Climate control not as cool after air con re-gas and service

[Ken83]

Hi, 

 

Every time I service my IS300h, they suggest I service and re-gas the air conditioning, its required every 2 years they say. I usually resist, but after having the car for 3 years and not knowing when it was last done, I got it re-gassed at my last service in Feb. As the weather was cold I didn't really notice anything, but now its warming up I have noticed that having the temperature set to 20 degrees on auto(which is where it was last summer), the car still seems hot. I have to manually adjust it done to about 18.5 to feel cool.

Mentioned it to the guy I deal with at Lexus and he said oh that's normal, he outs it done to lo when he gets in and then adjusts later? I've never done that with a car that has auto climate control. I usually set a temp and it adjusts to it. It blows out cold hard for a while and then settles down when it reaches the desired temp and just maintains. Currently at sub 20 degrees the car still feels warm.

Not sure what they have done or if they are using different coolant now for some reason but the performance shouldn't be worse than it was pre service should it?

If I've got it wrong please let me know, but climate control should adjust itself right otherwise what's the point? I'm supposed to take it to them to see on Thursday but I'm almost thinking what's the point? They'll probably just tell me its normal and to turn the temp all the way down then up again.

Cheers, 

Ken

[Spock66]

Yes I agree that's how it should work.

Have you been using it at all as lack of use can cause problems with seals drying out etc?

[steve2006]

There is an interior temperature sensor fitted as shown in the attached picture. If you look under the driver’s side dash on the transmission tunnel you should see a small vent.

Behind the vent is the sensor which works by airflow over it so the Climate Control knows the interior temperature and adjusts cabin temperature according to the driver settings.

This sensor becomes clogged with dust over time ( a bit like your PC fans) leading to false readings and subsequent wrong temperatures.

Try gently cleaning the sensor vents with a soft brush and vacuum cleaner or use compressed air to blow out the vent.