @ 76-78 degrees to avoid getting chilled. Maybe you have a leak, and are losing refrigerant? If your vehicle is still under warranty, I would take it to the dealer and have them check it out. The A/C never has to be "recharged" unless you have a leak.

 

Quite right. The system is completely closed with no externally-exposed bearing seals, so if it's failing there is a puncture somewhere, or some other fault that needs repair.

And do take it to a Toyota dealer. The system requires a non-conductive compressor oil that a non-Toyota shop may not know about.

 

Hope its something minor, but for all those against extended warranties, here is a good example of a possible major expense for our friend should he not have invested in one.

 

Just an idea before you take it to the dealers, but is your cabin filter blocked or in need of replacement? A simple diy fix.

 

Welcome to Priuschat! As prev. noted you may have a puncture. Have you run over anything lately? Most common is damage to the front condenser which sits in front of the rad. Take a look under the fornt of the car and in fornt through the front vents.
Also whats the ac screen on the mfd doing? Is the AC button light blinking on and off?
Good Luck and hopefully its just a relay but your best bet is the dealer. Ouch....

 

This is actually a rather stupid suggestion, but are you *absolutely* sure you have cooling on? Switch to the Airconditioning screen on the MFD and check that the A/C button in the lower left corner has a yellow bar glowing in it. If it doesn't, push it and switch it on. The A/C automatic icon on the dash still glows even if the cooling is switched off, so you would never notice.

 

Let us know what you find out. I have to say my air-conditioner is the best one I have ever had. My car starts feeling like a refrigerator if I am not careful.

 

If it's very hot you may need to ensure that the AC is on recirc.

 

I bought my 2007 new and any time it gets above 90 the AC has to be on high rec to cool. It will not cool down the car that much and after a hour of running it still is very warm inside. Toyota says that the ac only will cool down to a maximum 20 degrees below outside temp. GREAT, when it is 100 I will be sweating in my 80 degree car. I have no problem when it is cool outside but when you need it the most the ac lets you down hard. Even my 92 camry cools way better then the prius. Toyota says it is to factory specs so I guess they can list any specs they want then it makes it easier to meet them. Another easy way out for the company. Any thoughts or comments??

 

My Prius with 200 miles a/c works great!!

 

Dealer can fix!!

 

Today I was driving around Tucson with my 2007, 21K miles. Ambient temp was 106 degrees F according to the MFD. It was nice & cold in the car, very comfortable.

You should be able to expect more than a 20 degree F reduction. You can do a quick DIY check by finding the refrigerant sight glass on the passenger side of the engine compartment (look for the thin shiny metal plumbing that runs to the sight glass and the high-side pressure valve) and looking at it when the AC compressor is running. If you see bubbles that is evidence that the refrigerant level is low.

In that case I suggest that you find another Toyota dealer and ask the service dept to verify whether the refrigerant charge is correct, and if not see whether they can determine where the leak is, fix it, and recharge the refrigerant.

 

As I understand it, if your trans-axel cooling pump goes kaput which is not necessarily uncommon, you also loose your air conditioning.
Push start twice without a foot on the brake, check the cooling fluid reservoir and listen for a fish tank type pump behind the left headlight, if air is being blown into the reservoir the pump is not working, fairly inexpensive fix.

 

This is true, but in that case you should see the instrument panel light up: master warning red triangle and brake/ABS/VSC lights should come on, since the skid control ECU is very sensitive to a voltage drop on the 12V bus.

 

You know, this statement from your dealer service advisor is so wrong that I felt the need to provide photos to show you how ill-informed that guy is. I drove my 2007 today, with ambient temp of 95 degrees. The air coming out of the air ducts was at 34 degrees, almost freezing point. This represents a 60 degrees F difference between ambient and air duct temperature.

I took the temp of the front passenger headrest, and it registered at around 65 degrees. The HVAC thermostat was set at 75 degrees, AUTO AC, and the fan speed was on the second position up from the slowest.

If the AC can't make you uncomfortably cold even on a hot day, then it likely needs maintenance or repairs.

 

Ditto Patrick.

*Toyota* did not say that; some dealer who doesn't know what he's talking about said that. Take it to a competent Toyota dealer and get it fixed.

 

Bingo! I could use mine to store meat.

 

for about a week mine seemed really weak. i pushed the A/C Auto button to make sure it was firing up but it was only cooling slightly...

a lack of attention to detail caused me to forget that my wife sets the temperature in the car to 79 and when I realized all I had to do was hit the down button til it got to MAX COLD and in just a few minutes the car was nice 'n chilly.

for your sake, I hope that's all it is, but I doubt you're as absent minded as I am.