# How is the Diesel ac and performance in hot summers?



## ProDigit (Aug 31, 2015)

Hi,

I have a 2011 Cruze Eco 1.4T. The airco is horrible at anything above 90F outside.
The Cruze suffers a lot from heat soak.

Is the same true for the diesel as well?

Also, i used to drive about 66-75% highway, and instant MPG was around 50 at 60MPH; with an average of 37,4MPG.
Nowadays my instant is 40MPG, and my average is 35,7MPG.

How does the diesel average (in hot weather preferably).


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## snowwy66 (Nov 5, 2017)

Doesn't matter what car anyone has. They all work just as great when everything works great. 

The early 10 models anything don't seem to hold pressure above 175. Verdict has yet to be seen on anything 15 and newer. Need at least 225 to work good. Depending on where you live. Could be as high as 250 - 275. 

Take it to a shop and have it looked at. It's more then likely low on freon. Specially since it's 8 years old.


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## MP81 (Jul 20, 2015)

The 2.0T never had any issues with hot temps that I noticed. I would imagine the 1.6T likely follows suit.


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## jblackburn (Apr 14, 2012)

Gen 2 A/C as a whole is massively improved over Gen 1, FWIW.

Mine was freezing me out of the car on a 100* day last year.


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## johnmo (Mar 2, 2017)

Diesel fuel economy is worst when it's cold. Energy content in winterized fuel is diluted by the anti-gelling additives. Diesel engines are so efficient that they can struggle to maintain optimal operating temperatures in cold weather. We had a few days this past winter when I never saw my temp gauge reach normal operating temp during a one-hour commute.


There seems to be a sweet spot for fuel economy in mild temperatures starting about 50 and maybe up to around 80. Of course it might be that 80 is about where I start using the air conditioner. Even with the A/C running, though, I've seen really good fuel economy. Check my fuelly history to see how MPG has varied by season. We get all four seasons where I live in Kentucky. Temps have ranged from well below zero up to 100.


The air conditioner has no trouble making cold. The one thing I've noticed is that the fan speed does some odd things. The fan speed knob is apparently a request rather than a command. The fan speed reduces at highway speed. I've caught it speeding up as I've come to a stop. I rarely run the fan at full speed though. When I have turned it up all the way, it does seem to blow full bore as requested.


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## ProDigit (Aug 31, 2015)

Even on my 2011 eco model, fan speed 2 & 3 lower, when making a call over bluetooth.
Maybe 1 as well, but I wouldn't know for sure, because at setting 1, there's very little fan noise to notice.


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## BlakeCary (Jan 11, 2017)

I dont own a CD but I do work for a AC Compressor Supplier doing proto testing. For us when we setup a test we run Evap conditions 95°-104°f (air in) x 50% (humidty) x 247cfm (airflow) and we charge our benches till we reach a certain subcool depending on what customer spec. Running with those conditions generally we will see Evap Air Out temps of 40°-60°. With that being said the temp of 90° air in shouldnt matter. Loss of cooling capacity from my experience is due to low refrigerant. My opinion would be get it recharged. The only other thing I would do is possibly change the TXV also, since many use a spring to adjust the flow they get tired and lose full functionality.


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## Rivergoer (Mar 30, 2017)

*What Heat Soak?*

As far as my Gen 1 diesel AC is concerned, it works fine in the Arizona desert.









This was one of more than a dozen days over 120F last Summer...I was quite comfortable rockin’ to B-52’s with AC set one below high. Engine temp steadily remained like it always does, just left of the center hash.


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## quailallstar (Feb 16, 2018)

My Gen2 does quite well here in Florida given it's usually around 96F/80%+ humidity when I crank her up and head home down I95. The only issue the A/C has in getting real cool when hot out is while sitting at a red light or in traffic if you haven't had a lot of drive time to allow adequate cooling. 

Check out this cool (no pun intended) on how to effectively cool down a hot car.


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## JDH (Dec 24, 2014)

Got in the new one the other day when the outside air was 102 with interior temp at 165. After ten miles I was turning the AC down. Yes, the Gen 2 AC system is good in the high heat/humidity of Central Texas.


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## thebac (Jul 29, 2017)

I have not noticed anything abnormal with my A/C. It does a nice job cooling the car off on blower 4 in recirc, and its been h-o-t here the last couple weeks.


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## froyofanatic (Jul 16, 2018)

Just drove across the desert in temps reaching as high as 114 and generally hovering around 104-108. We were comfortable inside and didn't have to run the AC on full blast very much after starting off. The car never showed signs of struggling despite my searing pace, mountain climbs, and high heat (I drive really fast). 

The AC is weird though in that it speeds the fan up at stop and slows it down at speed, I presume compensating for the natural airflow coming through the car's intake at speed.


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## Taxman (Aug 10, 2017)

froyofanatic said:


> The AC is weird though in that it speeds the fan up at stop and slows it down at speed, I presume compensating for the natural airflow coming through the car's intake at speed.


Noticed something odd in a friend's Sentra, only notice it when it's on max A/C which puts the interior fan at full speed. Lift off the throttle and the fan speeds up noticeably. That's intelligent charge management at work. It saves gas by running lower voltage at cruise and using the alternator to slow down the car when you coast. When you're cruising at 12-13V, and it jumps to 14-15V with engine braking, you can tell the difference in blower speed.


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## newsguy99 (May 24, 2013)

I tend to agree that the coolant is a little low. Someone on here posted a message about this same issue some time back, and found, that everyone that was talking about the car not cooling. After a charge to the system, everything was working great again. A few more chimed in, with the same results. It seems that GM didn't get the first charge correctly on the 1st gen cars. So, add some R134 and see if that helps.


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## firehawk618 (Feb 24, 2013)

It's been 90+ degrees here for the last few days.

After my car has sat in the sun baking I hop in and run the A/C.

It does a great job of cooling the car down and keeping it cold.


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## crunch21 (Jul 16, 2018)

i will say the AC isnt the coldest ive experienced, it takes a bit of time to start working well, however i live in southern arizona and i dont have tints yet so maybe im not the best person to judge the AC performance. After about 10 min the AC starts working well. My old cobalt would be painfully cold and it never had an AC service in its 10 year life in my hands. I have to assume the AC compressor system is mechanically the same just wired a bit different between engines in the cruze's

I remember reading somewhere that some of the AC systems left the factory with a less than full charge. Might want to get a pressure reading on the system if your having issues. Pretty sure any autozone/o'reilly's will do it in the parking lot for you.


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## MP81 (Jul 20, 2015)

X2 on the Cobalt - that AC still works fantastically on mine, and I hardly ever use it. I only use it on the freeway, because in the city, with my poly engine and trans mounts, the extra load it puts on the engine turns directly into vibrations that go right into my spine, haha.

The Volt's AC is insanely good, and being an electric compressor, there is no worry about load on the powertrain when it is running.


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## crunch21 (Jul 16, 2018)

MP81 said:


> X2 on the Cobalt - that AC still works fantastically on mine, and I hardly ever use it. I only use it on the freeway, because in the city, with my poly engine and trans mounts, the extra load it puts on the engine turns directly into vibrations that go right into my spine, haha.
> 
> The Volt's AC is insanely good, and being an electric compressor, there is no worry about load on the powertrain when it is running.


see now were gushing over the cobalt on two seperate threads together.

i actually looked at the volt online as a potential car vs the new cruze. dare i say the thing looks sexy as ****, or maybe i have some perverse fetish going on. Didnt want to find out how badly car batteries preform in the desert heat though, and selection was VERY limited.


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## MP81 (Jul 20, 2015)

Given the batteries are heated and cooled, you're good to go. They just prefer to be plugged into the charger when the car is sitting parked in the heat, as it'll run the cooling to keep the batteries nice and happy.


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