Its almost that time of year again here in Kuwait, when you can experience hell on earth first hand! Summer temperatures in June – Aug easily cross the 140F mark. Last summer when I still had my Camry, I would leave a thermometer in it so I can know the inside temp after leaving the car parked all day while at work. The thermometer’s limit was 150F, and it broke because apparently it got way hotter than this in the car. So I “borrowed” a lab thermometer that goes up to 500F and managed to record 177F after leaving the car parked in the sun one day. These are really insane temperatures, on average 20-30 degrees hotter than Iraq (as it is further north).

Now, as you can see, this type of heat calls for switching on the AC the instant I start the car, even if the engine isn’t warmed up. I did this with the Camry all the time, and I will do it with my stang, I have no choice really. I just want to know how bad is this for the engine?

My second question is very puzzling. I noticed yesterday after leaving the car out in 100F that the passenger side air vents were blowing much colder air than the driver side. They were both blowing same volume of air, so its not a blockage, but the passenger side was easily twice as cold as the driver side. I thought maybe the sun was hitting one side of the car and made the ducts hot on the passenger side. However, in the morning after leaving her in my garage overnight I experienced that exact same thing. I was using the max setting which recycles the inside air. What in the world could be causing this? I had just finished my 5,000mile service at the dealership and had them check the AC gas and they said it was full. I didn’t ask about this particular problem as I didn’t realize it at the time.

Any advice about these two issues would be most appreciated. Also, Louie, if you can chime in with any words of wisdom, as you also live in an insanely hot place too, Dubai.

Cheers,
Mike

 

Man, I thought Phoenix was hot! I didn't have any A/C in my car when I was in Phoenix, black car with black interior and t-tops. It only got up to about 118 outside (140+ inside the car I believe). What's the outside temperature over there get to?

If you are worried about warming up the engine before turning on the A/C, might want to look into a remote-start option? you could start the car from outside, let it set idle for a few minutes, then pop in there and turn the A/C on after a few minutes. You have an automatic transmission, so there shouldn't be any issues with the remote start.

 

It easily gets to 140+ outside the car in the shade !!! That’s the official temperature you see on the news. If I'm not mistaken the way it is measured is under a 100 sqft shade. Inside the car it gets to 177 or more, 177 is just my own personal record. Phoenix might be hot, but its a whole different level here. The local youths will wipe off the hood of their cars and fry eggs on them. I have personally eaten an egg sandwich fried that way. It takes about a min to fully fry, much like a stove top. They don't measure the heat index here, but if they did that will bring up the temp significantly as most of the country is on the coast. The UV index here is constantly at its highest possible level 16.

Can you tell that I'm looking forward to summer ?

 

i hear ya Mike..
Dubai's weather has been rather strange lately..
yesterday was a rather pleasant 85F.. today i woke up to a 100F morning!

sure not looking forward to seeing how my Supercharger will cope with the heat.. but i guess i can only wait and see.

as for your AC problem, i've personally never experienced that particular problem!
All the vents are connected to the same blower, so i really don't understand how some can blow colder air than others!

 

You lucky ****'s! It will get warm here and then cool down. I'm ready for the heat! But not the humidity

 

Maybe you should invest in the Snow meth kit.

 

Mike, the engine should be fine with starting the A\C when it is cold. You are making it work a little harder but it is not like you are red lining the engine, you are just using a couple of extra horsepower.
The vent thing is a little puzzling, but I think it had to do with the fact that the right side is where the A\C coil is and it makes a shorter run. I have seen this on cars here in the states with the both heater in the winter and the A\C in the summer. Don't forget the A\C unit has to not only push out the hot air from the vent ducts, but is has to cool down the vent surfaces as well. At 177 degrees this will take awhile.
Think of it like this... The hot air blows across the coil and cools down, then it blows across the vent ducts and picks up the heat from the duct tubing so it heats back up.

 

my friend (Machine on this forum) has a remote start on his car and he just leaves the AC on for a bit then goes out and gets into the car

 

Yup, gotta get the remote start

 

HEY! I am in Iraq! But I am leaving in a month I will miss those wonderful 120+ Days!

 

That makes sense. Thanks for that.