'17 LX AC Recharge

[zink]

Had to take my '17 LX in for service the other day as the AC was not blowing cold on the passenger side. Once I noticed an issue, I checked the back and realized the rear AC wasn't blowing cold either. The dealer only recovered 0.5 lb of refrigerant! They added UV dye and recharged. AC now blows ridiculously cold everywhere. I have my own black light and have checked the car all over and failed to see evidence of a leak. I am wondering if I caused the problem as I always use 'climate concierge', which only runs the rear AC if the car detects someone sitting in the back. Since the back seat has only been used a handful of times since I've owned it, I'm wondering if some seals have dried out through lack of use? I've turned off the climate concierge and 4 zone to keep everything running and the seals lubed. Has anyone experienced anything similar on such a new car with only 20K miles?

 

[Sandroad]

If seals were dry you would see leaks. Have you owned it since new and did the problem recently start? Seals don’t dry up any more on modern systems. There’s a leak somewhere inaccessible with your light without some dismantling. Since it’s under warranty, let the dealer do the R&R?

 

[labcab]

Had to take my '17 LX in for service the other day as the AC was not blowing cold on the passenger side. Once I noticed an issue, I checked the back and realized the rear AC wasn't blowing cold either. The dealer only recovered 0.5 lb of refrigerant! They added UV dye and recharged. AC now blows ridiculously cold everywhere. I have my own black light and have checked the car all over and failed to see evidence of a leak. I am wondering if I caused the problem as I always use 'climate concierge', which only runs the rear AC if the car detects someone sitting in the back. Since the back seat has only been used a handful of times since I've owned it, I'm wondering if some seals have dried out through lack of use? I've turned off the climate concierge and 4 zone to keep everything running and the seals lubed. Has anyone experienced anything similar on such a new car with only 20K miles?

I’m dealing with this now on my 2011 LX. Did the dealer ever find the source of your leak?

 

[NKP Garage]

If you haven't already, make sure to pull the HVAC codes, reset them, and drive around a bit after reset, while going through various AC modes, then check the codes again. Most shops don't reset HVAC codes after performing work and it leads to lingering issues. That might help solve the issue you have with various zones not functioning as expected, but it wouldn't solve your issue of refrigerant leaking (if that's actually what is happening).

See this post for the procedure: 2017 LX570 - Back again in another 200 - Ownership log and Build thread - https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/2017-lx570-back-again-in-another-200-ownership-log-and-build-thread.1316789/page-2#post-15043338

 

[KLF]

Anecdotally, I rarely use the AC in my '12 Miata, and it is a summer car only (stored in the winter), only has 45K miles on it. I had to have it recharged last summer, and the tech told me it probably wouldn't last, even though he did a full drawdown and leak test (didn't find any leaks). He was right, it's not keeping up this year. So now I'm thinking of getting the gear setup to do it myself every spring.

 

[NKP Garage]

Anecdotally, I rarely use the AC in my '12 Miata, and it is a summer car only (stored in the winter), only has 45K miles on it. I had to have it recharged last summer, and the tech told me it probably wouldn't last, even though he did a full drawdown and leak test (didn't find any leaks). He was right, it's not keeping up this year. So now I'm thinking of getting the gear setup to do it myself every spring.

its worthwhile to figure out where your leak is and just fix it usually. Sometimes its just fittings and o-rings that are leaking. Sometimes it is the compressor. etc...

 

[zink]

I am the OP. Since the recharge I never turned the climate concierge back on, I keep it in 4 zone with all outlets blowing. The AC is still bonkers cold and I've checked a few times with a black light and see no evidence of a leak or any deterioration in performance.

 

[m3fan]

Just had to add about a half a pound to my 2014 LC. Symptoms were that cold air only came from the drivers front side. Pressure was a little low at about 20 on the low pressure side at about 90F ambient. Immediately fixed the problem. I liberally coat everything in Woolwax every year underneath so hopefully no major leaks anywhere.

FWIW I also did I the Techstream servo reset procedure which did nothing to solve this issue.