I Just recently purchased a 2005 xA, and I've put about 3,200 miles on it. (Boy do I love it!) anyway, here's the problem:

When I got the car, the air conditioning worked perfectly (granted I had upgraded from a bare-bones '87 Toyota pickup, and didn't even HAVE air conditioning, let alone windows that rolled up)
All of a sudden I realize that by the 3000 mile mark my air conditioning wasn't working at all; in fact it was spitting out warm air. So I take it to a local Toyota dealership and have them look at it.
They said a rock punctured the condenser and all the Freon leaked out, it's not under warranty and it will cost me and/or my insurance company a good 900 bucks to fix it.

What I'm asking here, is have other people had the same problem, and is this possibly a design flaw in my beloved xA? Because really, what are the chances of me hitting a tiny rock the right way
to puncture my condenser at JUST 3000 miles? Seems a little sketchy. Perhaps I should buy a lottery ticket with those odds.

____

 

i have seen it happen before, not with an xA though. I think its just one of those freak things, like having a rock hit and crack your windshield.

 

Unless you were doing some serious off roading with your xA, that should have been under warranty. Try calling Scion customer service to see what they have to say about it.

The only issues known with the AC was for the 04 models where the piping wasn't insulated in the engine. That issue has been fixed in 05 models.

There was also one known case where the AC leaked. The passenger side carpet was wet with some substance (forgot what it was) try doing a search in the xA section for it.

 

Hmm thanks, and no, no off roading for me...yet!

They said it was considered 'road damage.' What tipped me off was when one of the guys at the dealership called me and said it wasn't "uncommon." As far as I'm concerned, it seems weird to me.

 

Did you look at the puncture? Does it look like a rock hit it? Or do you just believe whatever the shop tells you?

 

That's why i was askin' here if other people had that problem, cuz they didn't bother to tell me until after they finished looking at it and putting it back together, it was at a dealership so they dont let their customers in near the lifts, which ____ed me off...so i'm taking it to a real mechanic soon, but yeah, it seems kinda sketchy.

 

that is weird I would investigate further

 

further update!

got the official quote from Geico- a little over 900 (eep) but they are deffinately going to cover it AND the part (condenser) is going to be warrantied by Geico for as long as i have the car. (I think...have to double check on that one) So if it does turn out to be a design flaw, the only thing i'll have to invest in is time reading a book while the auto shop fixes it again...and again...and again...

 

my 05's piping isn't insulated , maybe that's why my ac's performance is only mediocre.

 

So my AC is all fixed, got a new condenser and i asked the mechanic to save me the old one and show me the damage...Turns out it was a tiny little ding in the very tiny piping in the condenser. Sucks that such a tiny little whole (less than 2mm wide) is unrepareable. So now i'm thinking, hey, maybe i need a new lower grill to filter out other possible pebbles from dingin' up my xA's insides. Does anyone know of any after market grills that don't reduce air flow too much, but offer better protection than the stock grille?

 

heres a great idea that i plan on doing in the future



Take off the bumper, Drill small holes, get some zip ties put the gutter guard where u want it to protect, zip up zip ties, put bumper back on

heres a pic of it done on a element





also looks kinda sweet

 

mine works but not all that great works even better when its cloudy (way over casted or when its raining) at idle its doesn't cool that well (its on max-a/c full blast by the way) and the windows open to blow out the hot air crusing on the highway at 3-4k rpm's its nice and cold but when i'm steping on it, it lags again and that i need to get my windows tinted which will help alot also

 

Mine will cool enuff to run you out...eventually....On a hot day, it plain blows HOT air for a few blocks..

'05, Phantom Gray, windows tinted....

 

I haven't had a problem with my xA, but I did have a rock puncture the condenser on an older Porsche 944 and Honda Civic. I've been driving for 30+ years so I wrote it off to bad luck. I do think the xA compressor is better located than other cars.

Too bad. Try taking it to a reputable AC repair shop instead of Toyota, it should be muck cheaper.

 

For those who note that the Scion AC doesn't work well until the car is moving-- bear in mind that these cars have 108 hp engines, significantly below the 130-ish hp that is standard on most cars in this class. I have a Ford Aspire wiht a whopping 63 hp, and until I get it moving, I may just as well roll down the windows, even when it's 110 F outside.

 

Yeah...like you said,you have a Ford...end of discussion.

Our litlle 1.5 DOHC VVT-i's have some hidden power in them....they ain't your fathers 1.5

 

Actually, it's made by Kia, but whatever. Hidden power? Where do you hide power in a 108 hp engine? 108 is way behind the competition, so talking about "hidden power" is just so much hot air.

 

I don't care what the name of the company is....Kia is owned by ford and is made under Fords specifications,ie: cheaper components/labor(they are more reliable though...I'll give you that one...my old Festiva was made by kia in Canada no less). I own a 1992 Eagle Summit(Mitsubishi engine) made by chrysler,I'm just saying if that the 1.5 sohc 12 valve in my Eagle can put out 92 hp then a quality Toyota dohc 16 valve is surely capable of more than 108.

 

I have the same problem with the condenser, as I'm saying all over the msg boards. I agree that it's a design flaw and I'd love to hear if anyone has succeeded in getting Toyota to fix it under warranty. My mechanic suggested putting a mesh screen behind the grill to keep it from happening again.