# Another Cruze with no A/C......



## Burtess (Apr 7, 2011)

2011 LS with 116,000Km on it.... no air....

No doubt it is the mangled condenser, not even really interested in paying the dealer $100 to tell me that when they won't warranty the unit anyway. 

I've been a loyal GM buyer since I got rid of the '96 Mercury Mistake but I don't know anymore. From the burning stink to this? Service issues like changing the wrong tires, crazy long waits even with appointments, almost dropping my car off the hoist...... I still have two free oil change coupons from the dealer because they screw up every time I went in and I don't even want to use them, I'm scared lol...

This sucks....

Burt


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## EcoTech2.0 (May 29, 2013)

Sorry to hear about ur dealer troubles. Did they mangle the condenser while doing other work?


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## Burtess (Apr 7, 2011)

No just road debris hitting it. Funny though, our Montana van is open at the bottom of the grill and I have had no problems with its condenser being overly damaged by stones etc. I think the Cruze one is just extra cheap...

Burt


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## EcoTech2.0 (May 29, 2013)

Ya I know what u mean. I have a liquid to air intercooler mounted on the very front of my cobalt with zero protection and surprisingly its still in decent shape from rocks and everything else hitting it. Thing is with the condenser its so thin. Changing it would be costly too due to recharging the ac


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## sciphi (Aug 26, 2011)

116k kilometers is what, 72,000 miles? That's a lot of miles in a few years, and well outside the regular warranty. If you are somebody who has to do 120 km/h everywhere, that condenser will be mangled due to bugs/rocks/salt hitting it. There is a condenser shield GM installed on the newer Cruzes. I've heard tell that it comes on the new condensers. 

Also, the Cruze has a giant opening a few inches off the road. The 2011's had zero shielding down there, so enough condensers were being taken out by rocks and debris to warrant a resolution. There is a shield available, or you can DIY your own if you are comfortable with removing the front bumper cover. 

I took off the front bumper cover and added some pet-resistant screen mesh. That mesh has survived 4 years on our Fit and 1.5 on the Cruze. Both condensers look almost new. 

My recommendation is to add a shield, and replace the condenser if it needs it.


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## obermd (Mar 3, 2012)

The A/C coils and condenser in my old Montana were protected from road debris by the radiator, but you are correct - the Montana could take a beating. I know, I drove mine into the ground after 10 years of towing and off-roading, sometimes together.


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## Farmboy (Apr 21, 2013)

My new condenser didn't come with the cover. That was another 18 bucks and didn't seem to beneficial to me. I wanted something to slow down the rocks before they hit the condenser. So I added a grill to the bumper cover.


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## spacedout (Dec 7, 2010)

Farmboy said:


> My new condenser didn't come with the cover. That was another 18 bucks and didn't seem to beneficial to me. I wanted something to slow down the rocks before they hit the condenser. So I added a grill to the bumper cover.


Besides the fact the plastic sheild GM added leaves the bottom inch still exposed. I knew of this issue before buying my cruze, opted for the RS package for much smaller lower grill openings.


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## Burtess (Apr 7, 2011)

sciphi said:


> 116k kilometers is what, 72,000 miles? That's a lot of miles in a few years, and well outside the regular warranty. If you are somebody who has to do 120 km/h everywhere, that condenser will be mangled due to bugs/rocks/salt hitting it. There is a condenser shield GM installed on the newer Cruzes. I've heard tell that it comes on the new condensers.
> 
> Also, the Cruze has a giant opening a few inches off the road. The 2011's had zero shielding down there, so enough condensers were being taken out by rocks and debris to warrant a resolution. There is a shield available, or you can DIY your own if you are comfortable with removing the front bumper cover.
> 
> ...


A lot of miles? Seriously? It is actually pretty easy miles when you think of it when a car is driven for longer distances each day. It is pretty much 2 years old and taken care of. I have never had any other car of this age with any problems whatsoever, mind you those were Buick's, maybe the components are a bit tougher. The thing that burns me is that GM has seen that this is a problem, but since I drive a lot (their best customer no?) I am going to have to eat the repair. 

Anybody can do this aftermarket? From what I read they are charging ~ $900 for this and I would rather not give my money to the GM monkeys at "my" dealership lol...

Burt


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## sciphi (Aug 26, 2011)

Are you doing most of your driving at 100 km/h or 120 km/h?

Replacing a condenser isn't that difficult. The receiver/dryer will need to be replaced as well. A good indy A/C shop should be able to do the work, including recovering of the old refrigerant and recharging it.


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## iKermit (Dec 13, 2010)

Well with 116k km and daily driven like that i am not surpised. You are already out of warranty, so skip the dealer, go to a reputable body shop (check online for reviews BEFORE hitting up a place) and get it done.


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## jblackburn (Apr 14, 2012)

iKermit said:


> Well with 116k km and daily driven like that i am not surpised. You are already out of warranty, so skip the dealer, go to a reputable body shop (check online for reviews BEFORE hitting up a place) and get it done.


Daily driven or not, this would be the first time I've ever had a condenser go bad. They should be more durable than that (sure, the fins are beat to heck on others, but they're not leaking) and tucked up where the tubes won't get hurt.

Evaporators...well, they're another story. :blowup:


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## sciphi (Aug 26, 2011)

Styling changes dictate giant lower grille openings. When manufacturers cheap out and do not shield those openings, stuff like this happens. On the Fit forums it's a regular feature to have somebody posting about the low, unshielded condenser getting popped by a rock, and shelling out $700 to the dealer to have it fixed. It happened to week-old cars, and some jerk Honda dealers denied warranty coverage. Most covered it under warranty, though. Talk about driving away customers who just dropped $18-21k at your dealer! 

I hate to say it, but stuff happens. With 72k miles on the car in a short amount of time, the odds finally caught up, just like me bagging a deer with my Cruze earlier this year.


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## Poje (Aug 2, 2012)

Burt, i see that your a Canadian, this is your lucky day !

I was thinking of deleting my AC for reduce weight and static power loss at the end of this year, but if you want it, we can meat and i would charge you only the time to remove the part from my car.

This is no joke, PM me if you are interested.


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## Poje (Aug 2, 2012)

Still waiting...


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## spacedout (Dec 7, 2010)

sciphi said:


> I hate to say it, but stuff happens. With 72k miles on the car in a short amount of time, the odds finally caught up, just like me bagging a deer with my Cruze earlier this year.


If we were talking about a scrap or dent or random cases of a damaged condensers I would agree, but the cruze seems to have some paper thin condenser compared to other GM cars I have owned from all the reports on here. Of those cars all were just as low with even larger more exposed lower grill opening. 

I only took out a condenser once on a old beater 1987 Celebrity. Some friends and I had setup some jumps on a dirt track in the field/woods behind their house, one jump ended up being a bit too steep and I ripped off the plastic below the bumper and damaged the condenser. I had been hitting jumps all day, driving 50mph+ with gravel spaying the front of the car, AC pumping away the whole time. Took actually hitting something at 45mph to damage it.


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## sciphi (Aug 26, 2011)

Condenser shield thread, including part number: http://www.cruzetalk.com/forum/25-s...king-link-part-number-c-condenser-shield.html

Link to a picture where the shield is part #12: http://www.tonkinonlineparts.com/images/parts/gm/fullsize/1108181P01-009.JPG

And, it's not like it happened at 11,600 km. It happened at 116,000. That says there was quite a bit of high speed highway driving going on. Little pieces of debris do a lot more damage at 120 km/h than at 80-90 km/h. The same pebble that might glance off a windshield at lower speeds might crack it at higher speeds. 

It sucks to have your A/C not working because it got taken out by a rock. But, there is a solution, either purchased from a GM dealer or done yourself.


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## Burtess (Apr 7, 2011)

Poje, thanks for the offer, but I will need to get it fixed sooner than the end of this year (my brain will fry before then lol).


Sciphi, who said I drive it always at 120Km/h? Normal highway speeds for me is around 105-110... fuel economy really gets reduced at 120 and + (due to the crappy choice of top gear ratio on the LS 6speed MT!)

All driven the same roads, the same way.......

2001 Buick Century - sold to one of my customers @ 385,000Km (nothing replaced - only brakes every ~100K)
2004 Buick LeSabre - only got 324,000Km out of this one, poor Mazda3 drove out in front of me and I wrecked him, not my fault, nobody hurt.... only a front coil spring replaced and of course brakes every ~100K)

Maybe I am spoiled but this shouldn't have failed after only 116,000Km..... oh and I have never broken a windshield 

Burt


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## Poje (Aug 2, 2012)

Burtess said:


> Poje, thanks for the offer, but I will need to get it fixed sooner than the end of this year (my brain will fry before then lol).
> 
> 
> Sciphi, who said I drive it always at 120Km/h? Normal highway speeds for me is around 105-110... fuel economy really gets reduced at 120 and + (due to the crappy choice of top gear ratio on the LS 6speed MT!)
> ...


Burt you didnt understand, i was going to do it at the end of the year, but if you want it, we can meat this weekend.

PM sent.


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