I have a 2005 Mazda Tribute.
Every summer for the past 3 yrs. I have taken the kids to the beach which is a 3 hr. drive, there and back. I noticed about 2 yrs. ago that the a/c drips (slow drip) because it drips on my foot that is on the gas pedal.
I take it to the dealership and I explain that it only happens when I drive for a few hrs. It doesn’t drip when I take short drives around town. They said they found the problem and fixed it.
Well last yr. we took our trip again and the a/c leaked again. I took the car back to the dealership to get it fixed again and I told them I had already brought it to them to fix last year and it wasn’t fixed. This time they tell me the hose isn’t draining right so the fix it. I tell them that the car is about to be out of warranty and if it does it again, will they fix it? They say yes as long as the car isn’t like 10,000 miles out of warranty.
I end up taking an unexpected trip and again the a/c leaks!! I take it back to the dealer and they “fix it”.
Well my car has 74,000 miles on it and we take our trip and again the a/c leaks and I think now it is affecting the engine. I’d have the a/c running and when I would stop at a traffic light and step on the gas to go the car would go extremely slow and I would have the gas pedal pressed to the floor. After a few seconds it would finally “kick in” and go. Now there is a “rattling” sound I hear when I roll down the windows.
I think the dealership should fix the a/c problem for free because they never fixed it right in the first place.
what do you all think is wrong and do you think the dealership should fix it?? Plese Help!!!
The leak and any engine issues are two different things.
Most of the time the "leak" is a blocked drain. Your description supports that one. It is common and easy to fix, although it may come back. If you like most people can even fix it themselves.
The engine problem could be several other things. Most cars have some sort of device to increase the engine idle speed a little when the A/C kicks in. My guess that is not functioning on your car. Assuming the car is under warranty, that should be covered.
It sounds like you might need to find out more about your states lemon law. That law protects you in the event that something covered under the warranty is reported before the warranty ends and the dealer was not able to fix it during the warranty. In this case I suspect that the "leak" will not be covered because it may well have been fixed and the problem re-occur. Sort of like having a nail in your tyre fixed and having another one a week later.
Check out the following:
Maybe my experience will help. Some years ago my parents had a 1967 Lincoln Mercury station wagon with air conditioning. A similar dripping problem developed with it that you are experiencing. However, there was one difference. It only dripped on the driver’s foot when making a right turn, and it dripped on the passenger’s foot when making a left turn. Obviously, gravity had something to do with it. This really intrigued me to the point where I went into troubleshooting mode, so under the dashboard I went. That was a land yacht of a car and had lots of room beneath the dashboard. It didn?t take long to find the source of the water, for it was in some type of an open-topped holding reservoir mounted just above the transmission hump. This didn?t make much sense to me at first. Upon closer inspection, it turns out the reservoir held the water that had been dehumidified by the air conditioner. The reservoir was filled to capacity such that whenever a turn was made, the water overtopped it and spilled onto the floorboard beneath. It seemed there had to be a reservoir drainage hole and connecting tube somewhere. More probing and I found them. The drainage tube led through the floorboard and under the car. So why wasn?t it draining like it should? It seemed like the tube was clogged. I found a piece of bailing wire and under the car I went. I fished the end of the wire up into the end of the tube. It went in a few inches, and suddenly there was a flood of water rushing out of it. The clog was cleared, and that solved the problem once and for all.
I hope this is somehow helpful for you.