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AC taking long time to cool

30K views 13 replies 10 participants last post by  EOptima2012 
#1 ·
Lately ive been noticing that my 2017 Sportage EX is taking a while to blow cold air after the car has been off for a while. For example, whenever i go back to the car after an 8 hour workday the ac takes about 10-15 min to blow cold air while in the lowest temp setting. During that time the ac is blowing air that is mildly cold but not the cool air youd expect while turned all the way to low. After that initial period the ac functions normally. Although im in south Florida, keep in mind that the temperatures are nowhere close to the inferno of the June to August months where an ac system would normally take some time to cool down to cope with the extreme heat. I took the car to the dealership last week and they didnt see anything wrong with the car. However, they told me that Kia was going to make available some sort of update (this week) that may help resolve the issue.

Im reaching out to the forum to see if anyone has encountered the same issue or know anything about this is "update"? Not sure if the dealerahip was BSing me, so any input would very much appreciated.

Thanks
 
#2 ·
10 - 15 mins???? well that ain't right . My SX will start blowing cold cold by the time I've driven down my lane way to the road....about 200 feet pretty much regardless of ambient.

If it continues, leave it at the dealer overnight on a hot day and see what they think of it when they try the A/C in the morning. Maybe compare it to another new EX they have on the lot.
 
#4 ·
The AC update is for real but I'm not sure it will help you. It came about because some owners experienced iced-up evaporators and the resulting loss of cooling effectiveness after a long run in hot, humid weather. They came up with a different program for the system which apparently fixed the problem. I did not have the problem but they gave me the update anyway. I would suggest you bypass climate control for a test; just set the controls for AC, dash registers, turn the temp down all the way, hit the 'recycle' button and turn the fan speed up all the way. I'd be surprised if you didn't get cold pretty damn quick (PDQ). :)
 
#5 ·
If your car is sitting in the sun with no shade, it will take a while to cool down because the dash components are going to warm the air as the cold air passes through the ducts. 10-15 minutes does seem a little excessive for this time of year, but even when it is only 80 degrees outside the inside of the car can be well over 100 if it is in the sun. If it does eventually cool off then it probably isn't an A/C issue. You can always stick a thermometer in one of the vents. The air coming out should be somewhere around 35-40 degrees when the system has reached peak operation.
 
#6 ·
And the really important factor is 'temperature drop'. If the inside of the car is 120F, and you're on 'recycle', if you see a drop across the evaporator of 40F it would be good. The closer the ambient temp gets to 32F, the smaller the temp drop will be. The lowest temp air you can expect would be in the high 30s and that would be against an ambient of maybe 70F. All that is really with a totally manual system like the old days when you could frost the rear window on a hot day. With 'climate control', you have to get used to the system automatically controlling the discharge air temp to avoid possible discomfort while still meeting the demand you set with the thermostat. This means as it gets closer to your setting, its adding heat to keep the air from chilling anyone. Once you get used to this and find a temp setting that works four seasons, you basically leave it alone. However, I'll be the first to admit when the car is cold I will jack the temp setting all the way up and let it blast - feels good. :)
 
#7 ·
As a follow up to my initial post, i just drove the car after it was sitting in the sun most of the day and noticed that the ac cools down to a point where the air is midly cold and then gets warmer. It is essentially cycling between these two states for a while before eventually working in a "steady state" fashion where cold air is blowing out like youd expect from a system with no issues. Mind you, in this particular instance it took about 25 mins after turning on the car for it to reach the "steady state" part. It seems as though it only cools when the compressor kicks in or something along the lines (im having a hard time deciphering when the compressor kicks is because because theres no noticeable sound even with the hood open). During the cycling period i belive i noticed that the air blowing from the driver side vent (left vent in center console) is colder than the one immediately to the right on the passenger side (may be im just a bit paranoid at this point). During all this the ac is on the lowest temp setting and blowing full blast. It wasnt in "auto mode" or anything like that, with recirculation setting on. Does this appear to be an issue with a particular component? Or do you think it is more characteristic of a logic (computer) problem of some sort? Would a problem
Would a malfunctioning component manifest a problem in this manner?
 
#8 ·
Third update - bought a thermometer which i have been using for few days now, so heres a summary of what ive observed so far:
-The issue is experienced intermittently. On some hot days the ac cools down properly without any sort of lag time. On others, the issue is observed.
-When the issue is observed, it only occurs after the car is turned on and lasts between 15 and 20 mins every time. During this period the temperature is at an average of 60F on the driver's duct (center console) in the lowest temperatute setting with the fan in the highest setting and recirculation on. The temperature oscillates between 56 and 64, which is when i presume that the compressor is engaging and disengaging.
-After the "lag" period, the temperature drops to about 42-44 degrees which is when the ac is functioning properly. This ac maintains this temperature consistently from that point.
Any thoughts as to what it may be based on these symptoms??
 
#9 ·
Hello i'm the same person that originally posted the issue under the username of John2000xx (had an issue with my password so created a new profile). Even though i didn't get any subsequent replies from the forum, i'm following up to inform you of the issue in case anybody experiences the same problem down the road. To make a long story short, it took a total of three visits at two different dealerships in order to have the issue diagnosed. On the third attempt one of the dealers was hesitant to look at the car again since they didn't find any issues a couple of days prior. So after arguing with the service manager and convincing him that i wasn't going crazy and that i had video proof, i managed to get one of the techs to look at the car again in front of me this time and (luckily for me) he was able to see what the issue with the AC was. It turned out to be a faulty evaporator sensor which, when connected to the diagnostic tool, would give give erratic readings. It was a five minute fix which, due to the intermittent nature of the problem, took 3 visits to identify. It was a frustrating ordeal to argue with the dealerships' findings on the first two visits and to get them to cooperate on the third and final visit. I have an engineering background was able to counter a lot of their lame arguments about how they believe that a cabin could be cooled to a comfortable temperature in the middle of a hot day with ac blowing air with a temparature of 60F. Thermodynamics just don't allow that to occur, however i guess most of these guys are just trained to look at what a diagnostic tool says and not reason much about the problem that they're being tasked to look into. Now the car blows nice and cold 40F air which is what i had noticed with my mechanical thermometer during those instances where the car was functioning fine.

Thanks guys!
 
#11 ·
Thank You!!!!! I'm knew I wasn't crazy!!!!

My husband ... EVERY mechanic ... I've taken my car to looks at me like I'm crazy!

Yes! We live in the South. Yes! it takes a few minutes to get cool the car down but the other FIVE cars I've driven never took this long.

Precisely! It would take 10-12 minutes to engage and then it'd run you out of the car it would get so cold .... OR .... sometimes I could get it to engage by turning on the seat coolers (probably just a fluke, but quite often it'd work).

I gave up! I've gone without a car A/C for over a year in North Carolina.

FINALLY an answer.
 
#10 ·
Glad you finally got the issue resolved! As owners of the brand, many of us are not privy to every intricate detail of every system(and part)
installed in our rides. THANKS for sharing the info! Now go and stay COOL in your KIA!.
 
#12 ·
it's super hot here in Phoenix right now 107-110° and sometimes I wonder if my Sportage is doing this. Yesterday it seemed to take a while to cool off once I started the vehicle. Well more than usual. I noticed the vents were not as cool as I expected. I don't have the Auto Climate Control so there is even less of reason for this behavior on a vehicle with 48k miles.
 
#13 ·
The problem i originally described was cyclical in nature - it would come and ago constantly. About a year after the issue was fixed during a routine maintenance visit i was told that Kia had issued a service bulletin and the sensor was changed again (even though at the time the car was still
fine). In your case maybe you may be low in refrigerant. When operating nominally, the temperature coming out of the vents should be in the low 40s (lowest setting).
 
#14 ·
I had the same issue with the A/C system having intermittent issues all the time, though my car is a 2012 Optima. It seems to be a common issue on a hand full of models and the technology is similar, if not the same. With no answers found ANYWHERE, I went through nearly the entire A/C system to finally narrow it down to the A/C compressor control valve electrical connector plug having a bad connection. Not the compressor, or the control valve, etc, simply a bad connection to the control, valve this entire time. I shared an entire write-up in another thread: 2012 Kia Optima / Hyundai Sonata Intermittent A/C issues...
 
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