tommboy Posted August 27, 2008 Share Posted August 27, 2008 does having your air conditioner on slow the car down by making it lose horsepower? What about the heat? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nKoan Posted August 27, 2008 Share Posted August 27, 2008 When you go into Open Loop (wide open throttle, or thereabouts), the compressor turns off and stops leeching horsepower. Otherwise, yes, it does leech a little bit of horsepower. And yeah, the turbo cars will lose horsepower due to heat. Not terrible, but it will lose some. For me, I get a noticeable boost in power in the winter months. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xihearthookersx Posted August 27, 2008 Share Posted August 27, 2008 Yes it does. The accessory pulley goes under more strain, which is ran off of the belts coming off of the crank pulley, that means that less power is actually getting to the wheels. The is a general statement, and it may be slightly different in some vehicles. But i believe the result is always the same. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
05GT Guru Posted August 27, 2008 Share Posted August 27, 2008 Yes it does, it also causes you to get slightly worse mpg. The colder the air goin into any car the better, not just turbo cars, but turbo cars do feel the affect of heatsoak alot more than n/a cars Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Legend Posted August 27, 2008 Share Posted August 27, 2008 When you go into Open Loop (wide open throttle, or thereabouts), the compressor turns off and stops leeching horsepower. Otherwise, yes, it does leech a little bit of horsepower. I agree - no power lost. At greater than 70% throttle, running the AC has no impact on power due to the compresser being shut off. At less than 70% throttle, the compressor does take some power to run. My '05 LGT My '07 Supercharged Shelby Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonKingKong Posted August 28, 2008 Share Posted August 28, 2008 Legacy GT's have decent low end power, enough to not really notice the power loss from the A/C compressor going while it's on, infact when you have the A/C on the compressor cycles in and out, so it's not always engaged only around half the time. In previous cars that I've had the A/C would kill the power, manly because they didn't have much to give up in the first place, and I needed to drive with the A/C shut off in order to drive agressively, but with the Legacy GT it's no problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrCloud Posted August 28, 2008 Share Posted August 28, 2008 Gee, two threads on the same topic, with various points of confusion. Engine intake temperatures (which some people here interpreted the "heat" question to refer to) do affect performance. Running the car's heater really doesn't in any significant way (and, as noted in the other thread may actually improve it sometimes). The air conditioning pump (the compressor) does indeed take power to run, so when it's running there's less power to the wheels. This is most evident in NA cars. However, it's generally the case that your mpg will be better with the AC running than with the windows open, due to the aerodynamics. HPH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonKingKong Posted August 29, 2008 Share Posted August 29, 2008 Gee, two threads on the same topic, with various points of confusion. Funny you said that, I checked the other post thinking it was the one I posted on and my reply wasn't there so I had to think hard if I actually posted it, lol. Funny how both threads have the same exact name as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knight705 Posted August 29, 2008 Share Posted August 29, 2008 However, it's generally the case that your mpg will be better with the AC running than with the windows open, due to the aerodynamics. when going faster than 45 mph fixed it for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Capacity Posted September 1, 2008 Share Posted September 1, 2008 Yes, as said above, anything that runs off the crankshaft takes away HP IMO the change in MPG and HP with A/C are so minor it's not worth talking about. Now if you leave your HVAC in auto and drive with the windows open, now that's just stupid. Drove to VT yesterday morning windows up, no A/C got almost 27mpg. Drove home with the windows open, total mpg ended up at 27.9 on the dash computer. Yea I know it lie's. If I fill up in VT and drive home I've gotten over 28mpg last ski season. I only use the A/C when I have to and hate the auto setting. Seems I can get 26-27mpg with the A/C on also on the VT loop, it's about 300 miles. Trying to remember... I know I have slowed my speed down the past year or so, cruise control at 65-68 makes a big difference. I think that's a bigger factor the having the A/C on/off. It's only 10mph slower but I gain 2-3 mpg. 305,600miles 5/2012 ej257 short block, 8/2011 installed VF52 turbo, @20.8psi, 280whp, 300ftlbs. (SOLD). CHECK your oil, these cars use it. Engine Build - Click Here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FireB Posted September 1, 2008 Share Posted September 1, 2008 If you are concerned about the mpg, better to leave your windows shut with A/C ON. So says Mercedes..... Less Drag with the wind and I think LGT has enough Low End Torque to not even notice that much difference. I do feel that the RPM drops faster but that's something you can get use to. As people have stated, If you are doing WOT, the compressor should turn off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tommboy Posted September 3, 2008 Author Share Posted September 3, 2008 So are we all on agreement that when your foot is to the floor (racing someone) my car will be just as fast with the A/C on as it is off? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Legend Posted September 3, 2008 Share Posted September 3, 2008 So are we all on agreement that when your foot is to the floor (racing someone) my car will be just as fast with the A/C on as it is off? Yes. My '05 LGT My '07 Supercharged Shelby Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FPerron Posted April 2, 2009 Share Posted April 2, 2009 But if you remove the air conditioner, the car will be lighter and will accelerate faster:lol: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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