Fbodfather/ Anyone who's driven the new Camaro... question? (just curious)

[scotchsride09]

Has anyone who's driven the new Camaro turned on the A/C or heater yet?

And--

If so, when it's on; how does it affect performance? Any noticeable drop in power, or no effect at all?

I ask because although I love my truck, the only thing I really dislike about it is the A/C compressor. It's on practically all the time if I have air blowing in my truck for any reason. Which wouldn't be so bad except it robs me of power; and gas. If I turn on any air in my truck it goes from being a quick, nimble beast to captaining a yacht. I'm just curious if a noticeable power loss will affect the new Camaro or if anyone has even investigated this yet; or if the A/C compressor will do a better job of being in the background in the Camaro than it does in my beloved truck.

Thanks in advance; kind of a strange question but something I was wondering about...

[Chewy]

u might be able to find a replacement pulley set that will help that problem

[headpunter]

it is a s/c truck and it doesnt have enough power to cope with the Ac compressor?

[scotchsride09]

Somehow I knew this thread would end up being about my truck instead of the Camaro...

Sorry if this is repetitive schooling for some of you, but basically, the A/C compressor, when it turns on in all cars; doesn't just come on when the A/C is on. It also comes on if you set the air to defrost; or turn on the heat, because it's used to dry out the air before it sends it to the cabin. The compressor is usually pulley-driven off the crankshaft like just about everything else under the hood. Therefore, when the A/C compressor pulley is engaged, it takes power the engine could be using to drive other things (including my supercharger) and bogs down the engine a little. Now, I exaggerate when I say it's like captaining a yacht but suffice to say that it's still a noticeable; albeit minor difference, which to a driving enthusiast with a 210-hp truck, required exaggeration. (Note: Just because it's supercharged doesn't mean it's Omniscient.)

Now; away from diagnosing my truck: I am in fact aware that this situation is probably not normal (I did already replace the compressor and pulley earlier this year), but I have since noticed A/C compressor bog-down in other vehicles too, including GM vehicles. I just wanted to know if anyone who has actually driven the Camaro has turned on the air and noticed a difference; not sure if it would make a difference with an engine so much more powerful than my current but I am curious about it.

(Second note: For the record, my truck has more tq than hp [231 vs 210] so it has plenty of power; it just loses enough of it that I notice when the durn compressor comes on.)

I know there's a power loss, however minute, with any pull from the engine, so I'm not expecting there to be no drop. I guess my question is more of whether it's significant enough to notice or not.

Although, now that I expect it I'm probably more likely to notice it than other people... in fact; I bet some of you who read this thread will start noticing it now, teehee!

Thanks for your replies though!

[The_Stache]

Originally Posted by scotchsride09

Somehow I knew this thread would end up being about my truck instead of the Camaro...

Sorry if this is repetitive schooling for some of you, but basically, the A/C compressor, when it turns on in all cars; doesn't just come on when the A/C is on. It also comes on if you set the air to defrost; or turn on the heat, because it's used to dry out the air before it sends it to the cabin. The compressor is usually pulley-driven off the crankshaft like just about everything else under the hood. Therefore, when the A/C compressor pulley is engaged, it takes power the engine could be using to drive other things (including my supercharger) and bogs down the engine a little. Now, I exaggerate when I say it's like captaining a yacht but suffice to say that it's still a noticeable; albeit minor difference, which to a driving enthusiast with a 210-hp truck, required exaggeration. (Note: Just because it's supercharged doesn't mean it's Omniscient.)

Now; away from diagnosing my truck: I am in fact aware that this situation is probably not normal (I did already replace the compressor and pulley earlier this year), but I have since noticed A/C compressor bog-down in other vehicles too, including GM vehicles. I just wanted to know if anyone who has actually driven the Camaro has turned on the air and noticed a difference; not sure if it would make a difference with an engine so much more powerful than my current but I am curious about it.

(Second note: For the record, my truck has more tq than hp [231 vs 210] so it has plenty of power; it just loses it when the durn compressor comes on.)

Thanks for your replies though!

Sorry but this is untrue (at least for my truck). My dodges ac compressor does not engage unless i turn on the ac. The models i have found that always run the compressor when any hvac is used are the ones that dont have an "ac" button.

[scotchsride09]

Originally Posted by diarmadhi

Sorry but this is untrue (at least for my truck). My dodges ac compressor does not engage unless i turn on the ac. The models i have found that always run the compressor when any hvac is used are the ones that dont have an "ac" button.

My truck has an A/C button. Perhaps Dodge uses a different method to dry the air before it enters the cabin (I don't know?) but generally the compressor is used to accomplish this with both heat and defrost; as well as obviously the A/C.

**Edit-- oh yeah, I did forget-- and I can't remember if this is specific to just my truck, or if other cars have similar issues or not-- but the compressor is a tricky beast; if you turn on the air and then turn it off while the car is still running, sometimes it doesn't shut down the compressor. The only solution I've found for this is to turn all air all the way off and then back on just vent, and the compressor will stay off. But again, once I turn the temperature up at all, or set it to blow for defrost, back on it comes... and away go my ponies :(

[Oracle]

typically you get this side effect from cars that are underpowered, where you need to use a good portion of your power to actually get the car moving, and that loss means you wont have that good portion. with the camaro pushing 300 ponies on the low end its going to be very difficult to even get a hint of difference. on all cars though, there is a difference. even on 800hp race cars they turn the A/C off when they are going to let those ponys fly because 10 hp is 10 hp. there will be a difference, but as for bogging the engine down? hardly.

[Silverghost]

with the fourth gens, when you go wide open throttle (might be 75% throttle) it shuts the AC down so you can get that little bit extra that the AC robbs. I would assume that the 5th gen would follow suite.

[scotchsride09]

Originally Posted by Silverghost

with the fourth gens, when you got wide open throttle (might be 75% throttle) it shuts the AC down so you can get that little bit extra that the AC robbs. I would assume that the 5th gen would follow suite.

Interesting...

I certainly hope that's the case with the 5th gens!

[fastball]

Most modern A/C compressors don't take anything more than about 5 hp from the engine, and minimal fuel. So, I doubt there will be any noticeable performance loss.

Heck, I have a 2000 Honda Prelude 4 cylinder and there's little power loss when the A/C is on.

You might be thinking about the old days when an A/C compressor was the size of a boat anchor and if you had anything less than a V8 under the hood you could walk faster if you had the A/C on.

[Kyle2k]

I guess this question could be asked here...has anyone ever used an electric water pump? and if so, What are your experiences with them?

[Shifty 6]

On GM cars, at least back in the late 90's (1998 &1999) When you hit full throttle the A/C compressor kicks off. Doesn't matter if it is a car (1999 Z28) or truck (1998 Z71) truck. I thought something was wrong with my Camaro, but it was explained at the dealership. I can't remember if I had to actually turn it off and then back on or not. I don't think so because, I am thinking it just came back on eventually. The car just assumes you want all the power available with WOT so it disengages the compressor.

[Shifty 6]

Wow was I really typing that long?

[Oracle]

I dont know if its so much to kick off to give you horsepower, rather than to protect the A/C itself, spinning the compressor that high can cause damage to the unit. none the less its a feature most of us wouldnt mind having. on the note of the not being noticable on the prelude im impressed. whenever i turn the A/C on in my focus you can tell, and its an 03. thats why i stated that its really only noticable on underpowered cars, because my focus probably has all of 90 bhp at the moment, if that. 5 hp is a big percent of what is pushing the little car along, particularly at highway speeds. regardless this should be insignificant on the camaro's performance, so no worries.