I brought my 2010 Prius to the dealer today for the 30,000 mile checkup. Afterward, as I drove away, I turned on the air conditioner, and noticed a "Lo" message where the target temperature is usually shown. I assume that it's just a coincidence that I just had the car serviced, and that the thing to do is to make a new appointment and have the air conditioner charged with refrigerant. It's funny --I've never had to do this, at least not this early. Comments
You guys are right on the money. The tech must have turned down the temperature for some reason. Thanks for your help!
Hmmm.... I don't mean to slam the OP, but I do wonder how many other people are unnecessarily running the heater during the winter (hurting their mileage) and also using auto on their HVAC system (which I hate most of the time as I don't know for certain what it will do). The latter can also hurt gas mileage. If the OP's had his Prius since 09 and only noticed LO now.... And, we regularly have people coming on here to Priuschat complaining about their mileage (esp. in winter).
Two of my drivers regularly get over 56mpg with the system on "auto" in the summer -- The system knows what it is doing. I'm sure that is why the car has an automatic system and not a manual one.
I leave mine off all summer except on the few days when it gets over 25C. The rest of the time in summer I crack the front side windows open a bit and leave them that way, even when parked. With the side visors you can't tell they're open and rain can't get in. I suspect this also makes the solar powered fan more effective. I run about 4.5 l/100 km with a lot of short trips. In winter, it stays on "auto". I'm looking forward to seeing if the GIII does better than Pearl (GII) with heating due to the exhaust heat recovery device. I'm not looking forward to -20C and snow!
One of the benefits of living in Socal is that you do not need an air conditioner or heater. Just crack the 2 front windows and let the air flow through your car. The only time I ever turn on either is if my wife or kids are with me.
The problems w/auto are a couple for me (on my Gen 2): - I dislike where it ends up directing the air by default. - I don't know for certain when the AC compressor may run, since AC must be selected/lit for it to run at all. If I don't use auto, I have full control about when it may run. - If I use auto in the winter, then it may unnecessarily cause the ICE to run to provide cabin heat. I don't want that. I watch FWT (Fahrenheit Water Temp) on my ScanGauge and operate the temperature and fan manually. #2 and #3 can yield poorer fuel economy, esp. #3, in short, low speed city driving, w/lots of stops.
FWIW, prior to the Prius, the only other car I'd ever owned w/auto AC control was my 350Z. I almost never used it in auto mode either. All my previous cars didn't have it.
One of the EARLY reasons for turning the A/C on Low by the tech was to keep the ICE running on the Gen 1 Prius, which had a belt-driven A/C compressor that forced the engine to run continuously. It may just be old habit or training to keep that on. All it's effectively doing now is blowing MAX cold and draining your HV battery more quickly as it sits in the service bay.
LOL, this reminds me of the guy who bought his first automatic and took it back because the gearbox was faulty. He said it worked ok during daylight in "D" mode but wouldn't move at night when he put it in "N" mode. Also he almost ran into a car behind him when he put it in race mode "R" to blow of another car at the lights.
You're not slamming me at all. In the winter, I put the desired temperature at 70. I keep it that way in the summer, so that the system blows cold air when thecar is hot. but I turn the fan down as the car cools, and so the auto goes off. I don't find the auto system ideal, and could easily live without it. What am I being slammed for? It's the summer, isn't it? I never use "lo"because it makes me too cold in the summer, and not warm enough in the winter. I'm sure there is some fuel penalty from running the heater in the winter, but it seems to me to be pretty low compared to, say, the effect of the engine being colder due to reduced temperatures.
Automatic climate control is one luxury I am happily addicted to. If it costs me a bit of fuel economy I don't give a rat's nether region.
