bozi

Hi,

I drive about 140 kilometers a day on the highway and just yesterday I noticed that my P5 left a huge water puddle on the driveway. Granted that it's really hot in Toronto (at least this week), I still did not turn on the AC, I just turned the dial to defrost and the car seemed to be cool enough.
I'm just wondering if anyone else had this occur. Could the defrost automatically kick in the AC (the dial does not light up, nor is that stated in the manual).

Thanks in advance for the help

silver_p5_owner

Yes, on defrost your A/C compressor is turned on. As a matter of fact the A/C is active whenever you choose floor, floor/defrost and defrost. It's one thing that bugs me about the car. I like to have control over this but I guess too many people drive around in cold weather with the system set to recirculate. They're the ones scraping the INSIDE of their windshields while driving down the highway. By activating the A/C automatically it will dry the air out and reduce condensation inside the cabin.

Jeff M.

bozi

That's really strange that you don't have control over that. But how come this is not explained in the manual and the AC light does not turn on.

One more thing, what happens if I have the defrost on and the heat is also on?

Thanks for the reply by the way, it was very helpfull!

Sir Nuke

if you have the defrost on an the heat too you just get hot air to your windshield....yeah I know you are saying "DUH! I KNEW THAT" but all that changes is the temp of the air....the DRYER portion of your AC is still working to take moisture out of the air, which is what keeps your windshield from fogging up as easily.

stocker

What I have had a problem with is in high humidity. I am also in TO, and recently the heat and humidity has been crazy. So some nights I turn on the AC and the windsheild starts to fog up, so I put it on defrost, the window gets so cold the outside starts to fog up. I end up having to use my wipers to see where I am going.
Stocker.

JJB

Hmm... I knew about the defrost and floor/defrost turning the AC on... now I learn that it turns it on when the "floor" only setting is used... hell, they should just leave it on all the time. What's the point of having a f'in switch for it if you can not control it.

Even my crap *** Chevy does not turn it on when I put it to "feet" only!

Now I know I have to get in there and make some changes!

Sir Nuke

believe ME...I am familure with HUMIDITY!! living here in texas on the gulf coast...the % of humidity generally runs the same as the temp in the summer..... 97 degrees F and 97% humidity!!!! sometimes you feel like you need GILLS to breathe! lol

ANYWAY.....what you need to do to eliminate YOUR problem is turn the temp down a little...that way it will clear you windshield on the inside....and NOT make it fog on the outside...its a balance.

silver_p5_owner

JJB,

There was a thread on the MP5online yahoo group about how to fix this. It required removal of the whole 3 dial assembly and de-soldering some micro switches from the circuit board inside. Sounded too complex for me along with the fact that many of the cars have a defective switch panel, including mine. My problem's not as bad as some others but if it really goes bad I don't want the warranty coverage voided on the part because I messed with it. I was very dissapointed when I discovered how the A/C is automatically switched on. I've had a number of jap cars and all of them had full manual control.

Jeff M.

don caballero

I would like more control over the AC/defrost combo too, but consider the new (and possibly old) Honda Civic. Like the Protege, the AC comes on automatically w/ the defrost. But when you switch from defrost to anything else, the AC _stays_ on. It's an ourright flaw/bug as far as I;m concerned.

-Don Cab.

stocker

I know, I tried that, and while it works, the car doesn't really cool down, might as well just open all the windows and sunroof and enjoy the breeze.

Stocker

dru

For those of you that don't like the fact that the A/C comes on with the defrost/floor selection, keep in mind that one of the reasons it does so is so that in the winter, when most people aren't thinking about cooling off (at least in this hemisphere ) the compressor still needs to be lubricated, perhaps even moreso than during the summer/fall/spring. Having it automatically come on means one less thing for us to worry about as then the pump gets 'lubed' up

bozi

I guess that's the problem with new cars: they control the driver, instead of the other way around.

That's the dilema for automatic vs. standard, letting the car drive the driver vs the driver driving the car. But that's another story.