So recently my AC started being inconsistent and I figured I needed to put some refrigerant in, but yesterday I noticed that my engine also gets extremely hot at the same time as the AC. Basically what happens is this:
- Start car, AC runs cold and engine is fine
- ~2 minutes after starting engine, AC starts to blow just normal air (not cold) and engine temp meter spikes to maximum
- ~1 minute of maximum temperature, before the meter starts to fall
- ~5 minutes of meter slowly reducing to normal temperature, and when it rests at about the midpoint, the AC blows cold again
- Rest of the drive, regardless of distance, is normal (cold AC/engine)
My commute is about 40 minutes so I've observed this happen this exact way 3 different times now.
Other answers say I need to get a new thermostat, so I'm leaning towards that now, but their issues seem a little different from mine. For reference, I haven't added refrigerant to my AC in over 2 years, and I topped off my engine coolant about 3 months ago. My car is a 2003 Pontiac Vibe. What could be happening here?
Edit:
So I went out and checked and the fans are running fine and properly. I just added more radiator fluid though, think it'll help? It might be possible I didn't add enough before, but it doesn't explain why I could take an hour and a half long trip the other day and have a cool engine/AC the whole time (except the beginning).