Intermittent AC failure

[Nellie]

Hi Collective Emira hive mind,

Read through a few other threads on AC but not sure if this fault I have is common or just my car.

My AC will work when I start the car from cold, it will heat or cool and I can use all settings in either Auto or Manual and it appears to function correctly

If I drive the car for a while, does not matter if its 5 miles or 30 miles and stop the car and leave it a while (lately its been while at gym for 50 mins) when I come back out and start the car I get nothing, no airflow no matter what settings I chose.

The first time it happened I switched off the car waited 10 seconds and restarted it and the AC came back on but with minimal airflow and not much cooling, no setting change made any difference.

Today however was the worst, I only did a short journey to Gym, left it 45mins came back out and restarted car and nothing, stopped and started but nothing happened, tried another 3 times before I gave up, on the way home it just suddenly started up. With it reading 32 degrees on external temp on dash it was a very sweaty journey back.

As lovely as the car is it was supposed to be my daily, I can not drive it in bad weather for fear of the wipers not working properly and now the AC means even on a nice day I cannot make use of it - was no fun going to a meeting yesterday and looking like I had ran there!!! That's on top of the various fault lights and messages telling me to stop driving immediately that then disappear when restarting the car or holding brake warning light coming and going when it feels like it 😤

I have now bought another car to run around in until the car is more reliable 🤔 what a way to live with a £80k car

 

[digilotus]

Best to bring it to your dealer to diagnose it.

Some cars have been overgassed which causes the AC system to shut down as a safety measure. Heat could impact an overgassed system as the gas expands and further increases pressure in the system. This might explain why it shuts down and stops working after the car heats up. However that wouldn't impact things like fan speed/controls, so it could also be in need of a software update which resolved similar issues for some forum members.

 

[nimbusblack]

so i had very similar AC gremlins, though it appears to be more fan speed gremlins as the AC was always working just no force behind it.

Anyway, i heard about the press the Start button for 5 seconds trick (no clutch or brake) so you can access the display to move into Sport or Track and i did that and BOOM the fan speed started up full whack and has been fine ever since and believe my ive tried to break it again.

 

[Nellie]

Best to bring it to your dealer to diagnose it.

Some cars have been overgassed which causes the AC system to shut down as a safety measure. Heat could impact an overgassed system as the gas expands and further increases pressure in the system. This might explain why it shuts down and stops working after the car heats up. However that wouldn't impact things like fan speed/controls, so it could also be in need of a software update which resolved similar issues for some forum members.

Going to be calling my dealer today as its already in for the recalls so hopefully they can add this to the list of work.

 

[Nellie]

so i had very similar AC gremlins, though it appears to be more fan speed gremlins as the AC was always working just no force behind it.

Anyway, i heard about the press the Start button for 5 seconds trick (no clutch or brake) so you can access the display to move into Sport or Track and i did that and BOOM the fan speed started up full whack and has been fine ever since and believe my ive tried to break it again.

I will give that a try, did you change the setting to start in Sport and thats what made the difference?

 

[nimbusblack]

I will give that a try, did you change the setting to start in Sport and thats what made the difference

no didnt get that far, as soon as the ignition came on the fans burst into life momentarily (they had never done this before) started the car in Tour (didnt want to make any other changes) and then they responded to fan speed, temp, max ac, auto controls perfectly.

 

[JClem]

I’ve had similar issues. Cooling and heating not an issue but fan speed is temperamental. Lotus Surrey did a software update but said the HVAC resistor motor needed replacing. So they’ve ordered the part and it will be back in in September.

 

[D of Putney]

I’ve had similar issues. Cooling and heating not an issue but fan speed is temperamental. Lotus Surrey did a software update but said the HVAC resistor motor needed replacing. So they’ve ordered the part and it will be back in in September.

I tried to pick up my new car today from Hethel and only managed to get half a mile down the road before the A/C packed up…. I hope that Lotus resolve the issue ASAP fully before delivering it! … not a good start for a gorgeous looking and expensive sports car! Yours very disappointed!

 

[JClem]

I tried to pick up my new car today from Hethel and only managed to get half a mile down the road before the A/C packed up…. I hope that Lotus resolve the issue ASAP fully before delivering it! … not a good start for a gorgeous looking and expensive sports car! Yours very disappointed!

I do think that since pickup and 600 miles down mine has improved. We were in it for 5 hours today (M1 and M25 were horrific!) in 27 degrees and it stayed nice and cool.

 

[Johnson]

Guys, where exactly is the air compressor unit in the Emira?

 

[digilotus]

Guys, where exactly is the air compressor unit in the Emira?

The AC compressor is driven by the engine belt and is bolted to the engine. Same place as in a Camry V6