510kut

hmm I have an 05 wrx and now that summer is starting to heat up I've noticed the AC isnt very cold at all. It sends out warmer air then outside air. Does anyone know if theres anything I can check for? Or should I just bring it into the dealership I have to go in for my first service soon anyhow.

soggynoodles

iTrader: (50)

well with most A/C's the hotter it gets outside, the "less colder" the A/C gets inside.
Especially with the 4 bangers.

Nick Koan

iTrader: (3)

I'd get it checked out as soon as you can. The A/C on Subaru's is usually pretty cold, after giving the compressor a few minutes to start up.

510kut

well the thing is it isnt even very hot outside. its pretty mild in the bay area atm but I was out in concord and it was maybe 80? and it was blowing like warm air but when I got back to Pinole (about 15 mins) the air was cool although not cold but the outside temperature drop from Concord to Pinole was pretty significant too. I guess I'll have them take a look when I go in for service thanks.

Toiletbrush

I had the same thing happen when the weather here started heating up a few weeks ago. I just gave the system a booster shot of R134A and it was good to go. I had my wife sit in the car and she noticed a big temperature drop after I began to charge the system. A can of refrigerant is around $5 and maybe another $5 for the adapter and hose. Some cans already come with the hose and adapter attached. Also, if you live in a dusty area, your condenser (looks like a mini radiator in front of the actual radiator) may be dirty, so give it a blast of high-pressure water to freshen it up. It is possible you have a leaky A/C system, so if you are due service soon, ask them to check it for leaks and replace the seals at the fill ports.

HomerJay

iTrader: (3)

It could be that your ac is not even plugged in. It happend when I bought my rs. I opened the hood and noticed it wasn't plugged in. Plugged it in and it fired up. Not sure which plug it is on the wrx. Let me go check.

st0ckwRx03

iTrader: (3)

check that circle button that says a/c on it, make sure it lights up when you turn your a/c on

510kut

toiletbrush I'll look into all those things, but would it really need me to add anything? I mean I've pretty much never used the A/C and I've had the car for about 4 months? Oh well I got an email telling me to go in for my 34xx service (only at like 24xx though :/)

Homerjay it would be great if you find out where the plug is, I popped the hood and started looking around but I don't even have a clue where to look.

stockwrx03 Yea I'm sure it was on, its hard to tell during the day so I thought I might not actually turned it on but after going under some underpasses I saw the light on, and then I tried again at night no difference.

Toiletbrush

I guess this wouldnt be the exact same thing, as my car is a 98 and yours is an 05, and older systems are more prone to leakage, but a leak in the A/C system will have the same symptoms for almost all cars.

First, check if the A/C light comes on when you press the button. This will verify the problem is not at the switch. Next, check to make sure the A/C compressor clutch kicks on when the button is pressed (you will hear a click, and the engine will bog momentarily). If it does, then I would suspect insufficient refrigerant levels to cause effective cooling. If the compressor doesn't come on, then check your plug at the top of the compressor to verify it is connected. After that, check your fuses. If the fuses look good, then check the A/C relay in the fuse box under the hood. Most likely, this relay will be the same as your fan relays, so you can pull and swap them to see if a fault transfers to one of your radiator fans. If so, its the relays fault. If it doesn't do anything, then the last thing you can do is hook up a multimeter to the contacts of the before mentioned compressor plug. You should have something around 14.4VDC going to the plug when the A/C button is pressed. If this checks out fine, then your system's refrigerant is way too low and the internal pressure switch in the compressor is keeping your system from operating dry, which will cause your compressor to fail. A system recharge should be all you need, unless, your compressor already took a dump, in which case you will need a new compressor.

510kut

hmm i havent checked but the light turns on and the engine bogs does refrigerant= coolant? if so.. it does look pretty low its like at 1/3 ugg any reasons why it would be so low?

Mulder

Engine coolant has nothing to do with the refrigerant in the AC system. The AC is a sealed system and the only way to check the refrigerant level is with gauges connected to the valves on the low and high side lines. This is not something you can do yourself without the proper equipment and knowledge.
If the compressor is turning on when you press the AC button (you can see it engage by looking under the hood, it has a clutch that will spin only when it's running) but you don't get cold air, the charge may be low or there may be something else wrong. If the compressor doesn't run at all, there could be a leak or as mentioned it might just not be plugged in. You can follow the electrical connection from the compressor, the plug on top should be plugged into a connector on the engine harness. If it's just hanging that is your problem. There have been a few posts by people with this same issue where apparently the dealer simply forgot to plug it in at delivery.

Red Bar0n

At the risk of Hijacking this thread but on a similar topic. My A/C will make a raspy, cueing, gurgling noise every so often when on. Is this bad? What causes the noise?

Thanks,
RB