General Fiat Brava 2000 1.2 16v AC question

[mkbojan]

Hello
With the recent heat waves here I've noticed that the AC compressor shuts off every time I set off in first gear meaning that in start stop traffic I get very diminished air conditioning. Is it designed that way in order to put less strain on the engine when setting off? To clarify AC works excellently when just sitting in place or when driving, external ac fan also works as intended. It's just that whenever I touch the gas pedal the AC compressor turns off until I either go into second gear or drive at a steady pace in first gear, which if it happens a few times in a row I get significantly warmer air through the vents.

 

[PuntoHowTo]

Many car AC systems especially of that era were designed to switch off the compressor clutch at wide open throttle so if you car doing a lot of full throttle pull aways then yes.

If the gas is low that will exaggerate the effect as it takes longer for the compressor to get the pressure back up in the system

 

[mkbojan]

Thank you for the reply,

Gas was checked a few months ago, all was fine. The compressor switching off happens at the slightest touch of the throttle, even just lifting up the clutch will turn off the compressor for a few seconds. If I just leave it to idle the compressor cycles much less frequently (it runs much longer) I don't think this car turns off the compressor at WOT, if it did it would be noticeable as the AC sucks up a lot of power unfortunately ;p
It's not a big problem, I was just curious if it's normal behavior or maybe some senor is acting up.