Hi Scotty,
I own a 2011 ford fiesta mk7 (eu) manual with 87k miles on it. I've noticed that the ac doesn't cool very well when the car is running in neutral, especially when the car has been out in the sun. When i start driving the air from the ac gets cooler within two minutes and the ac cools fine. Is this normal or should i be worried that some part of my ac is broken?
Sounds like a radiator cooling fan malfunction. Do you see it coming on when you're in N?
So you were absolutely right. Radiator was fan not working. We are on vacation in Spain so i called the dealer told him about radiator fan not working and asked if it was okay to drive back to the Netherlands. He told me that the engine has a separate sensor and the fan starts working if the engine gets to hot. Here we are in the middle of Lyon centre with an overheated engine waiting on a tow truck…
I hope further damage wasn't done by overheating. So much for dealership "advice". Let us know how you make out.
Fortunately there seems to be no further damage to the engine. We were towed to a garage with very nice people. I explained the problem to them and they immediately understood what was wrong and why the car overheated. They really tried to fix the ventilator but unfortunately it's busted. They disconnected the ventilator and checked it with a separate battery but it wouldn't spin. Fuse box and fuses were all okay. Since it was already afternoon the told me that there was very little chance of getting spare parts during the weekend. They started calling around with four persons and found a new ventilator! They'll try to install it during the weekend. They even brought us to a hotel!
I haven't checked. I'll check if the fan starts spinning when i put the ac on low and keep the car in neutral. Shouldn't i also be having problems with my engine overheating if it is the radiator fan? I haven't noticed any warnings on my dash.
Some cars have more than one radiator fan and may have a separate condenser fan. All need to be working for the AC to work properly when the vehicle is not moving.
Okay thank you very much! Will check the fan and report back :).