The air conditioner stops producing cold air intermittently in my new 2019 Corvette Stingray.

The climate control works normally most of the time, but occasionally after driving for an hour or so the air conditioner begins to put out non cooled air. This is a new car and I’ve had this issue from the beginning. There are no OBD codes and the problem hasn’t been able to be reproduced at the dealer yet. Trying to eliminate possible causes I have turned off the front and rear auto defog settings but this doesn’t seem to help. When the problem occurs I’ve experimented by using all combinations of Auto, AC, Recirculate, changing the temp setting, changing the fan setting, turning off the engine and restarting. None of these actions solves the problem. The sun sensor on the dashboard is not blocked. I have thoroughly read the owner’s manual relating to climate control. I am not ruling out operator error, but I am stumped.

This happened 4 times now in the first 2 weeks of ownership. The problem continued for an hour or more on 3 occasions and the next morning everything was fine. On the fourth occasion I noticed that the outside temperature indicator read 38 degrees even though it was in the mid-sixties. The car had been driven several times in the morning before this issue appeared and was warmed up. I immediately headed to the dealer, but the temp indicator started to rise and the air conditioner began to put out cold air before I completed the 15 mile trip to the dealers. The dealer has kept the car overnight twice and the only anomaly they could find was a slightly high level of refrigerant which they reduced.

Does anyone have an idea of what could be causing this problem or how to diagnose it? Thanks for any help.

 

Sounds like a trip to the dealer is in order

 

The A/C uses the outside ambient temperature sensor in it's heating/cooling algorithm. If you are getting incorrect readings from the ambient temp sensor, it will affect the way the A/C works. I had my sensor replaced in a previous car because the A/C was hit and miss and the sensor replacement fixed the problem.

Good luck

 

Do you have the manual tranny?

if so...if the engine gets bogged down...say, you don’t give enough throttle in first or second gear and the RPMs get pulled really low (500ish?), the compressor will kick off for a moment.

But....your issues sounds a little more involved.

 

Thanks.
That was my thought too. The dealer doesn't want to "throw parts at the car".

 

I have the AT8, but this is not just a momentary stoppage of cold air.

 

If it happens while in neutral...Check and see if the clutch on the Compressor is engaged....If not, it could be low Freon....

 

This is your answer. Yes the ambient air temperature reading is the deciding factor if, when, and how much cold air is being distributed. After driving a short while your outside air temp indicator will or should show the correct outside temp. Just set your a/c to auto ,and the temperature you want inside your car.

 

Interesting.... What exactly does Auto do? I never use the auto button and always feel my AC sucks on a hot day. Which is every day here in FL.

 

Auto will keep the temperature at your degree setting, that’s what I always use.