VE SS Aircon not cold enough on hot days

[prodrive]

Has anyone noticed the aircon is not cold enough on very hot day in the VE SS?

My car was sitting in the sun yesterday (very hot in Melbourne - 36 degrees) for a few hours. When I got back to the car the air con could not handle the heat. Now I don't necessarily expect ice cold air to come out straight away - but the air con was barely working at all.

For the drive home (about 25 minutes) I had the air con on full fan power and it was just warm (coolish) air coming out. Not cold for the entire drive home.

Anyone noticed this issue? Warranty issue or is this something I should live with?

On other days when it is not very hot the air con works fine.

[BigFella]

mmm ive herd there has been a few issues with the VE air con. try a search on here.
i believe there is an easy fix for it as its a common problem.

[planetdavo]

Early VE's in particular had an easily fixed issue.
If it's had a leak as well, it will lose efficiency.
You will need to get it booked in to fix it, as we can only give you hypotheticals.

[Brandonsdad]

Has anyone noticed the aircon is not cold enough on very hot day in the VE SS?

My car was sitting in the sun yesterday (very hot in Melbourne - 36 degrees) for a few hours. When I got back to the car the air con could not handle the heat. Now I don't necessarily expect ice cold air to come out straight away - but the air con was barely working at all.

For the drive home (about 25 minutes) I had the air con on full fan power and it was just warm (coolish) air coming out. Not cold for the entire drive home.

Anyone noticed this issue? Warranty issue or is this something I should live with?

On other days when it is not very hot the air con works fine.

Make sure that as soon as you put it on, put it on full bore with your window down for a minute and then close your window and then press the re-circulate button. Also set the dial so that the air only comes out of the vents at head height, as I used to have it coming out of the setting with head/feet and found that it lacked cool air, but together with the re-circulate on and the head height only setting it has been great. When you start feeling cool, turn the fan speed down to about half way.

[370HSSV]

I have the exact same problem with mine. Ive booked it in to get seen to in the new year because to me it's not acceptable. Fingers crossed, its an easy fix!

[Titanium]

No airconditioning unit is going to handle dropping 50* plus air in your car down to 17* (lowest setting). The fan is trying to move a large volume of hot air when it is on full speed, cooling the air is inefficient.

There is also a large volume of air in the car to move around.

I find it best to se the temp to say 24 degrees, open all the windows for the first few minutes to cool the majority of the air, then close them, put it on recirc then drop the temperature to say 21 degrees. Works well for me this way.

I have dried just setting the temp to 17* as soon as I get in the car, it just does not work as good this way.

Just my 2 cents worth.

[SS Enforcer]

Early VE's in particular had an easily fixed issue.
If it's had a leak as well, it will lose efficiency.
You will need to get it booked in to fix it, as we can only give you hypotheticals.

Holden has had 5 goes at fixing mine and it's still stuffed, it doesn't want to work on hot days it just keeps shutting off unless it's set on full . They even replaced the entire HVAC system one time and reflashed it every time as well. I know I have to take it back, wife has been at me to get it sorted but I really hate having to get something fixed 6 times .

cheers

[prodrive]

Early VE's in particular had an easily fixed issue.
If it's had a leak as well, it will lose efficiency.
You will need to get it booked in to fix it, as we can only give you hypotheticals.

Mine is a mid 2007 build. One person in another thread mentioned that if the air con gas has too much pressure the compressor switches off. Does the air-con light go off if that is the case? Because mine the air con light was working the entire time - it is just the air was not really as cold as I would expect.

[ITROCS]

I also thought mine isn't working great either, my VXSS is a similar sized car and I use the VESS air-con the same way as the VX and the VE is no where as cold as the VX.. It does cool the car but not as cold and not as quick, even the AH astra is colder. If anyone takes it back to Holden for repair pls let us know the result. Mines a 06 build...

[heavyduty1340]

Ive got the monaro and I also have a dual cab hilux - toyotas a/c shits all over the monaro

Both cars can be sitting in the heat of the day - jump in the monaro and it takes ages to cool the car down - do the same in the hilux and a couple of minutes later you are getting bloody cold and have to turn it down

Holden need to take a good look at both systems and make theirs as good as toyotas imho

[VooDoo]

I insulated the AC lines on all my cars and it improved the AC temps heaps. Remove the PCM and Radiator overflow tank and airbox on the passenger side and use some insulation from Holden ($6 a sheet. Its used to insulate the floor above the cats)

Sonny had a heap of pic's of it on his GenT installs.

[disci]

Good point Prodrive

I'm not happy with mine either.

1. I find that I need to have it set at least 3 degrees cooler in my VE compared with my Dad's VX to get similar levels of comfort.

I think mine is also faulty in reading the outside temperature. Often the reading will not change after driving in the sun and parking in the Brisbane sun for a couple of hours. I wonder if the outside temperature is one of the variables which is used in the climate control's algorithm to determine how much cooling in needed inside? If so, if the outside temperature is being measure unreliably, that might influence interior cooling??

2. I found that manually adjusting the fan speed cancelled the climate control's 'auto' setting and it was no longer anywhere near as cool. Pressing the auto button did help a little.

Of course, when I reported all this to the service department, they said they couldn't fault it....

Regards

D

[emg]

Ive got the monaro and I also have a dual cab hilux - toyotas a/c shits all over the monaro

Both cars can be sitting in the heat of the day - jump in the monaro and it takes ages to cool the car down - do the same in the hilux and a couple of minutes later you are getting bloody cold and have to turn it down

Holden need to take a good look at both systems and make theirs as good as toyotas imho


I agree.. my previous toyota and the corolla we have now actually "work" in the aircon department.

[Mr Frew]

My AC is the same! Both in the VE auto and Manual. With the Auto, you have to drive normal - or the AC just turns off.

With the manual, When I put the clutch in to change gear the air comes out faster than when I have the car in gear. Sometimes the air only comes out at the hottest temp and at full fan - nothing I do apart from pulling over and restarting the car will stop it.

The other day it was hot here and I turned the A/C on (not full fan and not full cold) - and my radio blanked, the centre digital speedo blanked, and the AC turned off totally. When I indicated there was no noise at all. I pulled over (pretty quickly) and restarted the car ... and it all came back on.

I know that cars can have these 'hick-ups', even my previous Mercedes S500 had stupid things happen like the drivers side air was bloody cold and the passangers side air was fully hot ... when they were both set at the same temp ...

I have taken both cars to Holden about three times, each time I have been told that they have 'upgraded' my A/C software .... pfft, probably just better than saying they didn't even find the fault!

The same goes for my fuel filler cap ... every time you unlock the car ... it SCREAMS! ... same for locking. All they can do is lube it up ... sigh ... I am addicted to the V8 raw power ... but this is beyond a joke.

Simon.

[ve/ss]

Mine is a mid 2007 build. One person in another thread mentioned that if the air con gas has too much pressure the compressor switches off. Does the air-con light go off if that is the case? Because mine the air con light was working the entire time - it is just the air was not really as cold as I would expect.

I had this problem of over gassing, the led does not switch off. The theroy i was dished up by holden was that the peanut gasing the unit on the production line has got confused as the vz a/c had more pressure than the ve. also if it is this problem its the compressor cutting out and it will work again once it cools down.

[mjcssv]

My VE SS had one issue on a 38degC+ day here in Perth when it seemed to shut down by itself, a quick on/off on/off seemed to do the trick, since then no issues and over Christmas we had a couple of 40+deg C days.....fingers crossed it was only an isolated glitch...car only 3 weeks old....

[prodrive]

I had this problem of over gassing, the led does not switch off. The theroy i was dished up by holden was that the peanut gasing the unit on the production line has got confused as the vz a/c had more pressure than the ve. also if it is this problem its the compressor cutting out and it will work again once it cools down.

Thanks for that - this could well be the issue. Will ask Holden at the next service to look at it. I drove the car today again in very hot Melbourne and the air-con wasn't very impressive.


No airconditioning unit is going to handle dropping 50* plus air in your car down to 17* (lowest setting).


I don't know about that. I also have an old school 1990 Honda Civic that can pump out ice cold air after sitting in the sun in the same conditions that the VE is struggling.

I find the fan speed on the VE is really great and powerful - just the temperature of the cool air is the issue on hot days.

[Pickles]

Had a problem with the A/C in our VZ GTO a while ago---started off not being totally cold, then started BLOWING WARM AIR, in 38 degree heat!
The problem was, too much gas from new,--when the outside temperature went up too high, the A/C compressor produced too much pressure, & kept shutting itself off--hense the warm air!
Dealer diagnosed the problem, fixed the gas level, & it's worked beautifully ever sinse, even in yesterday's 39 degree heat--cools down from hot quickly too.
I believe the VE system is different, but it may pay you to see whether there's not too much gas in the system.
Cheers, Pickles.

[Marco]

No worries with the (non climate control, thankfully) air con in my VE SS, although we haven't had a real stinker of a hot day to fully test it yet.

Nothing beats the air con in my old RB Gemini, though. It must have had a fairly big compressor to cool what was a relatively small cabin, because you would be cold in minutes no matter how hot the day.

[ATOMIC MALOO R8]

NOTHING beats toyota air:)our two land cruisers would freeze your tits of on a 40deg day with 7 passengers on board , our
gto air con is shit:bawl::spew: it takes for ever for air to start coming out of the vents ,the vy is not to bad but it is a small cabin :1peek:

THE Au ford Giha the air con was the reason we sold it would go for 20 min then just shut of and you had to restart the car to get it going again :vpo: after about 10 trips back to the dealer we decided to go holden ???

[markhit]

My Air Con turns off if you give the car full throttle. It blows hot air for a couple of seconds. Once it didn't come back on until I manually turned it off and back on again. Bloody annoying really.:vpo:
Does anyone know if this is a "feature" or not. ie to give you max power on WOT.

[ATOMIC MALOO R8]

My Air Con turns off if you give the car full throttle. It blows hot air for a couple of seconds. Once it didn't come back on until I manually turned it off and back on again. Bloody annoying really.:vpo:
Does anyone know if this is a "feature" or not. ie to give you max power on WOT.


L.O.L. might me like the one one in my 355 hilux it blows the seal every time it hits 8,000 RPM so i took the belt of got sick of fixing it, its a Holden compressor :spew:

[A^K^T]

My Air Con turns off if you give the car full throttle. It blows hot air for a couple of seconds. Once it didn't come back on until I manually turned it off and back on again. Bloody annoying really.:vpo:
Does anyone know if this is a "feature" or not. ie to give you max power on WOT.


Yep , they are set to disable the air-con at 98% throttle . The rpm disable is 4450 rpm and the re-enable is 4800 rpm :confused:

[aggerz]

My Air Con turns off if you give the car full throttle. It blows hot air for a couple of seconds. Once it didn't come back on until I manually turned it off and back on again. Bloody annoying really.:vpo:
Does anyone know if this is a "feature" or not. ie to give you max power on WOT.

I've got an 91 NC Fairlane V8 (yes.. blasphemy I know) .. does the same thing.. its annoying but yeah its there for a reason..

[Uncle Tone]

I find that I have to set the aircon to 19 degrees in the GTS to be comfortable. I used to set it to 21 in the VY.

[goose202]

I don't mean to point out the obvious to anyone, but are you all using recirculation rather than fresh air on really hot days?

I only say this because I've only had my VX Calais for about a month and initially wasn't all that impressed with the aircon either. Then I realised that when the climate control system is set on auto it has to be really hot inside the car before it will switch to recirc. Manually selecting recirc makes the air nice and chilly.

[payaya]

In say a jap car theres no need for recirculate as the air is chilly enough!

[KingClifton]

My VE R8 is adequate, but I'm running it at say 17-18 degrees and it's still not freezing (assuming high 30s outside). Definitely needs to run 3+ degrees lower than previous cars I've had.

[markhit]

And what's with the "Pollution Mode"; keeps turning itself off (ie back to full recycle)???

[azzss]

No dramas here with mine but its a vz with climate set it at around 22 on a 30 plus day any less and it is too cold for me!

[ITROCS]

Took some advice, 42 in Melb yesterday put air-con on recirculate and on C and worked a treat...

Peter....

[SCiFiRE]

parked in the sun on a 42oC day for a few hours,
get in the car, turn on climate to auto 20oC,
100m later im all good!

[jaykay]

The other night I got in the car after not having driven it for 4 days, turned the a/c on and it didn't work...:confused:

Turned it off and on again and bingo cold air.....weird

[benny76]

does anyone here get a slight headache from being in the car with aircon on?

[r8death]

hi got ve r8 the air con works but i think it is not cold as it should get even when its not that hot out side drove a astra the other day was cold as even on a hot day , maby these cars are bulit for more performance than air con

[Brockfan05]

Just had my car serviced a few weeks back, I had a couple of probs with the A/C cutting out and blowing hot air. To get you by, you can stop the car for a bit in the shade, then when you restart it should work again. Turned out that my BCM had fried (06 VE SS) so it was replaced under warranty and works a treat now in any heat! Best A/C of any car I've driven.

[thermos]

The other night I got in the car after not having driven it for 4 days, turned the a/c on and it didn't work...:confused:

Turned it off and on again and bingo cold air.....weird

Had the same thing happen to me today....
Air con was working. I had to turn off car to pickup something.... On the trip back home, warm air... Turned it off and back on and it was cold again!
I thought I was in a ten year old car with dodgy air-con....

[VooDoo]

Bloody Murphy.... Rock hit the condenser today and all the gas leaked out.... $220 later a new condenser (well, its ordered but isnt here till toomorow)

[Space Pope]

I find the VE SSV climate control doesn't chill the air nearly as well as my old VX SS with manual A/C.

Same with the VR II Calais with climate control, it was never as cold as the VX SS. Even on a stinking hot day, I had to mix a little warm air into it to keep from freezing to death on the VX.

I think climate control A/C in general just doesn't do as good a job.

The vents are are bit lousy and small...they seem less effective than on the VX and don't position as well.

[aggerz]

I think climate control A/C in general just doesn't do as good a job.


I would suggest that this is more to do with the fact that in climate control systems you set the degrees..maybe 22 so the system adjusts constantly as required .. but I find in manual systems people often just turn the dial to maximum.. so therefore will almost always be colder or hotter than a climate system as its far less precise.

so perhaps if you set the climate to 16degree everytime and treat it like a manual system it'd probably be as cold.. but just defeat the purpose of the system.

Just an idea.

[CaseIH]

Try taking it to an air con specialist not holden as long as they don't replace anything holden wouldn't be the wiser. That might help as they would look for the problem, not try to cover their a## like holden are.:)

[Space Pope]

I would suggest that this is more to do with the fact that in climate control systems you set the degrees..maybe 22 so the system adjusts constantly as required .. but I find in manual systems people often just turn the dial to maximum.. so therefore will almost always be colder or hotter than a climate system as its far less precise.

so perhaps if you set the climate to 16degree everytime and treat it like a manual system it'd probably be as cold.. but just defeat the purpose of the system.

Just an idea.

Errrr...no. It's just not as cold.

[aggerz]

mm ok fair enough.. nice to see plenty of open minds on the forum..:rolleyes:

[EvokeWM]

I've got a WM Caprice and the aircon struggles to cool the vehicle on anything more than a moderately warm day. Took it in for a service and got them to look at it. They said it was over-pressurised with gas and this caused it to be less effective. No change after they "fixed it" (as usual).

I've always found the A/C on Holdens is not as good as Fords (why is a mystery). The air that comes out of the centre vents on my past two Holdens and the current Caprice is only ever cool even on max cooling setting. On my Ford GT, it is very cold and you could not keep your hand in front of it for very long as its so cold.

Anyone else notice Ford aircon is colder than Holden?

[VooDoo]

Bloody Murphy.... Rock hit the condenser today and all the gas leaked out.... $220 later a new condenser (well, its ordered but isnt here till toomorow)

hit -3c today

woohoo!!

[WitEnvy]

We now have 3 VYs (SS Ute, S Sedan, LX8 Adventra) in the family and the aircons seem nowhere near as cold as the BA Falcon, AU Falcon and my '91 Nissan Silvia that they replaced.

[Crusty]

does anyone here get a slight headache from being in the car with aircon on?

I do if the air is on too cold, my climate is always set at 24 nothing below, I don't see why people feel teh need to be 20 degrees on a 40 degree day, also your body doesn't like massive temperature changes. I hate it when I get in a mates car and it's like stepping into a fridge, makes me feel crook.

[Aus8]

not keep your hand in front of it for very long as its so cold.

Anyone else notice Ford aircon is colder than Holden?

I have a BF MKII XT Company car (non climate control a/c) and it is certainly colder than any of my past and Current Holdens. However I cannot comment on a VE as I havent got one quite yet.

[Mojo]

Love the beast but have to say I'm not overly impressed with the SSV's internal cooling ability on a very hot day..... feels almost like you just have the external vent open... Put the sucker on the lowest setting and crank the fan up and and it does nothing but circulate the hot air...... yeah yeah always wind all the windows down to blow the hot stuff out but when I put them up again after a few minutes the hot stuff keeps coming out of the a/c unit.....

A billion bucks and the aircon sux....

Still..... women aren't perfect but we still love em eh !!

[Stelth]

hit -3c today

woohoo!!

WHAT ????

I have only seen +5c at the most.

[mac06]

Love the beast but have to say I'm not overly impressed with the SSV's internal cooling ability on a very hot day..... feels almost like you just have the external vent open... Put the sucker on the lowest setting and crank the fan up and and it does nothing but circulate the hot air...... yeah yeah always wind all the windows down to blow the hot stuff out but when I put them up again after a few minutes the hot stuff keeps coming out of the a/c unit.....

A billion bucks and the aircon sux....

Still..... women aren't perfect but we still love em eh !!

I wonder whether the fact that the SSV has leather seats contributes to how hot you feel. If parked in the hot sun for even a short time the leather seats get pretty warm. Seeing as the air con can't cool the seats while you're sitting in them it could take a bit longer to cool you down. Your back is hot while your face gets the cold air. Just a thought.

[mcmurray]

I'm considering buying a VE SS shortly and this information is quite discouraging. I have had the exact same problem with my VP Calais. I would have thought Holden would have sorted this out by now!

If anyone here is perfectly happy with their aircon can you please let us know? The new SS seems to be a great car but a luke warm aircon would most probably be a deal breaker for me. Perth gets way too hot to be stuffing aroud trying to fix an aircon 6 times!

[jrckelley]

i heard that the commodores and statesman that they send to the middle east have a larger/better/colder etc compressor because the aussie one wouldn't cut it. I find it funny that australia doesn't qualifyu for the coldest aircon available (try telling some one in darwin that).
Any ways - maybe some one knows if you can get the middle east parts for the AUs cars

[troyssv]

I'm considering buying a VE SS shortly and this information is quite discouraging.

I know.... I have one on order and I'm moving across from a Toyota (which have the best A/C in the country by far).

Looks like me and the missus will be in for a bit of a shock on hot days.

[mcmurray]

maybe some one knows if you can get the middle east parts for the AUs cars

Interesting. Perth is as hot as Baghdad in Feburary. Does anyone know if the middle east parts are obtainable?

[CATACK]

i just bought a new VE SS and the air con works great, the only problem i had was the fan went from high to low without touching anything, but that only happened once.
cheers

[BLACK 346]

Interesting. Perth is as hot as Baghdad in Feburary. Does anyone know if the middle east parts are obtainable?

What is your point, that is a cooler month in the Middle East.
The Aircon in their import Holdens definitely works better than any
Holden (or Ford for that matter) that I have been in, but the downside
is when you exit the vehicle you feel like you are entering a blast furnace,
heat that is inconcievable when you first get there :yup:

[mcmurray]

What is your point, that is a cooler month in the Middle East.
The Aircon in their import Holdens definitely works better than any
Holden (or Ford for that matter) that I have been in, but the downside
is when you exit the vehicle you feel like you are entering a blast furnace,
heat that is inconcievable when you first get there :yup:

Sorry I should have said Perth in Feburary is gets as hot as Baghdad in July. For the record, I've never been there but was just conveying that it gets bloody hot here in Perth.

Ablett29 - this is encouraging. Who else has had no problems?

[SM196]

So today the fan/air con decides not to work, turn car off, wait, wait, turn car on and all is well. Then repeated itself again this afternoon except it just wouldnt kick in. Waited 10 minutes after getting home and all was well again.

It was only 26C today

Is this a known problem that there is a fix for??

[Clutch22]

1. Wind windows down first to let the 60 degree air out of the car

2. Set it to reverse cycle air con.

3. If problems persist, complain to your service department,

[Metal]

I think climate control A/C in general just doesn't do as good a job.



Not sure how accurate that is, but might be true in general?

Parents own a '97 323 BMW, and the climate control on that is cold no matter what the temp outside? never had a problem.

i'm no closer to a solution on the R8 :bawl:

[Crusty]

I tested my aircon temp the other day, after only a couple of minutes of driving on recycle with aircon on max the vent temperature was down to 4.7 degrees :D

[VESSWA]

There was a problem with early VE aircon units. They were tested when the cars were in for other issues or servicing and replaced if found faulty (head unit). This was usually switching on/off or other erratic stuff. My climate control (ssv) unit cools well enough but have noticed on "auto" that it will change from recirc to fresh air on it's own which is a b1tch in traffic. Also when on the so called "anti pollution" mode and recirc you STILL get outside fumes and smells!!

I'd be back to your dealership if you're not happy, they know there's a history of problems there and should get you sorted.

[prodrive]

Also when on the so called "anti pollution" mode and recirc you STILL get outside fumes and smells!!

Yeah I get that too - on recirc I get fumes from the car in front - can Holden dealers fix that?

[BLACKVE]

Ablett29 - this is encouraging. Who else has had no problems?

It's been shocking in adelaide think its up to 9 days 35+ and another week ahead according to news. My oct 06 ss air cond hasn't missed a beat(13'000km's) but then i can't stand the cold so it's never really on the coldest setting:rofl:

[Shane QLD]

I've got a WM Caprice and the aircon struggles to cool the vehicle on anything more than a moderately warm day. Took it in for a service and got them to look at it. They said it was over-pressurised with gas and this caused it to be less effective. No change after they "fixed it" (as usual).

I've always found the A/C on Holdens is not as good as Fords (why is a mystery). The air that comes out of the centre vents on my past two Holdens and the current Caprice is only ever cool even on max cooling setting. On my Ford GT, it is very cold and you could not keep your hand in front of it for very long as its so cold.

Anyone else notice Ford aircon is colder than Holden?

I sold a BF XR6T last year & the Ford Air is colder. Reason ! Look down at the Ford's compressor & you see "NIPPONDENSO" in other words Toyota !

[Jman]

I think the VE aircon units are trying very hard but the pissy little centre vents let it down badly IMO.

The two best aircon units I have experienced in cars I have previously owned have both been from Mitsubishi, the first a Verada and much more recently I lived with a 380 for 2 years. Aircon was awesome but then again, the vents were of a decent size and the volume of air movement was much greater than in the VE. The one bad thing about the 380.....no option to turn the vent off...:bawl:

All that said, I live in Canberra......its the heating im more worried about :)

[LSavvy]

In say a jap car theres no need for recirculate as the air is chilly enough!

As mentioned the words 'Nippon Denso' sum up this Jap car thing with A/C being great, they are the most reliable units in my experience, with little failure when it comes to compressors, evap's, and sensors etc.


does anyone here get a slight headache from being in the car with aircon on?

A/C will dehydrate you, maybe thats it.


My climate control (ssv) unit cools well enough but have noticed on "auto" that it will change from recirc to fresh air on it's own which is a b1tch in traffic.



They do it so the air in the cab doesn't go stale ((imagine 5 people in the cab with recirc on a long trip), that is good on the open road, but in traffic or extremely hot days its a bitch!


I sold a BF XR6T last year & the Ford Air is colder. Reason ! Look down at the Ford's compressor & you see "NIPPONDENSO" in other words Toyota !

Spot on, they are designed in extreme humid conditions in Asia(Heat and Humidity really test A/C) and this is why there fitted to most if not all jap cars.

Air International (i think still do the Holden kits) make great Bus and Coach A/C units but can't cool a Commodore right:confused:.

In general there could be many different causes for A/C to not be working.

[jeepers]

errr gents....the VE compressors are denso...units.

speaking of which, my VE senator has no issues with aircon/cooling. Thats in Perth and in Phantom black. possibly advantage of sunroof which i open to let out the heat, but in general i find her bloody chilly when set below 20.

im guessing its gassing issues on most. independent aircon places are a lot better than the stealerships with aircons i have found.

[ATOMIC MALOO R8]

climate control (ssv) unit cools well enough but have noticed on "auto" that it will change from recirc to fresh air on it's own which is a b1tch in traffic


the recirc is a safety requirement so you dont get to much carbon monoxide in the cab and go to sleep

my air con is fine on 40C DAYS in cairns set on 20c usually run it on 22/23c after it has been going a while