Who wants to take a stab at this? This morning I get in the car and the ac was on from yesterday. I shut it to the off position and start driving. I feel cold air and hear the fans turn on. I look down and the AC light is on with the dial in the OFF position. I make sure that the dial is Off, and when I touch the ring it shuts off for about 1 min then it turns on again. It did this 5 times in a 10 min period. The ring doesn’t even move when I touch it (and Im sure its as far toward the off position as it can go.) Normally I would chalk this up to a bad contact or a loose wire, but after that 10 min I stopped to get gas and shut the car off (this time the ac was off when I turned the car off.) Drive the rest of the way to work and it didn’t happen once. I even turned the ac on and shut the car off and started it up again and turned the ac off at a stop light to see if I could make it happen again. Nothing. This happens every once and a while and that's what makes it hard to trouble shoot. Anyone have any ideas?

 

Dealer will love you, one of those intermitant faults they're so good at. Good luck.

 

i think its a ghost!

 

Have you had any stereo work done. Mine did this also. I found out that the guys who installed my stereo crunched the ribbon cable behind the controls. If you disconnect the cable it does the same thing.

 

sounds like a tough one to troubleshoot...maybe a bad relay?

one thing i hate about the A/C is how it automatically turns itself on when i change the vent position or the temperature. I'm always having to reach down and click the A/C off.

 

Mine does the same thing. It always seems to put the AC on even when you have it set at like 90. Kinda strange. I just usualy leave it off and roll with the windows down.

good luck

 

this has happened to me before. i had to replace the a/c control unit behind the controls to fix the problem.

 

How much was the ac control unit? Is it the white box under the radio or the box mounted on the trim panel behind the dials?

 

i don't remember exactly how much it cost. i think it was around 200. and yeah it's the white box behind the controls. you mitght want to check the ribbon first. mine was crimpled up b/c of carelessness when they first installed my radio. now i do it all myself.

 

I've had the same problem happen a handful of times, it hasn't happened since. Hopefully it doesnt come back.

 

Add me to the list. Wish this would have happened before my warranty expired.

 

Same problem for me too!! I feel like im driving a 92 ford Taurus!

Im almost 95% sure its the ribbon wire though...Any one know if you can buy just a new cable??

 

I have this happened, and here's how to fix it:

when the ac is on, try to hit the fan on/off **** (the one on the right), and it will go off. bang on it couple times. I think there's a bad contact in the switch, that stuck open..

 

+1

 

Yea i have been doing this but when you have to hit it more than like 7 times it kinda gets annoying! I have been doing this for about a year!

 

Have you taken the panel out yet to see if anything is crimping the wires.

 

I notice that when it does this all I have to do is lightly touch the dials and it goes off. Sometimes it comes back on later sometimes it doesnt. Maybe bad contacts. Im think im going to try to rip the dials apart and check.

 

Yea i have tried removing the shifter panel and checking the ribbon.
I move the ribbon around a little and it shuts off, but when i put the panel back on the AC turns back on.

Its really frustrating!!

 

yea the same thing happens to me every couple months...some times i turn the a/c off then it turns on its self..or if i want it cold it turns on hot ....what i i do is just keep turning it off or on untill the dam thing stops....lol...if you bring it to the dealer you just gotta hope it acts up when its there....or else nothing will be fixed....good luck...your not alone/

 

Pop the wire off and then put it back on. I have had my car for 4 years and it has done it maybe 10 times, each time i pop the wire off and put it back on it is good for 6 months