Air-conditioning not cold
Book a workshop soon. You do not need to stop driving today.
Affects model years: 2004-2008
Symptoms
- Cold at speed, warm in traffic
- Cold for the first ten minutes, then fades
- Whine or rattle when the air-conditioning engages
- Water on the passenger floor instead of under the car
Cause
Three faults look the same from the driver's seat. A low refrigerant charge from a slow leak cools poorly. A tired compressor loses output when it is hot. A blocked condenser or a fan that is not working makes the system give up in traffic. The Gen-2 is old enough that any of the three is plausible, and the radiator fan fault on this page produces the same symptom.
Solution
Ask a workshop to check the refrigerant charge and look for the leak before condemning the compressor. If the compressor is the fault, a reconditioned unit is the usual route on a car of this age, with a new receiver-dryer and a system flush. A condenser that is full of road dirt can be cleaned rather than replaced.
parts and labour · as of Oct 26, 2026
Do the cheap checks first. A condenser packed with leaves and a fan that does not run will both make a healthy system feel broken. Neither needs a new compressor.
If the air is cold on the highway and warm at a traffic light, suspect airflow, not refrigerant: the radiator fan is the same fan the condenser relies on. That is why the radiator fan entry on this page matters even if the engine temperature looks fine.
If the system is cold and then fades over weeks, it is leaking. A re-gas without a leak test is money spent twice.
Cost band checked 2026-10-26 against a Malaysian listing for a reconditioned Gen-2 compressor (about RM305) plus labour, receiver-dryer and gas.
Community notes
Malaysian listings for the Gen-2 sell reconditioned Sanden-type compressors around RM305, and owners on the Lowyat.NET thread report compressors and cooling faults as a normal part of running one of these cars.