Engine Power Loss When A/c On

[Dexta]

Hi,

Another question for you guys, when im driving along say about 20 ish and i put on my A/C i notice a drain in power from the engine as if it slightly decelerates. just wondering if anyone else has experienced it and if its anything to worry about also what could be causing it.. must admit i never noticed this when i picked up the car and was driving down the dual carriageway. any help as always very appreciated.

cheers .

[Steviewevie]

The a/c is driven from a belt that comes directly from the engine. So if the engine has to turn the a/c compressor it will take a small amount of power from the engine, and you might feel this in some situations, yes. It should only be pretty slight though, I'm talking from experience with past cars and haven't noticed it yet on the IS200. If there is a big drop then it could indicate some sort of problem with the a/c compressor (e.g. if the engine is having to work hard to turn it).

[Mark W]

Perfectly normal as with all cars - smaller the engine the more you notice it too - The a/c uses power from the engine to power the compressor

[Steve_D]

I notice it all the time on mine, was far more noticable on my old saab with 4 cylinder engine.

[Steviewevie]

It's a good reason to make sure your A/C isn't on if you don't need to use it, since it will hurt your fuel consumption. Although having said that it's a good idea to run the A/C for a short while every now and again during periods when it's not in use - e.g. in the winter.

[edeath]

lol i think i use it more during winter to clear the windscreen than i do in summer to cool me down!

[Dexta]

Nice one. thanks for the responces. i was hoping it was normal. :). and yeh iv been using the air con at least once a week at least just to keep it running proper.

[whiteman]

I have my air-con all the time and don't notice any diffrence and sod the fuel consumtion

but when I had a citroen berlingo van in sunny Cyprus I could only use the air con when on a motorway as it did not like going up hills when it was on B)