A/C slowing car down by a lot

[jas_kidd32]

My car seems to lose a lot of power when the airconditioning is on specially on really hot days. My revs seem to go down way too quickly. I'll have to bring the car up to 4krpm just to maintain a smooth upshift. That's with trying to shift as fast as i can.

I've never experienced this before because I only bought the car this year. Is there any solution to this problem from other integra drivers besides not running A/C? I also run a 5CH amp with a sub in the boot so that might drain some power too and add to the problem.

[simonnowis]

with all cars if you put the a/c on your goner notice some decrease in power.
theres nothing u can really do unless you dont turn on ur a/c or keep the a/c low.
do you put up ur a/c fullblast?

[englee]

During hot days, your A/C would have to work harder to keep the car cool and the A/C compressor is run by a belt hooked up to your engine. It creates a load on your engine that causes it to lose power. On cooler days however, the compressor wouldn't need to kick in that often thus relieving the engine.

One thing you might be able to do is to check the tension of the A/C belt and make sure its not too tight.

The amp and the sub has minimal impact on the engine's performance as it draws its power from the battery.

[jas_kidd32]

with all cars if you put the a/c on your goner notice some decrease in power.
theres nothing u can really do unless you dont turn on ur a/c or keep the a/c low.
do you put up ur a/c fullblast?

Nah, I usually run the fans in auto and A/C to room temperature.

I was just curious about the power loss as I never experienced this in the past with high displacement cars. I knew there was going to be an impact on performance but I didn't know it was going to be this radical.

[Dr.k20z1]

hey man, i got sub and amp aswell.. no dramas with aircon.. but who needs aircon wen u can get air coming in the windows when ur going ffffff aaaa ssss tttt with the roar of vtec? wudnt trade that feel for anything else haha

[rawr]

Any mod's to the car?

[m0nty ITR]

Do what I do and have the A/C removed. Just don't drive the car on hot days. Turning the A/C will give you a slight increase but removing it all together gives you the gains of weight reduction and no power being depleted by the compressor. Even when not running through the car the A/C depletes power from the engine.

[Bludger]

with all cars if you put the a/c on your goner notice some decrease in power.
theres nothing u can really do unless you dont turn on ur a/c or keep the a/c low.
do you put up ur a/c fullblast?a/c full blast or low, doesn't make an ounce of difference.

compressor is running, only thing change is fan

[xntrik]

My car seems to lose a lot of power when the airconditioning is on specially on really hot days. My revs seem to go down way too quickly. I'll have to bring the car up to 4krpm just to maintain a smooth upshift. That's with trying to shift as fast as i can.

I've never experienced this before because I only bought the car this year. Is there any solution to this problem from other integra drivers besides not running A/C? I also run a 5CH amp with a sub in the boot so that might drain some power too and add to the problem.

thats normal mate.

[xntrik]

Do what I do and have the A/C removed. Just don't drive the car on hot days. Turning the A/C will give you a slight increase but removing it all together gives you the gains of weight reduction and no power being depleted by the compressor. Even when not running through the car the A/C depletes power from the engine.

.... um :eek:

[EuroAccord13]

Dyno tested before on my old car... I lost 8kws!!! :D :D :D

[sretocz]

Yeah, its normal. Mine idles at like 1k instead of 800 when I have AC on, no biggie I only turn AC on when Im stuck in traffic and not moving about.

[zco]

this is what ive been told by the air con specialist

long story short is, if you turn your air con on whilst your car is not moving,you build pressure in your lines and in older cars, can be dangerous over time as it can cause leaks in your lines.. ie: you have to regas more often..

to the original poster, it is normal that oyu loose power with air con on.. you will have to rev higher to get somewhere as the aircon puts more load onto your engine with the belt attached to the pulley..

if you're serious about track racing, you can remove it..

[NAY]

How does it build any more pressure when you are moving/not moving though. Its a sealed system. The gas just keeps pumping around regardless if the car is moving or not.

The big problem with idling with your aircon on is that you arent getting any airflow through the condenser. Like a radiator it gets really really damn warm which in turn isnt good for all the parts involved.

My brother had an old r31 w/rb20det, idling with the aircon on was enough to make the thing overheat pretty much.

[AzKik-R]

Nah, I usually run the fans in auto and A/C to room temperature.

I was just curious about the power loss as I never experienced this in the past with high displacement cars. I knew there was going to be an impact on performance but I didn't know it was going to be this radical.

Hi displacement cars have a bit more torque, also high displacement engines are also normally in a v formation, this allows torque to be applied to the crank at better angles rather then a 4 cylinder which relies on the momentum pushing the pistons past top dead centre. this effect flows on to the crank which runs the pully which runs the air con.

also, the amt of work placed on the air con unit is going to depend on the difference in temperatures, temp a being the cabin temp, and temp b being the desired temperature. ie on a really hot day, the differecne between the desired temp and the current temp will be a little higher, placing more work loan on the air con, thus the symptoms you're experiencing.