2016 Fiesta ST AC and Cooling issues
Problem:[/SIZE]
1: In warm to hot weather (usually above 80F), the
AC will blow warm, stale-smelling air after a few minutes. It will cycle between lukewarm and cool air. Sometimes cycling the "A/C" button in the right dial helps. Sometimes it doesn't. Seems to be the exact same problem this Redditor complains about here (
https://goo.gl/eVVxMZ).
2: In warm to hot weather under spirited driving, the
coolant bar goes to "H" and either pulls power or goes into limp mode.
This has happened at two autocross events, multiple times on windy roads in NC and TN, once while overtaking someone on I-75 in TN while at altitude and going up a ~%5 grade, and once while trying to replicate the issue and recording CAN data with Torque Pro (
https://goo.gl/Jkrjiy, here it is mapped onto google maps. Notice near the intersection of Butler road and River Oaks Blvd, coolant temp reached 246F)
Did they resolve the problem?
Yes for the AC issue after my fourth visit to a dealer. No for the cooling one. From reading forums, this seems to only be a 2016 issue. Replacing the radiator has fixed it for some. And yes, I've had the cooling fan relay recall done.
Details of repairs / diagnostics:
Disclaimer: My home, school, and summer internship are in Houston, Atlanta, and SE Michigan respectively.
August 2017: Brought the car to Angela Crouse Ford in Alpharetta GA. They replaced the Engine Coolant Thermostat Housing BM5Z8592C and added flushed coolant, adding AntiFreeze. This did not fix it. They forgot to connect some line to the car when I picked it up the first time, so there was a leaking sound coming from the turbo when it activated. I had to bring it in again for them to fix this.
April 2018: Brought car to Planet ford in the The Woodlands, TX. They didn't seem to even attempt to try to fix it. No luck there.
June 2018: Brought car to Huntington Ford in Rochester Hills, MI. They said their tech noticed the AC issue a little bit but couldn't replicate the cooling issue, so they couldn't fix that. They replaced the AC compressor and that seems to have fixed the AC issue. They also replaced the driver's side middle air vent because it was loose.
Mileage:
13500-20200