Focus Fanatics Forum banner

2012 a/c problem

209K views 340 replies 135 participants last post by  CTdb81 
#1 ·
Has any one had issues with their 2012 Focus in stop and go traffic with the a/c stops blowing cold air?When my Wife first got the car a/c would not work took it back and they said a fuse had dislodged and reinserted it no problems after that until this problem and of coarse Ford can not locate this issue has to become more of problem for them to locate this issue.
 
#128 ·
2012 Ford Focus SEL with the dual zone automatic climate control set to single zone at 62 F with varying fan settings and an ambient temperature of around 80 on Thursday afternoon/ evening led to vent temps somewhere in the mid-high 30s-50s depending on the distance from the vent using an ir thermometer, although it might be reading slightly low when pointed at the left of center register. It might have helped slightly to close the right center vent with only one occupant, but once it had reached peak cooling when not set to the minimum temperature setting of lo-lo it was seemingly pulling down the ambient temperature down by closer to 30-40 degrees in the core of the vent, and directly at the vent it felt very nearly ice cold. I guess that means I don't have an issue with it yet, apart from needing to remember to turn off the A/C in order to keep from allowing the possibility of a moldy/ musty smell.
I suppose ozium or lysol could help, but are really not the ideal solution, as I would prefer not to constantly resort to spraying chemicals into the ducts or the plenum.

Car finally passed the 1000 mile mark yesterday with 106x miles on it at the moment iirc.

Idk how much I trust the i.r. thermometer, as it claims to have a distance to spot of 1:1, but depending on if it was being directly hit with the cold air or measuring off the duct or vanes it was changing from around 33-50ish at the vent, but the higher temperatures were usually noted from the plastic vanes themselves iirc.

Probably best not to try to take real time measurements while driving without a fluke digital thermometer and thermocouple probes for greater accuracy as well as a passenger to monitor the data.
 
#129 ·
Great info. If using probes and such, make sure they are tested accurate. A glass of ice water and a mug of boiling water out of the microwave will establish 0 and 100C accuracy. It should be linear between those points.

My craftsman digital voltmeter has a temp probe and it really sucks. The meritline doohickie blows it away for accuracy.
 
#130 ·
I have one of these:

http://www.amazon.com/Actron-CP7875...ometer/dp/B000FJR0SG/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

I'd bought it on an impulse in the grocery store 3-4 years ago to have an automotive i.r. thermometer for around $20 usd, but it may or may not be off 3-4 degrees F depending on the accuracy of the device, since its rated to read from -27º to 428º F or -33º to 220º C.

It seems reasonably accurate though given the fact that at its coldest the air coming from the vents does feel to be significantly cooler than the 50-60 degree vent temperatures others were reporting.
 
#131 ·
suss, thanks for the very thorough reading of your car's A/C. much appreciated.

I've also noticed my external temperature reading in my car has been of by at least 8º (over) since my flash 12-5-5. Or are they always not accurate in general?
 
#132 ·
I don't know with absolute certainty, but the temperature probe on mine is on the passenger side mirror. It seems reasonably accurate, apart from there being a glitch in the software at certain temperatures under which the instrument panel display and the center stack are each 1 degree apart. I wonder if that has to be due to how its converting the temperature input from voltage into degrees Celsius to degrees Fahrenheit. Of course if its been sitting still for a while it can read a bit higher than expected due to the heat being reflected off of the pavement.
 
#134 ·
Me, too!

I'm having problems with my AC as well. It started a couple weeks ago on a Sunday- when the dealership was closed. It went from blowing nice and cold to muggy and hot. This went on for about 45 minutes or so. It then worked perfect. I hoped it was just a fluke. Not so. It did it again this past Saturday. I promptly drove to the service department. They have had my car since. The temperature the day I brought it in was 94 degrees. Monday it was rainy and cooler and the AC worked fine. It was blowing out at 31 degrees. They ran the diagnostics and nothing came back as being wrong. They have no clue why this is occurring. The service advisor called today to let me know he finally got it to blow hot air while it was on max cold. He said they will be checking it again today. Keeping my fingers crossed hoping they find out what the problem is.
 
#135 ·
Jealous yours will get into the 30's! It was 77 out and the internal duct temp was 44 degrees for me. So about 50 something outside the vent. Service Dept says that's within their specifications and to go screw myself. ha!
Hope it's something simple and you get yoru FoFo back asap.
 
#137 ·
I kind of can't believe I am posting here today. I picked up a 2012 Focus Hatch Ti today to replace my wifes Mini. The car is great except the A/C is blowing hot air and it's 105F outside. We picked up the car at 5pm, did the dealer demo for ~40 min outside with the car running... took it home (20 min, highway), no A/C whatsoever. It's been in the garage 3 hours, still no A/C. Very, very deflating to have had to convince my wife to go with a Ford then have it act up on day one. If there was a grace period I'd give the thing back tomorrow.
 
#138 ·
Picus, have the dealer double-check that the condensor is actually coming on. Mine didn't and they re-flashed. Now it indeed does. Unfortunately the air still isn't as cold as i'd like it to be. Heck, it's not even cold....Just cool. 95ºF here, and the car/cabin is about 77º with the A/C blasting. Dealership says the duct temp is within regs, and basically told me to sit on it.
 
#141 ·
AC at full blast still not cold enough

Hi All!

I see there have been a few similar problems I have with my AC in my 2012 Focus SEL. I live in NJ and it has been hot lately but, the AC has been a huge disappointment. My wife drives a 2012 Edge and hers works like a charm. I realize there will be a difference between the two but, I'd say hers at the lowest fan speed would put mine to shame at full blast. I have to turn it to 60 degrees and i still sweat my behind off. I see that it could be a problem with the dampers or the freon. My question is if you have had a similar problem, was the problem solved and what was diagnosed? I'm bringing it in Saturday morning and I just hope they don't turn me away with no answers. 2,000 miles on the car and the AC is downright pathetic. Thanks all!
 
#142 ·
I got mine out of the shop today, it was OVERCHARGED! It seems to be ok at best. I would think a new car should make it uncomfortably cold, but it just cools well.
 
#145 ·
A/c comes on when I start vehicle

I just bought a brand new titanium hatch for some reason just recently when I start the car it always turns the air on even though I turn it off before I turn the car off. It never did this before I would turn of the car and come back and turn the car on and te a/c would be just how I left it off. Now for some reason it's turning on by itself. Does anyone know what I maybe doing wrong.
 
#146 ·
I just bought a brand new titanium hatch for some reason just recently when I start the car it always turns the air on even though I turn it off before I turn the car off. It never did this before I would turn of the car and come back and turn the car on and te a/c would be just how I left it off. Now for some reason it's turning on by itself. Does anyone know what I maybe doing wrong.
Do you use the AC set to Auto ? Turn it off after you disable the Auto mode and see what happens at restart.
 
#150 ·
Forgive me for not reading all 13 pages of the thread...

Anyway, I noticed a very repeatable thing on our long road trip a couple weeks ago. Set to 72, the system blows cold, noticeably chilled (and de-humidified, i.e. compressor is on) air... yet when I raise it to 73, the air is noticeably warmer and more humid. Have any of you seen the same behavior?

Obviously there are going to be some cutoffs built into the system, but it seems kind of off to me to be able to feel such a marked difference from a one-degree temperature change.

I've got a Ti with a full Auto system. Outdoor temperatures during the trip were in the 90-100 degree F range.
 
#151 ·
I have these same problems in my 2012 SE. When I go to the dealer for my TSBs I'm going to have them look at it. The humid air that comes out when A/C is on (and recycle air) feels and smells nasty.
 
#153 ·
as has been said before, your a/c compresor has a clutch pack built into it to prevent over-pressure of the a/c lines. It disengages at fairly low RPM's to prolong its life. Seems to be at about 3500 RPM's...
 
#155 ·
AC problems

My AC blows pretty cold most of the time, but my problem is that after running it for about 15 minutes, the car starts to vibrate heavily when idling at a stop.

I have a MT Focus SE, with 40k miles on. It just started doing this about 5k miles ago.

Took it to the dealer and they couldn't figure out what the reason was either, no codes and no good reason why it does it sometimes and not all the time. Charged me $150 to diagnose for nothing.. really sucks.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top