while up in tallahasee, the family decided to go out to eat. We left in the middle of rush hour, and were driving in stop and go traffic for around 40-45 minutes, with the a/c blasting and the car never going faster than about 15, and that was only for short spurts at a time. The ambient temp was about 90F. As we went on, the temp guage slowly climbed to around 100C, and stayed there. I noticed in traffic down here when i'm stopped at a light it's not unusual for the temp to go to about 90, and once i'm moving it drops right back to about 82 or so. Is this normal or do i have a potential problem? This is with the a/c on, without the a/c on it will sit and idle for years in a dessert without going much higher than 85-90C. Radiator was replaced about 9 months ago, as were the hoses. While driving on interstate etc, the temp is between 80-82 reguardless of load, a/c or not, and speed. thanks in advance
Ryan

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83 300SD.......sold
96 integra SE....sold
99 a4 quattro....sold
2001 IS300.......sold
2002 330i.........current.
2004 highlander limited....current.

i know it was running, but i dont think it was running at high. My aux fan is kind of a suspect at this point frankly. It makes alot of noise, e.g. clunks, rattles, squeaks etc, but i just can't justify spending 200 dollars on a motor with blades attached. I've even thought a couple times of rigging up one of those aftermarket ones that have two fans on them, i found one that would fit for about 60 bucks once. It was two fans in one casing!
Ryan

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83 300SD.......sold
96 integra SE....sold
99 a4 quattro....sold
2001 IS300.......sold
2002 330i.........current.
2004 highlander limited....current.

This sounds normal. My AC is broken but when the car is sitting in bumper to bumper traffic in high temos, it gets hot. In my case I can just turn the aux fan on high by tuning the defrost on nad this helps.

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W126 1983 300SD 286,000 miles and ticking
Baby blue exterior Grey MB tex
Recent work:
Replaced air cleaner mounting brackets and heat shields
Replaced alternator, fan and power steering belts
Replaced positive battery terminal
Replaced negative battery terminal and cord
New Duralast Battery

My car needs work.

Oh yea, my AC absolutey SUCKS at idle, i know it's because there isn't any airflow over the condensor, but it really, REALLY sucks, nothing like a new car AT ALL. what can i do about this? thanks
Ryan

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83 300SD.......sold
96 integra SE....sold
99 a4 quattro....sold
2001 IS300.......sold
2002 330i.........current.
2004 highlander limited....current.

Poor ac at idle is not only due too minimal air flow through the condenser, it is also because you are not cranking the compressor at highway speed RPMs. Check to see if auxilary fan is working ok...this should go on as freon temps increase at idle. You also may be a little low on freon.

The overall problem with the AC on these cars is the small evaporator. Even when the system is working optimally, you have marginal cooling/moisture removal capacity simply because the evaporator is relatively small. Just not like the american cars of old that would blow ice within seconds of starting.

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1984 300TD Wagon, 407,800 mi (current daily driver)
1985 300DT Sedan, 330,000 mi (gone to that great autobahn in the sky)