Hi everyone, new to the forum.
I'll start by saying that I am not handy. I just learned how to change my oil, I can replace headlights, engine/cabin filters, add coolant etc. and that's it. I have no understanding of the works of a car beyond that.
I have a 2016 CX5 with 94k that I have owned since 2018 and I love it dearly. It's had 0 issues and has been a wonderful vehicle.
I have always noticed that the amount of forced air for the conditioning of the vehicle seems less (as in, the stages from little to a lot of air don't seem to work well) but it has always gotten hot or cold when I needed it. I had begin to notice that it struggles to get cold quickly, takes 1-2 minutes of driving before you get super cold AC.
I bought a recharging kit w/ leak protection (if that even actually works) and used the gauge to see how much coolant it had. It was on the low end of "normal". I decided to add coolant and used basically the whole can - but the gauge never really seemed to jump much (which was weird). This was 1 week ago.
Yesterday I was driving it in town and the AC would go from bone-chilling cold to middle of winter hot and then back again. It would ping pong between the two the entire time I was driving. It did the same thing again this morning when I drove to work.
I recently drove a van that had the radiator fail and I experienced a similar phenomenon with the AC, but the Mazda's engine temperature light has never triggered to make me thing the engine was overheating.
Does anyone have any type of clue as to what is going on with my vehicle?
I'll start by saying that I am not handy. I just learned how to change my oil, I can replace headlights, engine/cabin filters, add coolant etc. and that's it. I have no understanding of the works of a car beyond that.
I have a 2016 CX5 with 94k that I have owned since 2018 and I love it dearly. It's had 0 issues and has been a wonderful vehicle.
I have always noticed that the amount of forced air for the conditioning of the vehicle seems less (as in, the stages from little to a lot of air don't seem to work well) but it has always gotten hot or cold when I needed it. I had begin to notice that it struggles to get cold quickly, takes 1-2 minutes of driving before you get super cold AC.
I bought a recharging kit w/ leak protection (if that even actually works) and used the gauge to see how much coolant it had. It was on the low end of "normal". I decided to add coolant and used basically the whole can - but the gauge never really seemed to jump much (which was weird). This was 1 week ago.
Yesterday I was driving it in town and the AC would go from bone-chilling cold to middle of winter hot and then back again. It would ping pong between the two the entire time I was driving. It did the same thing again this morning when I drove to work.
I recently drove a van that had the radiator fail and I experienced a similar phenomenon with the AC, but the Mazda's engine temperature light has never triggered to make me thing the engine was overheating.
Does anyone have any type of clue as to what is going on with my vehicle?
That *may* be the best way to handle an AC charge issue if you've got fat stacks of cash laying around to pay hundreds to get that accomplished. But a can or two of refrigerant less than $10 at Walmart *can* also keep you cool for a summer if the budget is tight and your car is old. Been there, done that. So I disagree with *always* .