lol, it is funny how people take great warranty as normal... In fact, if anything on your car in punctured, it is not technically an warranty item anymore. Just because your lexus dealer is nice does not mean they have to be.

if it was actually punctured by something, you should be pretty happy and satisfied with them.

 

Brakes and tires can be worn out in far less than a year. I've seen people do it in just a couple of days at the track. I'd expect you'd have a difficult time obtaining warranty replacement of brake pads or tires unless accelerated wear was clearly caused by the failure of a covered compoment, e.g., a brake pad worn to nothing due to a stuck caliper (while pad on other side of car still looks brand new).

Ken's issue with his A/C has nothing to do with wear and tear. He has physical damage to the condersor on the front of his car. This damage would not be covered if the car were involved in a collision, or if a hunter shot it with a bow and arrow (remember to pull the arrow out before bringing it in for service ). Coverage status is more grey if the damage was caused by road debris. I'd hope that the Lexus dealer would cover it, but they probably wouldn't have to. In Ken's case, I wonder if the damage didn't happen in the factory or during transport and was never noticed until warmer weather arrived.

 

It would make sense to look at the old part and see if it was truly impacted by a rock or something. It's possibly a manufacturing defect where it wasn't put together properly instead. Ask right when you show up at the dealer so they won't mess with it in between the time you ask for it and see it. Unlikely they would damage it on purpose but a fresh impact would show. BTW they are pretty tough and would have to get hit really hard to leak. They are obligated in CA to give you the old parts.

The AC system has several sensors that work automatically. When the compressor pressurizes the freon to a preset level in the high side, the compressor is switched off until the low side evaporates it in passenger compartment side. How fast this happens depends on how hot it is and how well the compressor works. This is why the compressor cycles on and off. There is also a low pressure switch that disables the compressor completely if the freon has leaked out. This prevents the compressor from burning up as there is oil in the freon of most systems.

 

No, the condensation or refrigerant in the condensor and its subsequent evaporation in the evaporator go on at the same time. Pressure on both the high and low sides of the system are not preset, they vary consideraby depending on the temperatures both inside and outside the car. Cycling of the compressor has nothing to do with the refrigeration cycle; it is done to keep the evaporator above freezing so that condensate doesn't freeze on the evaporator, blocking airflow.

 

Yeah, but he said "normal" wear and tear. Taking your car to the track and burning out the tires and brakes isn't considered to be normal wear and tear.

 

Oh, and by the way, my AC seems to work just fine. Actually, it's identical to a few other posts in this thread that mentioned that even at 75 degrees, the air is almost too cool. When it's hot out, it only takes about a minute or two for the entire cabin to become very cold.

I wonder if there was an update to the AC sensors during the course of the first production cycle? I just got mine yesterday, and it's one of the most powerful AC's I've experienced in a car.

 

When I first turned on the AC in my 2IS, I also had a problem with the air being fairly hot -- even after the car had been running for a couple minutes. I fiddled with the temperature controls without making a difference in the blown air. Yes, the AC light was on.

Surprisingly, what made the difference was switching the intake mode from recirculate to outside. For some reason, the air was pretty toasty in recirculate mode, but when taking air from outside, it was nice and cool. Outside temp was like 88 or so.

 

If you read the post I replied to, he implied that brakes and tires should be covered by the warranty during the first year, as if the only reason that they would fail within that period would be a manufacturing defect.

 

I don't think so. I bought my car last year, and the A/C works exceptionally well also.

 

On an 88 degree day, the temperature in the cabin was probably well over 100 degrees when you first started out - hence the outdoor air was cooler.

Personally, I prefer leaving my A/C in recirculate in hot muggy weather, because I prefer the lower humidity.

 

I did read the original post. I agree that tires and brakes can be worn in lots of ways within the first year, but I don't think that most of those ways are considered normal wear and tear. The stock tires are supposed to last about 15k miles or more, which is about how much most people would drive in a single year. So if the tires had problems earlier in that year, and the owner didn't do things like take it to the track or take corners irresponsibly, which are things that aren't normal wear and tear, then I think they should definitely be covered. Same with the brakes... providing you do what's advised in the owner's manual, and brake easily for the first 200 miles or so.

 

I agree..Leaving the system in "recirculate" is easier on the compressor and saves gasoline as well. The evaporator is already cold, and the air inside the car is already cool. It is just being passed back across the cold coils, so the compressor works easier. The problem is, everytime the air passes across the coils, it removes more and more moisture from the air, and thus, there is a drying effect in the car. Opening a window brings moisture in, just like putting the system back in "fresh". That dirty moist air comes in, and the compressor again has to remove the moisture.

If you are a smoker, leaving the system in "fresh" is also a good idea, because on recirculate, the smoke just gets recirculated over and over again without leaving the car.

By the way, the poster who stated that the compressor cycles on and off due to evaporator temperature is right on the money. After it gets so cold, the compressor stops to allow the coil to warm up. If it keeps running at that point, ice will form in the fins. Air will not pass through it if it is frozen.

Save gas and leave it in recirculate.

 

Yes and the compressor out runs the evaporator and expansion valve in all but the hotest of situations and has to stop to let the evap catch up. I'm aware that it is an ongoing cycle as you point out and not one starts and then stops as the other starts. I was more responding to Ramon's comment that all compressors should be cycling and that if a particular vehicle's compressor is not, that it isn't a feature of the vehicle as much as a problem with the AC (probably being low on freon). You're right that the thermistor controls the operation of the compressor as well as the ECU and the pressure switch which can also tell it to switch off. I was pretty vague on what I meant by preset level.

Whenever I get in my car, it seems that the inside air is hotter than the outside air so I run it on fresh since it seems like it's less work to cool the outside air. After you get below outside ambient air, it makes sense to me to put it on recirc. Hmm, too much thinking. the auto button is a good idea.

 

Freon. Where have you been? CFC based coolants were eliminated years ago.

 

Your absolutely right, I misread his post thinking he found a hole in it then debris or actual damage. But, hopefully they will be nice about it.

And about wear and tear... notice I said normal. Someone burning out tires/brakes in 3 days a track is not a normal use of a car. its definately a fun use however !