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Buick LaCrosse Heating / Cooling Problems
I have a new CX. This is equipped with the basic A/C system (not the fancy thermostat, dual zone job). I have observed a few behaviors with the recirculate button (these only pertain when A/C is engaged):
1) When I start the car recirculate is always on.
2) Under hard acceleration recirculate turns off and turns back on upon ending accelaration.
3) If recirc is off it turns on after hard accelaration has ended.
Has anyone else seen this behavior? The owners manual says nothing about this.
1) When I start the car recirculate is always on.
2) Under hard acceleration recirculate turns off and turns back on upon ending accelaration.
3) If recirc is off it turns on after hard accelaration has ended.
Has anyone else seen this behavior? The owners manual says nothing about this.
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I think you need to document this with a work order under warranty with your dealer. I would suspect a bad control head or switch unit or even a flaw in the main computer that turns off the cluthc for the compressor.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
I don't mind the recirc always being on when you start the car when the A/C is on, since this is what one might do anyway to cool the cabin quickly.
But I do not like the idea of recirc turning on by itself after heavy acceleration. I'll see what the tech's official explanation is for this one.
You indicated the light turns on. That's different than the Buicks I'm used to.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
I think that someone has already said that it's probably because the AC compressor is shut down under hard acceleration. Then, on hot and humid days, if recirculation is not activated, you'd feel a blow of hot, humid air after a couple of seconds accelerating hard (as on a merge ramp).
As long as recirculation is deactivated when the foot lightens up, I actually think that it's a pretty cool feature.
I also tried all the old proven methods such as opening all the windows for a few minutes to expel the hot air etc.... This doesn't make any difference.
Is this normal for this car? My last vehicle was a 1999 Oldmobile Silhouette and I always had ample AC on demand.
When the AC turns on per settings, it's probably turned off by pushing the AC button and the light will go off. In defrost the compressor will be turned on always down to the ambient shutoff of about 50 deg. F.
Having the AC turn on is not a negative. It reduces humidity in the air and reheats it with the heater core to give a more comfortable system. When the outside temp is below 50 deg. F. the compressor does not turn on, so the AC is not actually cooling the air (50 is colder than it could cool it anyhow).
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
You've put it in a manual mode.
You've pushed a button or something telling the A/C pump to not engage.
You still get cold air as if the pump is running.
Does that sound right?
If you are in a defog or defrost mode it generally overides the A/C off switch. If outside temp is near freezing the pump will not engage.
Can you hear the click that occurs when the pump engages and disengages? That is have you verified the pump is actually running?
In defrost and some defog settings with floor air and windshield air the compressor is enabled if the ambient temps are warm enough. There is a cutoff, possibly about 50 degrees for the compressor being able to run in other modes asking for AC cooling. But in defroster / defog mix it may be lower.
Your next step is to open the hood when the outside temps are above 50 and start the car with the heater settings where you're getting the cold blast. Then go to the front of the car and look to see if the center hub of the compressor is turning with the belt pulley or if it's disengaged.
Also you can touch the metal freon tube going to the condenser unit that's in front of the radiator. One of those tubes will be hot if the AC compressor is running. The other silver tube will be cool. They may have plastic coating over them to help insulate, so they may not be silver/aluminum color.
If the tube is hot you know the compressor is cooling.
It's possible there is an intentional short term engagement of the compressor when the car is set for vents under the conditions you describe. It may be to circulate freon in winter months to keep the seals oiled with the lubricant so they don't dry and shrink.
Good luck. Tell us what you find when you test out the system.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
This plastic disconnect kit/tool for LaCrosse has got to be larger than that OTC 6046 which is the tool to remove the conventional quick connects used in the GM trucks. The 6046 is too small to go on the Buick version.
If anyone knows, please advise. Thank you.
Why are you wanting to do a disconnect on a vehicle that is so new?
Also Rock Auto and GM Parts Direct may be sources if you have a part number. But carefully read the rules of GM Parts Direct.
You may also try ordering it through the dealer's part center. If it is a special tool, they likely order theirs direct from who made them for GM.
AC Compressor is on all the time even when you turn off the AC button on the dash. Is this normal for the compressor all the time?
Which model of Lacrosse, that is does it have dual air?
Do you have the defog button depressed?
You'd think the compressor would be tied to the light on the button, but some foreign models used that method and the owners may broken the button trieing to shut it off when they had it in defog or defrost mode which automatically calls for the pump to be on.
Have you spoke with your dealer about your concerns? If not, I would recommend doing so. Please keep me updated on your situation, and feel free to email me directly.
Christina
GM Customer Service
What you are describing sounds as if the problem has to be in the electronics, the interior stuff.
With complaints of horrible smells entering vehicle in recirculate, a dealer did the door check. That is the divertor doors inside the system to blow to various areas and blend temperatures. He told me he thought the recirculate door was not fully closing. And that they installed an update. None of it helped.
I don't know what the update was for, but I got a hint that it might be because some had icing of evaporator and that was said to be occurring in recirculate.
I think GM got their thinking crossed. I live in a humid climate and want moisture removed as much as possible most of the year. If the vehicle cooled to the point fan slowed enough, icing could occur on evaporator under some conditions. With orifice tube systems, that usually indicated an improper charge or malfunction of cycling switch. But this system uses an expansion valve which is controlled by the temp at the evaporator. The only time I've seen icing on a system that used an expansion valve is when the system was low on freon, or very infrequently, a defective expansion valve.
In our vehicles, expansion valve is better because they are more efficient and you will see better cooling when vehicle is first started. You won't have to wait for pressures to build and stabilize as in R-134 systems using orifice tube.
When you put in manual, do you mean that you manually crank fan speed up. You should see indication on display? Does the air temperature from outlets change?
So you have to reboot the whole darned car. I've found that with some other items, such as navigation system.
The computer system on these vehicles needs updating very much so. It needs to be able to record these anomalies that are intermittant so the dealer does not think we are crazy.
And in the back of my mind lingers that issue that was known to burn up, ie damage electronic components. It was because of missing diodes that were to block voltage/current spikes from the system. That was a 96 Olds Aurora, yet 09 Malibu had same missing parts and exact same fix. Does our 2011 Lacrosse have it too?
Those spikes will look for the weakest component in the system seeking a path to ground. It can punch a hole in the junction barrier of that semi-conductor. If it is big enough, instant death. If it is small, it can last a long time, but it might be of the right size that it shows up regularly and removing power allows it to heal for a short time. The most common way of troubleshooting such a device is to heat it with a hair dryer, tip of soldering iron, etc. Or spraying them with freon to cool them and then they might start working. Also, if it worked on AC power, a variable transformer could be used to change input voltage over the acceptable range.
Gee, writing this reminded me of what I saw when the first battery went dead. Display was showing voltage at 18 volts. That is pretty high for a 12 volt system and believe it is never supposed to go above about 14.6V.
I'll be glad to follow on any reply.
It might be nice if there was some indication of what is actually happening when in auto recirculate. Otherwise you will have to use one of the two manual settings of flow through or recirculate.
Parts #3, 5, and 21 in the diagram are electric actuators. #5 looks like the one that controls the mode valve to change the path of air flow.
You are going to need to take off the underdash plastic hush panel, if there is one, and watch the actuators while you change the settings on the dash controls for temperature, direction of air flow, and whether air in brought in from the cowl or recycled. Those are the three valves. I've been told the valves have a white portion in the moving parts, such as nylon, that makes it easy to see if they are moving.
You may have a mode valve that is binding up when the actuator tries to move it, and it not going to the defrost position.
The defrost position should be the default if the electric power were to fail in the heater circuit for the safety.
http://genmotorinfo.com/images/09/0406282W09-031.png
http://www.gmpartsgiant.com/Page_Product/PartDetail.aspx?Make=Buick&Model=LaCros- se&Year=2005&MakeCode=B&ModelCode=W&CatalogCode=4W1&eCode=L26&majorIndexID=09&mi- norIndexID=2W09-031&SortKey=2
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,