Hey gang, the title of this thread says it all. The a/c takes about 30 seconds to get cold. I'm pretty sure I need to stop by an a/c shop and have them recharge the refrigerant, but I just wanted to make sure it's not normal behavior before I dish out some $$$ for that.

Thoughts?

 

as long as it gets and stays cold, you don't need a recharge. its just the way it works. the heat seems to do the same thing in the cold.

 

I would think that is pretty much normal.

 

It is normal. You would have a problem on your hands if the A/C does not get cold enough.

 

I appreciate all of your comments. The a/c gets cold, and stays cold. I thought I read somewhere that cars' air conditioning should get cold within a few seconds of pressing the button, and that's how my old car was. If this is normal for the Crossfire, I won't worry about it.

Thanks for everyone's help so far.

 

Yep, that's pretty much normal. My guess is that the A/C evaporator has a vary large mass (a cold plate, maybe) that takes a while to cool down, but once it gets cold it stays cold. This would be useful to help keep the air temp very constant as the compressor cycles on and off. I know that on some cars you can feel the temp of the air rise and fall as the cycling occurs.

Here's a neat thing to try as well: Next time you park the car after running the A/C, turn off the engine and then press the REST button. You'll notice that the air coming out of the vents stays cold long after the engine is shut down.

 

I've never owned a car that had cold air within a few seconds of turning on the a/c.

 

Then you, sir, have never owned a 1995 Saturn SL1

 

You're right...can't say I've had that wonderful pleasure.

 

Me either. Always takes a at least 30 seconds. But is it really an issue if you have to wait 27 seconds longer for air?

 

The problem is due to the 134 refrigerant, it always take a long time to get cool. That's why all the older vehicles from the 90's would get cold so fast they where running R-12 refrigerant.

 

It is down here...

 

just hold your breathe and before you know it, it will be cold.

 

I was concerned I'm damaging the compressor by using the a/c.

 

That's funny, I know Saturn's are not expensive cars by any means, but I owned a Saturn (Ion) and that air conditioner also got really cold really fast!
(within seconds) I agree, it was great -

 

Now, that's funny!

 

Just add a little Nitrous. It always makes things a little faster...