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AC Issues

20014 Views 20 Replies 12 Participants Last post by  jhonson smith
This weekend we took a trip, a small trip about 150 miles. About an hour or so into the trip, I noticed the ac didn't feel like it was blowing very hard, and it started to get hot. Normally, the ac blows hard enough that it will blow the hair on your head around... I pulled over, shut the car off, then restarted it and it seemed to work fine... for a bit....


About 30 min or so later, same thing. I pulled over again, shut the car off and back on, and again, it worked but only for a few minutes. This happened several times until we got to our destination.


The car was off for about 10 hours. When we left to drive home, it worked fine all the way home. That morning when we left, it was approximately 93 degrees outside with HIGH humidity.


Has anyone else had any issues like this?
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No, take it to your dealer when you can. If you can recreate this and have it going on when you are there do that. Have it blowing hot air like you said and keep it running and tell them you need them to look at it while it is going on, call them as you are heading out there if you can too and give them a heads up. This is the best way to really get them to see it when it's going on.
My car has been struggling on occasion with combating the 90+ degree weather we've been having with the 50+% Humidity.

I took it to the dealer, they parked it in the bay and it worked just fine... go figure.

It works 95% of the time, and that's better than my other car, which doesn't have any AC at all...
Had the same problem last year on a trip to Calif. and went from Phoenix using rt.8. 105 + the whole trip. Dealer said they couldn't duplicate. Cadenza hotline said if it happened go to the nearest Kia dealership but not to turn the car off, then they could check what was going on.
Here's what I have to do. When it is really hot don't use the recirculating air on a long trip. I switch to outside air and it works for me
Be sure and report it to the Cadenza hot line. They told me I was the only one with that problem.
Yeah, same thing just happened to me last week. Turned it off for about 10 minutes during the drive, and it came back fine when I turned it back on. But it did the same thing, I could see the readout, system on Auto, fan was on high, I could hear it, but didn't feel it out of any vents (other then a trickle). Off on, heat on, circulate, outside air hit all the buttons nothing. But being off for 10 minutes while driving seemed to clear it right up, hasn't happened again.


I'm skeptic to take it in if it is so sporadic...would be great if one of us could get it narrowed down!
Yeah, same thing just happened to me last week. Turned it off for about 10 minutes during the drive, and it came back fine when I turned it back on. But it did the same thing, I could see the readout, system on Auto, fan was on high, I could hear it, but didn't feel it out of any vents (other then a trickle). Off on, heat on, circulate, outside air hit all the buttons nothing. But being off for 10 minutes while driving seemed to clear it right up, hasn't happened again.


I'm skeptic to take it in if it is so sporadic...would be great if one of us could get it narrowed down!
I have narrowed it down...

It's a figment of our imaginations!

Or that is what the service manager at the dealer told me -.-

So tired of terrible service.
My father-in-law has an Optima and he said coming back from the beach his Air was all screwed up. Auto would not work. He had to have it one high and set the temp real low. After parking it for the night it was ok the next day.

Odd issue.
Sad, but true. Please, complain about these things to KIA's Corporate Cadenza line; we love their cars but hate their dealer skills!
Thanks guys.. If it does it again then ill take it in, but the weird thing is its worked fine ever since. It almost acted like a home ac does when the lines freeze up. I wonder if something could have just been frozen up on it?


I dunno, but ill post back here if it happens again and I find out what the issue is. Other than that, we love our Cadenza.. Its the nicest car we have owned for the money we paid!
When the auto AC stops does anybody else find that on manual it works fine. On mine all that stopped was the fan slowed down, when it happened to mine last year. Hasn't happened to me on outside air yet.
knock wood, I haven't had this issue with my a/c; it works very well. my complaint about the hvac system is that in winter it immediately blows cold air instead of keeping the fan off til the air warms up like other nice cars.

my dealership admitted that the climate control systems are designed poorly and are considered 'crappy' compared to other asian models; so keep pushing the dealers and also calling the KIA Cadenza customer care hotline.

symptoms described definitely sound like something is telling the auto function the compressor is freezing up when maybe it isn't since manual controls will work.
When the auto AC stops does anybody else find that on manual it works fine. On mine all that stopped was the fan slowed down, when it happened to mine last year. Hasn't happened to me on outside air yet.

Mine wouldn't hardly blow regardless of what setting it was on. I pushed every button on the dash known to man, and all I had was a trickle of air.
I'm not impressed with the blower when it's on face and feet, subpar even to smaller cars I feel. I never use "auto" for my AC, it's just always on "low" when I use it. There have been days when it does seem to struggle but I thought that was just because I'm easy on my car and don't usually get the engine over 2-2.5k rpm. I have the same issue with the heat, it seems to take FOREVER for it to heat up properly. My old Rogue and Aura heated up much quicker. Again, I'm not sure if it's because I'm just so easy on it or what. I'm sure if I drove it harder it would warm up faster but that isn't really good on the car either (especially while it's still getting to a proper temp). The HVAC system is by far my biggest complaint on the car functionally (the startup rattle is annoying but is only aesthetic (audible?).
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I have had three Kias I actually find the AC to be fine and have had no issues like what has been reported on here .I actually I find the temp settings skews on the cooler side- having said that I rarely ruin my AC for long periods of time ( longest 45 minutes) I tend not to use AC usually open the roof
I have no complaints about the HVAC in my Cadenza at all. I leave it in the Auto setting set to either 70 or 71. In the summer, when temps are over 90, I will open the windows for the first few minutes, but then things cool down quickly. In the colder winter weather, the blower does come on at start-up at the lowest setting, which doesn't bother me as I'm usually dressed warmer anyway. When the engine warms up after a few minutes or about 2 miles, the blower kicks up higher to warm up the car. I never have the upper vents blowing directly on me as the cold air on my face gives me a headache. No tinted windows.

I like how the blower will reduce when using the bluetooth phone, although it seems the HVAC has some logic around how long it will reduce the fan speed as I've had it go higher again after about 5 minutes of being on the phone if the interior isn't cooling down.

Overall, I think it works well.
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I had a similar issue the other day. I had parked outside for a few hours and noticed that when I started the cadenza the fan kicked up to almost the highest setting, but the AC light didn't come on and the air wasn't getting very cold at all. The only way I could get the AC light to come on was to turn the temp all the way to low. I spent about 30 minutes with my diagnostic computer checking all the sensors. It finally dawned on me that it might have something to do with the Auto defrost mode so I got out the owners manual. Sure enough, after resetting auto defrost, automatic climate control returned to normal. Not sure if this is the issue that you guys are having, but thought I would share.
1. Turn the ignition switch to the ON
position.
2. Press the defroster button ( ).
3. While pressing the air conditioning
button (A/C), press the air intake
control button at least 5 times within
3 seconds.
The indicator on the air intake button
blinks 3 times with 0.5 seconds of
interval. It indicates that the defogging
logic is canceled or returned to
the programmed status.


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I had a similar issue the other day. I had parked outside for a few hours and noticed that when I started the cadenza the fan kicked up to almost the highest setting, but the AC light didn't come on and the air wasn't getting very cold at all. The only way I could get the AC light to come on was to turn the temp all the way to low. I spent about 30 minutes with my diagnostic computer checking all the sensors. It finally dawned on me that it might have something to do with the Auto defrost mode so I got out the owners manual. Sure enough, after resetting auto defrost, automatic climate control returned to normal. Not sure if this is the issue that you guys are having, but thought I would share.
I am new to the Cadenza and have not had any A/C issues but have seen times that my A/C light is not on but I know it is working. I'm not worried because it does not cause any discomfort. In reading this thread, I wonder how big a part humidity plays a part for those that have had issues. I'm thinking that some of the moisture removed from the air is not draining and then freezing??
I am new to the Cadenza and have not had any A/C issues but have seen times that my A/C light is not on but I know it is working. I'm not worried because it does not cause any discomfort. In reading this thread, I wonder how big a part humidity plays a part for those that have had issues. I'm thinking that some of the moisture removed from the air is not draining and then freezing??
All Kias' the AC light does not turn on in auto mode only oif you turn on the AC directly
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