About 3 weeks ago I purchased a 2013 Hyundai Santa Fe Sport from a dealer. It has 63,000 KMs (about 39,000 miles) and I am having an issue with the air conditioning. When driving in hot external temperatures (30C - mid 80sF), after a time the a/c seems to stop flowing and I only get a trickle of air coming through the vents. The fan still works as I change fan speeds and I can hear the fan motor changing speeds. It must be temperature related as I just completed the same trip with an external temp of low 70s and everything continued to work properly. The trip when it last stopped was not continuous driving. There was a 5 min section with a 20 minute shopping stop, then a 20 minute drive with a 30 minute shopping stop. This was then followed by about 15 minutes of driving when it stopped working. Ir worked fine the next day after it had cooled down.
Ir seems like something in the a/c system overheats and shuts down airflow to the vents.
Any ideas before I take it to my service appointment at the dealer late next week?
Check that your cabin filter is not clogged, also that the condenser fan is operating. (Without the fan pressures may rise to the point where a sensor shuts the system down to protect it.)
I replaced the cabin air filter about a week ago. I'm sure the condenser is working as everything works fine until it seems to overheat.
DId you just check the condenser or the condenser fan (if it has a separate condenser fan)? Radiator and condenser fans should all run when the AC is on. Any cold spots on the condenser indicating a clog? What are the system pressures?
If all that checks out you're probably looking at a problem with the electronics which would require a dealer-level scan tool to diagnose.
Since you made the mistake of buying it from a dealer, I hope you have some kind of warranty on it.
Thanks for the responses folks. Turns out it was a faulty Evaporator Temp Sensor which the dealer replaced at no cost to me.