My AC went out and I took it to the dealership. They told me a rock hit the condenser and the freon leaked out. He said warranty will not cover it. I have driven around 750k miles or so in various vehicles and this has never happened to me. Is this a bad design, or has this happened to anyone else? This is my first new car, and my first Subaru. I have the Touring, Crimson red, (almost 4k miles on it)
Ascent AC Issue
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SOA is awesome like that.
But sounds like just bad luck. I've never heard of that happening.
Count me as #2 with this problem. We took delivery last October in the northeast so we haven't used the AC until this past weekend, it was blowing basically warm air. I took it to the dealer yesterday and they told me they can see it leaked but had to get special equipment to locate where the leak was. I took an Outback as a loaner, they had no Ascents to loan.
We received a call from the dealer stating that there is a factory problem with my evaporator coil and that there are no evaporator coils available in the US. One will be arriving on June 5th and then the car would be ready the week of June 10th assuming all of the timelines are met.
I just put a call into SOA regarding this issue and they are going to get back to me. This is the second time my Ascent was in the shop for a long time due to parts not being available, previously it was a rear seat that did not function.
Is there an issue at the factory with the evaporator coil and the rock claim was simply them kicking the bucket?
Ours is a Limited trim.
We received a call from the dealer stating that there is a factory problem with my evaporator coil and that there are no evaporator coils available in the US. One will be arriving on June 5th and then the car would be ready the week of June 10th assuming all of the timelines are met.
I just put a call into SOA regarding this issue and they are going to get back to me. This is the second time my Ascent was in the shop for a long time due to parts not being available, previously it was a rear seat that did not function.
Is there an issue at the factory with the evaporator coil and the rock claim was simply them kicking the bucket?
Ours is a Limited trim.
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I also received mine in October and have only noticed recently that the AC isn't working right.
it's only moderately warm (23C) and a half hour highway drive with the AC on LO still doesn't get 'cold' just a bit cool
Yep, sounds like my problem. I assume 23C was pretty close to the outdoor temp? I measured mine with a Thermapen and then tested one on the lot at the dealer. I suspect we will see more of us soon.
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I picked up my Ascent in March and also had this same issue with my Touring. The dealership had mine for a week before finally fixing it. AC is really cold now. I hope yours gets fixed ASAP.
Do you know what they ended up replacing to repair yours?
hahaha what a bunch of bull....
Gotta love dealer services sometime. So a rock small enough to go through your grille hit the condenser so hard that all your freon leaked?????
If this TRULY happened then you're either very unlucky or this is just simply bad grille design. Let's not forget that these are Subarus and they will be going offroad from time to time.
Ask them to show you the condenser. If this truly happened we better find some grille inserts cause this is a BAD design.
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46 Posts
It can and does happen. Type "ac condenser hit by rock" into Google and you'll find plenty of evidence. I've never had it happen to any of my vehicles personally, but know a few people who have. You can install a metal mesh over the grill to add an extra layer of protection. Really depends on whether you're feeling unlucky enough to make it worth the cost and effort.
Regarding going offroad, unless rally driving, I wouldn't expect speeds to be high enough for a rock impact to puncture the condenser.
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149 Posts
My AC issues wasn’t as bad, but I had a damaged vent on the inside of the dashboard that obstructed the airflow to the passenger side vents!
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Purchased my 2019 Limited Ascent in March from the dealer. Enjoyed driving it 1100 miles during March & April. However during the whole month of May, my Ascent was not in use it was just sitting in my Orlando garage as I was away on travel. When I return the very first day that I used the Ascent the air conditioning was not cooling it was only blowing hot air. I took it to the dealer and they told me that the a/c measured 90% charged but it was not cooling. They did a dye test but could not find any leaks. They charged the a/c to 100% and the a/c began cooling again. I have been using the vehicle for a few days and the a/c is working fine again. Has anyone had a similar issue with their a/c and may know what the problem was?
I just took my 2019 Premium (with about 2500 miles on it) in because the A/C stopped cooling. The service advisor said it was about 2 lbs low on refrigerant. He said they put dye in but did not find any leaks. He also said they have had several Ascents come in with the same issue, and that none have come back after being recharged (so far).
My 2019 Ascent AC stopped working in June- I was told it was an issue from the factory and after being re-charged it would be good to go. Lasted less then a month and I am waiting another week to get in for service as the A/C stopped working. For about 2.5 weeks it was as cold as I would expect it to be but slowly decreased until this weekend stopped cooling all together. Hopefully yours was truly fixed.
Can you share this information? I bought my Ascent a few months ago- have had multiple issues and my salesperson dealership- isn't being helpful. I will be taking it in for another A/C repair at another dealer- the one in June only lasted about 2 weeks before it quit again.
Just had my 9 mo old Ascent in to fix the AC which burst the expansion valve (steam, hissing when it happened) - stripped thread from factory according to dealership.
However on pickup the AC was not really working and now only works intermittently/weakly.
Just picked up my car due to AC issues.
So here's the deal: Suburu is aware of the leak from AC front pipe and they did issue a service bulletin about this issue. There is a defective switch on the line that allows the refrigerant to leak. They had to replace the pipe, Part # 73431XC00A, o-rings and charged system to specs. I had only .11kgs and specs require .85kgs of refrigerant for AC to work well.
In other words, you can't just get the AC recharged. There is a faulty switch that just lets the refrigerant drain. You need to get the pipe replaced. I'm surprised the dealer doesn't know that as it is in Suburu's service bulletin of known issues.
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Had to take my 2019 Ascent Limited in for a second time in 5 months, 2300 miles due to the ac blowing hot air. Agree with Koufuku above, today they replace the evaporation cooling pipe 73431XC00A. Hoping this really takes care of the ac problem.
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