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In the morning rush hour, when you start your car for the first time, do you give the engine enough time to heat up & then switch on the AC ? This is one thing most of us fail to do. So let us see which is the majority here. I am giving 4 options here. A.C is switched on after

1. Immediately after start
2. 1-2 Mins after start
3. 4-5 Mins after start or
4. 10 or more Mins after start.

I know, for some of us the whole drive wont be for more than 10 mins. And some of you are living in cold places where you dont need to switch on at all.

Which of these is the best to follow ? experts can pour in with their opinions please.

cheers

delhi is too hotlol: . so i start the car, unlock the parking gate, open it & when i sit back, i turn on the A/C with blower on full blast with the back windows open. keep it like that for 1-2 minutes & then reduce the blower to 1-2 as per requirement & close the windows.

one should always open the rear windows to allow the heated air of the cabin to dissipate resulting in faster & efficient cooling.

I read it in the manual (Honda City). Keep the rear windows open and switch on the Blower to the max for around 1 minute. Resulting in pushing the heat air out. Then close the rear windows and switch on the A/C.

Since that all cars have two modes of intake air settings.
1. Intake the air from outside (will take couple of seconds to cool)
2. Circulate the inner air. (this results in faster cooling)

@esteem_lover: No matter how enthusiastic u're about cars, when u live in a place like chennai, u just switch on the AC as soon as the ignition is turned on.
All the blah-blah about engine condition,AC condition isn't much cared for.
Moreover, Synthetic oil always helps keep the engine from wear&tear! ;)

Hi,

Unfortunately the four choices do not contain my way.

The AC is permanently on. The car is started with the AC on.

Still Oil does need a few cycles to circulate after an overnight rest.
I'd say 15-30 secs should be enough. After all in hot weather the car is not really that cold!

very true, especially in the mornings, when you are in a hurry to get started & going, i sweat a lot & if the AC isn't running when iam inside the car, i would drown in my own sweat. LOL :)

Well there are 2 reasons why I guess you shoudl give it a good gap irrespective of outside temperature, only during a cold start. When I say cold start, I am refering to the start that has to be done, when the car is left overnight in the garage!!! and not when left in the place like outside your office or bank or any other place!!!

There are 2 good reasons for giving a 5 mins gap. ONe the main one being that the engine needs to be kept warm before it is sapped off power because of the AC. This will ensure that the baby is really hot to handle additional load :)

The second reason being that its a good idea to open your windows and let off all the stale air thats inside the car by opening the windows for a while or two and thus also warming the car on the run!! Then start the blower with outside air to come in, start the AC and let this run for around 20 - 30 seconds and the finally close the outside air vent!! This will keep good the AC and the car.

Exceptions, when you are driving through dust, dont make the mistake of opening the window or runnign blower with outside air in!! Well this is my view and method, it need not be the best. Your comments!!

Okay this question is a little bit out of context, But does the blower speed has anything to do with your cars F.E?

Not at all. Doesn't matter how you keep the blower speed.

It sure does. Higher the blower speed, higher the load on the engine and lower the FE. However, I am not sure whether there are any exact figures as to by how much the FE goes down.

I normally wait like 10-20 secs before I switch ON the A/C. Have this problem with rolling the windows down that makes me feel "Exposed" and vulnerable some how...

Not such a nice thing to do buddy..atleast turn off the AC while startin the car....

It really depend upon the weather. In case weather is really hot and I am in a hurry, I switch on the AC as soon as I start the car... though I do roll down the windows for some time. In case the weather is pleasent, I start the car for a minute and then switch on the AC... Thus voted for the first option.

I roll down all the windows, drive for 30-60 secs, then swich on the AC, keep driving for another 30-60 secs, then roll up the windows.

I like the idea of ventilating my car once a day naturally this way.