Have a 2015 Boxster. Got in the car last night after working out. A/C was blowing air full blast but it wasn't cold.

Drove the car this am - A/C seemed to be working fine. Parked it for an hour to go work out…came back and air wasn't cold again. Convinced myself it only felt cold earlier because the outside temp was cool (in the mid-60s).

Just went out to the garage and started the car again (it's been sitting for over 2 hours). A/C is blowing cold air again.

Anyone have this problem? It seems so weird that it's intermittent.

May be a similar setup...

On my 98 the intake vent (in the frunk) where you change the air filter (for cabin air) that filter should be sitting on the "mixing box" (where the air enters). When you push the AC button inside the cabin... that flap in the box should close.

Mine doesn't. So, no fun in Palm Springs from, say, now through this October.

Pop the frunk hood... check to see if that flap closes when you hit the ac button.

Otherwise, sounds like some troubleshooting is in order. Have you checked the Rennlist forums? Bet you're not the first...

Good luck.

Also... maybe your condenser is freezing over. No cold air when that happens. When it thaws... cold air. That'd be the second thing I'd look at.

Yeah, I'm finding some similar stories on the Rennlist forums. No good answers, though.

Could be a loose wire. Could be low refrigerant. Could be a relay.

Comments from people saying when it's intermittent, of course it doesn't fail when you take it to a repair shop.

I'm gonna have to remove the plastic panel (haven't done that yet) to check what you suggested. Might be an a/c connection next to the battery, according to 986 forum.

I'm under the hood. See the filter and the mixing box but nothing that looks like a flap.

it might be the blend door actuator. I've had that same thing happen on a few different models in the past. Sometimes cool, sometimes not...then it craps out completely and stops working full time.

out of curiosity, have you had the foam come through the vents, from the heater? If so, they have plugs that will stop this. If you're going to replace the actuator, might as well stick these in too.

No foam has come through the vents. This is the first issue of any kind I've had with the A/C.

Have somebody cut on the a/c while you look at the compressor and see if you see it click and engage.

Yeah, I was thinking about that when I was poking around under the frunk. Unfortunately, I'm alone all weekend because my BF is at the hospital with his mom. So it will have to wait until he gets back in a few days.

AgGrad99 said:

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it might be the blend door actuator. I've had that same thing happen on a few different models in the past. Sometimes cool, sometimes not...then it craps out completely and stops working full time.

out of curiosity, have you had the foam come through the vents, from the heater? If so, they have plugs that will stop this. If you're going to replace the actuator, might as well stick these in too.

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The blend door... behind the radio (in my 986, at least)? I removed all the foam and taped those holes. I'd be surprised if in a 2015 they continued using foam.

In my 98 the cabin air filter sits on top of the box that used that flap to let in outside air... or closed to effect interior air recirculation.

I predict it will be an easy fix...

Pull codes. The BKE is pretty robust with its code setting

I've been having intermittent blower operation in the cayenne. Blower finally died Wednesday. Pulled codes and I had a shadow code for the blower.

Put gauges in it. Sounds a skosh low.

A/C clutch not engaging? If it wears out or develops a gap, it will work less and less frequently but sometimes seem to be fine.

1agswitchin4lanes said:

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Put gauges in it. Sounds a skosh low.

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This is my dad's diagnosis…low coolant. Couldn't get anyone to look at it before next week. Don't have a date to take it in, yet.

Had a Jeep Cherokee that had a similar issue. It turned out to be a bad coil on the electric clutch on the compressor. The refrigerant pressures all checked out fine. After the windings got hot, it would not engage the compressor until it cooled down. I know it's German, but you may have a bad connection somewhere

AgGrad99 said:

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it might be the blend door actuator. I've had that same thing happen on a few different models in the past. Sometimes cool, sometimes not...then it craps out completely and stops working full time.

out of curiosity, have you had the foam come through the vents, from the heater? If so, they have plugs that will stop this. If you're going to replace the actuator, might as well stick these in too.

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I have two with the foam issue. The fix is a pain. Got to get the blend door out to fix it. I just deal with it. Both AC and heat work on both.

To OP, I haven't had that issue. No clue how to diagnose it but sounds electrical in nature.

I had an intermittent issue with the AC in a silverado. Turned out it was connected to a thermometer that was supposed to keep you from accidently running the AC in the winter and causing it to freeze up. Well the thermometer failed/broke and was reading -20, not allowing the AC to come on during the summer. I tried a bunch of things and finally had to take it somewhere. I don't think I would have ever figured it out. I don't think this is presenting exactly the same as the OP, but I mention this in case it isn't a little low on refrigerant or something obvious. Take it to someone.

A/C worked completely fine today.

My money is on an electrical problem. A few months ago, I started intermittently getting a fault error when I put the top up/down. This causes the top to get stuck before it's fully in the open or closed position. I have to remedy it by toggling the switch back and forth. This is a known issue with this model, and it will eventually fail completely.

If I have to leave the car, I don't have a ride, since my BF is still out of town caring for his mom who will likely have to go to hospice. This problem just doesn't seem all that important right now and can wait a week or two.

But I do appreciate the different suggestions because when I do take it in and they can't find anything wrong, at least I can ask if they've checked all the things mentioned here.

TXTransplant said:

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A/C worked completely fine today.

My money is on an electrical problem. A few months ago, I started intermittently getting a fault error when I put the top up/down. This causes the top to get stuck before it's fully in the open or closed position. I have to remedy it by toggling the switch back and forth. This is a known issue with this model, and it will eventually fail completely.

If I have to leave the car, I don't have a ride, since my BF is still out of town caring for his mom who will likely have to go to hospice. This problem just doesn't seem all that important right now and can wait a week or two.

But I do appreciate the different suggestions because when I do take it in and they can't find anything wrong, at least I can ask if they've checked all the things mentioned here.

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So, I have a 986 and a 996TT coupe. My biggest fear is a top failure on the 986. The tops on the 986 and 987 are so difficult to diagnose. Lot of microprocessors to diagnose. I really doubt that top issue is related to the AC issue. Different systems.

Incidentally, you should be able to release the top to manually close it if all else fails.

Yeah, I don't necessarily think the problems are related, just given the age of the car, I think it has electrical gremlins. Sometimes the radio doesn't work, too. Solution to that is turn the car off and back on.

Thank goodness the top has the manual release. I haven't had to use it, but you reminded me to get my dad to show me how to do that when I see him this weekend.

I'll ping my mechanic in the morning. But I think I could walk you through a manual release. Kinda like what you have to do to put it in service position. I think. Guess I need to try that on my 986.

austinag1997 said:

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I'll ping my mechanic in the morning. But I think I could walk you through a manual release. Kinda like what you have to do to put it in service position. I think. Guess I need to try that on my 986.

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My 986 top failed a few years back. I've since employed the manual method, and can raise/lower the top is less that 5 seconds.

One day I'll get around to repairing it myself... but find the manual method efficient.

Thought I'd come back and update this.

In addition to the A/C issues the last couple months the low engine coolant light has also been coming on intermittently. I had been kind of ignoring it because, based on previous experience, sometimes this warning comes on even when the coolant level isn't actually low. So, it was on the list of things to do, but in my mind it wasn't urgent (and all my engine readings were well within normal range).

Well, about a week and a half ago, I got in the car and went maybe 1/4 mile when the yellow low coolant warning turned into a "do not drive this car any further" red light warning. I turned around and went right back home. Had some coolant, but it wasn't enough to get the level indicator to pop up. BF brought me another bottle, and it wound up taking more than I expected to hit the max level.

Since topping off the coolant, I have not had the issue with the A/C. I might still take the car in to get it checked, but for now it seems to be working fine.

Bumping because the A/C went out completely over the weekend. Had been working fine for the last few months. Coolant leak had nothing to do with it, but I got distracted by the coincidence.

Took it to an independent shop (Autodynamica in The Woodlands) who said I need a new compressor and gave me an estimate of $3500.

Compressor alone is $1600. The rest is labor because he said they have to remove the engine intake manifold to get to it.

They added coolant and checked some fuses, so those aren't the problem.

Gonna get an estimate from the dealer, since at least they give me a loaner car. Will maybe call a couple of other shops, too.

Any thoughts/suggestions, other than this is the price I have to pay to drive a fun car? Does what I was told even make sense?

I'd just drive with the top down, but that's throwing a fault code, too.

I've had two cars now where the AC clutch was worn enough to sometimes work, and sometimes not. The fix for both of those cars was zip-ties. Seriously. You can shim your AC clutch with Zip-ties and make it last another couple hundred thousand miles.

So this car used to belong to my dad and he is helping me sort through this.

He's determined that my model year (2015) does have a different system from other model years. He also thinks that maybe the compressor doesn't have a clutch and, when working properly, runs all the time.