Air Conditioning frustrations

[loch rob]

I have the same annoying A/C issue on hot days. Probably close to one minute with lots of HOT air blowing out before the A/C kicks in. Of course the seat A/C is on full and the windows are down to dissapate the heat. This is just plain, a design flaw with the control/sensor system.

Still love the car overall.

 

[dataguy]

Again; with just the Recycle button engaged, (with or without the Auto button engaged), my car cools down quick in this Central Florida 95F 80% Humidity.

Without the Recycle button engaged, even with the Circle A button engaged, it takes a lot longer.

That is the key. It's light years faster to cool the cabin with recycle on rather than off. Thanks, Bob!

 

[jonah]

one thing i've started doing that helps is to hit the mode down button twice when i first get in and the car is hot. this dumps the hot air out of the lower vents and not in my face.

also, i don't see how delaying the engagement of the compressor "keeps freon from harming the environment" or does anything else useful. i think the logic in the climate control system is faulty. why they would have left it designed this way i can't imagine.

if there is some good reason i really do wish some of you hyundai guys would let us in on it!

how cool would it be to have the top of the sunroof covered all or in part with solar cells. these could power a vent fan in the summer and trickle charge or whatever in the winter. imagine the marketing potiental. i know the prius has it's thing...

 

[ImInPA]

I think this is just how the system was designed. I too see no environmental reason for this as the A/C system is a closed loop system. With the exception of my current Volvo, every European vehicle I have owned has exhibited a long delay between start and actual cooling. Perhaps this is a "feature" that Hyundai should not have copied from the competition. In any event, keep in mind that the interior of the Genesis is MB S class sized. There is a lot more air to cool inside a Genesis than a Camry or Accord. Having grown up in South Florida (where they invented heat and humidity) I can tell you that what you folks seem to be describing sounds perfectly normal. The hot air you are feeling is the actual vents cooling down and dissipating the heat contain in them. I remember when the first Dodge Intrepid was out. The ad said the the A/C was sufficient to cool a 1500 sq. ft. home. HA!. I had one as a rental in Houston, TX and I can tell you that it seemed to take forever to cool the car down. Once cooled down it would freez your rear end off in 100+ degree heat. It takes some time to cool the interior of the car, dash, seats, door panels.

 

[jwaters943]

also, i don't see how delaying the engagement of the compressor "keeps freon from harming the environment" or does anything else useful. i think the logic in the climate control system is faulty. why they would have left it designed this way i can't imagine.

Since Freon is no longer used, I'll skip over that portion of your comment. With that said, use of your AC increases the load on your engine which results in higher emissions and decreased fuel economy. As you may well know, the Genesis has class-leading fuel economy for it's class. It's very possible that reprogramming/redesigning the AC system for greater cooling performance would result in an appreciable decrease in fuel economy. A move which would make some people happy and a whole bunch of other people unhappy.

 

[jonah]

sorry, i should have said, "freon [sic]..." as I was quoting member GAgenesis above.

Guys please don't crib about the slow cooling. This is a normal feature with all newer luxury sedans to prevent the environment from Freon.Go green Genny...

not that it matters. R-134a, Freon, whichever.

the fuel economy benefit stemming from delaying the engagement of the a/c compressor 15 seconds would be negligible on a drive to the mailbox and back. On any normal journey there would be no gain at all. There has to be some other reason.

Incidentally, I noticed immediately when I took delivery of this car that I could never tell when the a/c compressor kicked on. In every other car I've owned you could always tell when the a/c came on. I thought a loud clunk, and a sag in RPMs were just part of the load the compressor added. But the Genesis is super quiet and smooth, very nice!

I just wish it came on when the car did.

 

[jwaters943]

Yep, you sure were right when you said in your original post that no one can tell you this is normal.

You're pretty hellbent on believing whatever you want. With that said, go drive some other cars and report back on how many exhibit this same/similar behavior. There must be some reason for this wouldn't you think?

 

[HughH]

No cold air for the first 15 seconds? You poor thing!

Every new(er) car does this. Believe me, I've owned enough to know. Blame it on emissions controls and EPA regulations banning Freon. Some of you are too much. My GS430 was no better in this regard, neither was my BMW, or any of my Hondas/Acuras. Maybe I should drive a Camry to see just how better it really is.

On a side note, I'll give you guys my Outlander or Land Rover if you want to see piss poor AC performance.

I don't know where you live, but here in TX where we had 104 degree day yesterday we don't put up with cars that won't freeze you up from the get go!

My Lexus GS350 starts up on Auto and it automatically is on recycle and will freeze you hands right away! My 04 BMW 330 (no longer have it) was the same, except the GM built a/c was even better than the one in the Lexus. Maybe the cars we owned in the 80's did not cool right away, I can't remember, but those days are gone! It's inexcusable that a new car nowadays does not have a a/c that cools immediately upon turning it on!

 

[jwaters943]

Nope. I owned a 2006 GS430 that was no better than the Genesis. Can't see why your GS350 would be different though. As I've stated before I've also owned a newer model Cadillac (STS), Land Rover (Range Rover 4.6 SE), Acura (TL) & BMW (528i). None had an AC system that I would rate as noticeably better than the Genesis. FWIW, I live in Reno, NV which while not as hot as Vegas, does see quite a few triple-digit days in July and August. It was 98 today.

Then again, maybe my Genesis is just special.

 

[wallymn]

Sorry why would anyone ever run AC?

(I live in MN).....

I don't think this is a problem I will have to deal with, 90 is fairly rare up here.

I use climate control so the AC has kicked on before, I haven't noticed a delay in cool down.

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[Nohinamherst]

What idiot is blaming this on moving away from Freon? Freon hasn’t been used in any car for more than 20 years. R134a is used in a closed system and works very well, but not in the Genesis. The seat cooling only seems to work after 15 minutes of highway, never in city traffic. Poor design. Period.

 

[OUsig]

I keep mine at LOW temp and recycle air on all the time...now if driving highway speeds I can raise the temp up some and even use outside air.
around town - 100% LOW temp and recycle if the temps get above 85 degrees. And it does often here in the Dallas area.
The AC on our 2007 Tahoe can freeze this Genesis one out anytime. We can have the Tahoe at 68 degrees and outside air, sitting around town it blasts cold air. My Genesis cant come close. Just the way it is I think as I have cleaned the coil out (at dealership), replaced cabin air filter, replaced engine belt, cleaned out the engine and AC radiators.
It still is not a great AC system unless you are driving steady speeds

I will say, mine does NOT take very long to start blowing "cool" air even if out in direct sun. It does take a bit of driving to really get cold.

 

[Joe29365]

Here in Central Florida, I have learned that leaving it in Auto, even with the "Circle A" button engaged, does not do a good job of cooling the car down. Yes, with the Circle A button engaged, it does cycle the "Recycle button" (just to the left of the Circle A button, but it takes too long to cool the car.

The best thing to do is just push the Recycle button. (Leave the Circle A button off). The Auto button will go off. (You can push the Auto button on again, while the Recycle button is on, however really NOT NEEDED). With the Recycle button on, the car cools off very fast. We have been having close to 100F temperatures here, and no problems cooling with the recycle button.

In addition, make sure the rear center vent temperature control is set to cold. Mine was moving to warm/hot by itself, so I jammed a small piece are cardboard into the center vent temperature control, and it now stays on cold.

I was just going to post about this today. Usually keep my AC in Auto and it takes at least 30 sec to get any cold air. Will follow your suggestions and hope it helps!

 

[EdP]

I was just going to post about this today. Usually keep my AC in Auto and it takes at least 30 sec to get any cold air. Will follow your suggestions and hope it helps!

30 seconds is damned good. You have to get the system working and refrigerant flowing, then cool the coil. The trick to getting maximum cooling it getting rid of the hot air. If the outside air is 90, inside can easily be 125+. Open a couple of windows to bring in some 90 degree and expel the 125 degree air. If you don't want to open a window. do not recirc the hot air. bring in cooler air and it drives out the hot. Once the temperature starts to drop, you can recirculate if desired.

Remember, you cannot make cold, you can only take away heat. Do that a fast as you can.

 

[tmealer]

For anyone still interested, doesn't the circle A button only work for odors? Isn't the oval arrow the one for inside air? Our sedan also takes a few minutes, but I don't know of any car that doesn't have hot ducts when the car starts up.

 

[Starflyer]

I have no complaints about the A/C in my '18 Genesis G80 Sport. For those who can't wait a minute or so, there's always the remote start feature.

Disclaimer: I'm not a member of the instant gratification society.

 

[Wayne Bradby]

How about not engaging for SEVEN FREAKIN' HOURS! And I have a video as proof. Actually, it did engage...I could hear the blower blowing away at max and, as shown in my video, with only 2 front vents open, the air coming out of said vent barely moved a napkin! But you could hear it roaring away somewhere in my dash, so I'm assuming that my engine block was quite cool on my trip. So far, have been underwhelmed by dealer response....the typical...."oh, it works now so we can't tell what's wrong with it" BS line. Well I have a video showing exactly what the issue is, yet they act like nothing is wrong. It was for a 7 hour road trip and I expect a lot more from a car (2018 G80 Sport) with less than 6k mileage.