A/C power drain

Hey Andrew,

I have been running my AC a bunch lately-- I do notice when it cycles on and off but the effect on performance is minimal.

Sounds like you are being fed a load of crap. My WRX now has about 17k, so I have just been through the mentioned 10-15k-- I have noticed no difference from 100 miles to present mileage in AC or motor performance.

Did you get that new ecu?

accompanying

Yeah - tell them one of 2 things; "If they all do it - give me the keys to....that one and lets take a drive!" or "If they all do this then they are all broken and they should all be fixed and you can start with mine!"

Carl

1 Lucky Texan

Ori> Hey all,

Mine does the same thing, and it's very noticable at 5,000 feet below

3,000 RPM. If I don't keep the revs up letting the clutch out the car will not pull away from a stop without almost stalling.

It's normal for an engine this weak at low RPMs.

I appreciate the inpute on your experience, Steve, and have a bit more confidence going back and telling them they're full of it (as I originally intended). I do really like Carl's idea of having them show me on other vehicles on the lot.

I don't think it's the low-torque at low RPM's problem that Ian was talking about. I've become quite adept at my Rex and while I know they're a bit feeble before getting on the turbo (not that bad), this is nothing like that, and it only happens when the A/C cycles. It just happened to be that once while left turning in front of on-coming traffic that it cycled right when I needed the damn power.

As for the ECU, not yet! I have gotten all other parts (they're going in on Saturday, so wait for the post on how it went). A week and a half ago they called me to check my card number, telling me everything was ready (specifically said "we got the core and remapped it") and 2 days later I got everything...but the core. I called them (today, actually) and they said that they didn't have a core, and actually asked if I could send mine. Uh...no, I need the car. When I explained that they told me almost 2 weeks ago it was good to go he appologized and said he'd check into it with "Ken" and to check back tomorrow.

On the plus side: no core cost above stage sub-zero, so listed price doesn't have the "+ core" cost. Wee!

Thanks again for your input, guys. Any more thoughts are still welcome.

Andrew

accompanying

An A/C compressor can suck 20% of the power from an engine easily. It's normal, every car does it.

Well the dealership insists that they didn't find anything wrong with it but they flushed the system anyway, and tightened a few things, etc. I got it back and the effect is reduced a lot. It's been taken down to somewhere closer to a believable "normal power drain" versus the "suck you dry like a goddamn vampire" level. They're playing stupid. I took Carl's advice and insisted that I drive any other WRX of my choosing and they said no problem. I said this before getting my car back. Now there's probably not much difference so there's not much point. Perhaps I'll ask about the Forester XT :)

Incidently, how many people have test-driven the STi? My dealership said that Subaru gave them specific orders NOT to drive them (even the dealers). They wanted the owners to be the one putting the miles on it. I asked if this was because all of our STi's were sold before arriving and they said no. But they were getting a black one with gold rims in that doesn't have a name on it yet. We'll see.

accompanying

Yep, I've had exactly the same thing with my Impreza. A/c was installed by dealer and it took 3 (!) trips back in order for them to diagnose the problem and fix it. Only minor kick on/off ever since - even though this is the first Impreza with only 90 hp and a really powerful a/c (cools much faster and colder than the one we have in the Forester 2002).

DK