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The Air Conditioner in my 996 has been acting a bit odd lately, so my mechanic scanned it for me but that returned no faults. We also checked that the compressor was turning, and indeed it was.
Before taking it in for lengthy (and costly) troubleshooting, I thought I’d ping this group and see if anyone might be knowledge about the AC system and can steer me the right direction.
First off, all the symptoms have been INTERMITTENT (so, they don’t happen all the time). The consistency of the symptoms seems to be getting a bit more frequent though. Here’s what’s been happening…
Occasionally after starting the car, driving a little, or turning off the car I will hear a high pitched tone that often sounds like feedback from a microphone at a concert, or sometimes sounds like an emergency vehicle siren. This only happens if the AC has been in use.
Occasionally, the AC only blows cold air if it’s set to “Lo,” and warm air at every other setting.
Occasionally, the AC blows sort-of-cold-air even when set to “Lo,” it’s kind of humid but still a little bit cool.
On one occasion, white smoke came out of my vents. It had no smell, so nothing was burning, and it lasted for about 10 seconds, and I’ve never seen it since.
Occasionally while driving with the AC on at full blast, it suddenly “kicks in” (for lack of a better term) and blows much harder on its own (the settings weren’t adjusted).
Any help that anyone could provide would be most appreciated. Thank you in advance!
Lots of symptoms that an AC expert could answer....could be more than one thing...evaporator, expansion valve, etc...take it to Porsche dealer but know they will charge to give you an estimate because they will have to do some work to find out what is the issue...
Occasionally after starting the car, driving a little, or turning off the car I will hear a high pitched tone that often sounds like feedback from a microphone at a concert, or sometimes sounds like an emergency vehicle siren. This only happens if the AC has been in use. Where does the noise sound like it is coming from? Behind the dash? Engine compartment? Front bumper by the fans?
Occasionally, the AC only blows cold air if it’s set to “Lo,” and warm air at every other setting. Since you state the compressor is running when this occurs i would first start by checking the freon levels. A simple inexpensive A/C check and an indy should answer this question
Occasionally, the AC blows sort-of-cold-air even when set to “Lo,” it’s kind of humid but still a little bit cool. Same response as question 2
On one occasion, white smoke came out of my vents. It had no smell, so nothing was burning, and it lasted for about 10 seconds, and I’ve never seen it since. Could it actually be frost? It is possible for a A/C system to get cold enough to send froat out of the vents. Rarely happens, but it can. I have even had customer state the have seen flakes of snow come out of the vents.
Occasionally while driving with the AC on at full blast, it suddenly “kicks in” (for lack of a better term) and blows much harder on its own (the settings weren’t adjusted). If the system was set to "Auto" this would be normal. At times the system will turn the recirculation on and off. The system flows less air out the vents with the system drawing outside air. When the system changes to recirculate it will "sound" louder and will actually push more air out of the vents.
Occasionally after starting the car, driving a little, or turning off the car I will hear a high pitched tone that often sounds like feedback from a microphone at a concert, or sometimes sounds like an emergency vehicle siren. This only happens if the AC has been in use. Where does the noise sound like it is coming from? Behind the dash? Engine compartment? Front bumper by the fans?- - That's hard to answer, but most of the time it sounds like it's coming from somewhere behind or around the dash.
Occasionally, the AC only blows cold air if it’s set to “Lo,” and warm air at every other setting. Since you state the compressor is running when this occurs i would first start by checking the freon levels. A simple inexpensive A/C check and an indy should answer this question
Occasionally, the AC blows sort-of-cold-air even when set to “Lo,” it’s kind of humid but still a little bit cool. Same response as question 2 - -That thought entered my mind, except, I got this car two years ago and the AC system behaved this way for about two days the first week I had it. Once it started acting normal again, I just blew it off as a fluke. Now it's happening a lot more regularly.
On one occasion, white smoke came out of my vents. It had no smell, so nothing was burning, and it lasted for about 10 seconds, and I’ve never seen it since. Could it actually be frost? It is possible for a A/C system to get cold enough to send froat out of the vents. Rarely happens, but it can. I have even had customer state the have seen flakes of snow come out of the vents. - -I wouldn't think it was frost because it stopped blowing cold air and turned warm, and I put my hand up to it and didn't feel anything (like cold).
Occasionally while driving with the AC on at full blast, it suddenly “kicks in” (for lack of a better term) and blows much harder on its own (the settings weren’t adjusted). If the system was set to "Auto" this would be normal. At times the system will turn the recirculation on and off. The system flows less air out the vents with the system drawing outside air. When the system changes to recirculate it will "sound" louder and will actually push more air out of the vents. - -Wasn't set to auto.
Forgot one thing… Sometimes when making a fast turn, the air stops blowing (or dramatically weakens) until I've straightened out, then it goes back to blowing with the same force it was prior to the turn.
06-13-2019, 11:34 PM
AC Weirdness with the 996
