My wife reports that the Gen 3 Air Conditioning seems diminished when ICE is not running. Is this normal and is it a function of hybrid battery deterioration. The car has 203K miles and I don't think anything has ever been done to the hybrid battery although I haven't owned it for more than 8 months.
AC is a challenge to diagnose. So many parts...compressor, evaporator, condenser, expansion valve, etc. But yeah, I'd check the hybrid battery first, since the whole system seems to be ok under certain conditions.. I use torque, hybrid assistant, and now tech stream for checking stuff. Any of these, should tell you if there are any bad battery modules. Someone here may chime in with a simple solution, though : )
It should not be effected by the Ice being off. The radiator fans should be running and the compressor can run full speed on its own electric motor. There are a few things that will disable ac like high engine or inverter coolant temps. Be sure the radiator fans are running and no warning lights flash or stay on. The hv battery should be coding if its bad enough to disable ac. If you can't verify these things yourself get it diagnosed at a dealer because you may risk the engine. Be sure its not in eco mode, verify the cabin filter is clean and no one has blocked the radiator air flow, a rather sad northern thing. Otherwise the ac should be strong enough to eventually turn down on 102f days. If not, refrigerant may be low, the condenser or evaporator could be clogged or various other ac faults. Low refrigerant is pretty common but is not effected by engine speed. Airflow through the condenser caused by vehicle speed can help a condenser with bad radiator fans.
Really that's pretty funny I run my persona in the Eco mode like always I can't remember when it's been out of the Eco mode and my air conditioning is so cold it will cause burns on your skin if you let it blow on it too long and I am not kidding and I am not overly sensitive to air conditioning or anything like that I've lived in the Middle East on the desert where it's 150° etc anyhow I have heard other people mention this. But I've never been able to figure out what is going on so maybe my car is some kind of broken in a good way I guess because in Eco mode my air conditioner doesn't seem to widen out the space in between time off and time on or anything like that whether I'm city driving or driving 4 hours from Durham past Charlotte no matter ice cold and I'm always an eco mode even when we're pulling the trailer lightly loaded we're in Eco mode running 65 with the air on windows up cruise set.
You should try it on a Hot Sunny day and go from Eco to Normal. See if you notice the difference. It may not be as evident on a cool day, but on a hot day, you'll know the difference.
We're in Central NC and I have an old lady that can't take no kind of heat so she's like refrigerated 24/7 if there's anything wrong with the air we will know immediately I will be told directly I mean 2° temperature change to hers drastic
oh I'm sure it probably always has maybe until this last summer My brother has a home out in thousand oaks and I think he's having wild thoughts about why that is moving from Bethesda Maryland to thousand oaks of course he never has to leave the hills He's extremely rich He can have everything brought to him.
Pretty easy to see how the hybrid battery is dealing with the AC load just look at the battery consumption meter. If it tanks while the ICE is off during AC use there you go.
