Reasons Why Your Car don’t Start When you Switch on Car Heater AC?

What should I do if I switch on the car heater AC and my car dies? After turning the key, nothing occurs. Your day may be ruined if your automobile won’t start. You may prevent breakdowns from happening by being aware of the typical causes of your automobile not starting.

You often switch on the car’s heating during the chilly winter months. The heater core supplies warm air to the car’s interior. However, what should you do if your vehicle dies while you are using the heater? In brutal weather, you can’t simply sit indoors without a heater!

Fortunately, there aren’t many potential causes for it. For instance, if the automobile dies, it might be that the throttle body or idle air control valve has carbon buildup or has grown unclean. When the compressor malfunctions, it can sometimes reduce engine power and cause a car to stall. This article explains why this occurs as well as what you can do to stop it.

Let’s take a closer look at all of this in the article that follows.

What is Car Heater AC?

You turn on the heater in your car as soon as you start to feel cold. As soon as the car heater AC open, warm air starts to circulate, keeping you comfortable the entire way. Concisely, the car heater AC helps the temperature inside the car be more comfortable than the outside air.

However, no car has a heater to keep you warm during the drive. The chilly exterior air must go through a variety of processes before becoming heated air.

A thermodynamic process occurs within the car, helping to keep the inside warm and pleasant by removing the cabin’s cold.

How Does Car Heater AC Works?

To warm up the engine’s “antifreeze,” your car’s engine must first be running. The heat from the engine is transferred into the passenger area via the antifreeze. To generate heat, the engine must operate for several minutes.

The “thermostat” on the engine opens when the engine reaches working temperature, allowing antifreeze to flow through. The thermostat typically opens between 165 and 195 degrees. The antifreeze absorbs the heat from the engine when coolant starts to flow through the engine, and this heat is then transferred to the heater core.

A heat exchanger, like a radiator, makes up the “heater core.” It is fixed into the heater housing on the dashboard of your automobile. By forcing air into the heater core, the blower motor removes heat from the antifreeze that is flowing through it. The water pump receives the antifreeze after that.

Your car’s “HVAC control” is a crucial heating system component. Adjusting the blower motor’s speed, interior temperature, and airflow direction may make your automobile more comfortable. Inside the heater box in your dash are several actuators and electrical motors that regulate the doors. The HVAC control communicates with them to change the air direction and regulate temperature.

Why Does Car Stall When You Turn on Car Heater AC?

If the car heater AC is on, many automobile owners find that their vehicle is shutting down. There are a lot of car drivers who have previously dealt with this issue, which is a regular one. Therefore, if the engine shuts off if the air conditioner is switched on, your engine is under a lot of strain and produces extraordinarily little power output.

The amount of power your air conditioner consumes is the cause of this. The engine requires high energy to compensate for the lack of power. So, these are potential explanations for why turning on the car heater AC may cause your automobile to shut off.

Idle Control Valve Malfunction

This is the most frequent cause of engine death after activating the air conditioner. The idle air control valve will raise and then drop the engine RPM to prevent the engine from cutting out when you add the load to the vehicle. As a result, if carbon accumulates on the idle control valve, it will not operate as anticipated.

As a result, the engine RPM will fluctuate, going up and down before ultimately shutting off. Therefore, you must clean the IAC or idle air control valve. Utilize a clean, supple cloth and then dunk it in the solvent.

Faulty Electronic Controlled Throttle Body

Another frequent cause of engine failure when you turn ON the air conditioning system is the electronically controlled throttle body. Modern cars include an electronically controlled throttle body, often known as drive-by-wire, instead of an “Idle Air Control Valve.” It uses an ECM signal.

Similar events may occur when using an Electronic Throttle Control (ETC) Body. If carbon accumulates on it, it will obstruct the opening for additional air to enter, causing the automobile to sputter. Therefore, do a routine tune-up to clean your automobile’s electronic throttle control body.

Seized Compressor

The compressor is a costly component that causes a car’s engine to shut OFF when you turn ON the air conditioner. The automobile stalls because of the seized AC compressor.

The compressor employs around 5 to 10 horsepower to infatuate the refrigerant under high pressure. The energy is sufficient to cause the RPM to decrease.

Sometimes, your compressor may be stuck because a bearing is stuck, making it difficult for it to rotate against the belt and eventually creating surges that cause the car to shut off. It isn’t much else you can do but replace the compressor.

 Damaged Belt

The driving belt rotates the compressor. The engine’s RPM drops when the compressor is turned on. When the compressor is turned on, a worn drive belt will slip, causing the RPM to change. These fluctuations in RPM are the main automobile surges or hesitations, and they cause the car to turn off.

Overfilling of Refrigerant

There are many other causes for dying of car switching on the car heater AC. There shouldn’t be too much or too little refrigerant in the air conditioning system. It must be present in the proper amount. When you turn on the AC, an AC system with an overfilled refrigerant creates excess pressure on the engine and makes the car stutter.

Electrical Issue

Additionally, the most frequent cause of a car turning off when the AC is switched on is an electrical issue. Electrical issues frequently cause the automobile to spike. Make that there are no rusted relays or loose fuses in the fuse box.

How Does AC Impact the Car Engine?

Naturally, the engine of your automobile, which powers the entire vehicle, will provide power for the air conditioning system. The air conditioning system’s added pressure strains the engine. And when the engine sends energy to the cooling system, it will unavoidably split its total energy in two, which will affect the car’s throttle. This basic information demonstrates that the AC inevitably places more strain on the engine, which affects the car’s performance in some way.

Compressor Speed

Your car’s engine RPMs may rise when the compressor engages. This balances out the electricity that the air conditioning system uses. One illustration is the management of idle rotational speed via the idle air control valve or IAC. Due to its purpose, this is also known as the idle air sensor control motor. The valve will also alter the idling speed and the quantity of air that will bypass the throttle plate in a fuel-injected IC car.

Climate Control

An electrical gadget called the climate control system enables you to change the temperature of the air inside your automobile automatically. New automated climate control systems operate and function differently depending on the car’s model and maker.

The compressor will have to work harder and put greater strain on the engine if there is a significant difference between the interior and exterior air temperatures of the vehicle.

Condition Inside the Cabin

The interior of the vehicle has an impact on cabin climate as well. More passengers inside the car cabin can affect the engine performance since the AC would have to work less to warm up. The car’s air conditioning system affects the performance of the engine due to other interior elements, including clothes and occupants’ metabolic rates.

What Can You Do to Solve it?

It is imperative to fix the issues to prevent the automobile from shutting down when you turn on the AC. If this occurs while driving, it may result in traffic gridlock and become chaotic. You must rapidly diagnose and resolve problems if you want to avoid similar ones.

If the IAC is the problem, cleaning it thoroughly may resolve this. If a compressor seizes, you can reach the belt and release it on your own using car exterior accessories.

A filthy throttle body is a key contributor to a harsh idle when the AC is turned on. Here are some measures you should take to address the issue:

• Clean the air cleaner duct that links the throttle body to the engine and the throttle body of debris.
• To get rid of the dirt buildup on the throttle blade, get a clean rag and spray it with a throttle body cleaner. Please refrain from cleaning the device with sharp objects, as this could reduce its performance.
• Regularly inspect the compressor belt. Replace the worn-out belt with a new one.
• Both the fuse and the relay switch need to be functioning properly.

Frequently Asked Question

– Does Use the Heater in Your Car Drain the Battery?

Yes, that’s the solution. How it works is as follows: when you switch on the heater, the engine needs to work harder to produce heat, using more gasoline and putting greater stress on the battery. Turning on the heater might cause your battery to drain if it is already low on power, leaving you stranded.

– Can A Dirty Air Filter Cause a Car to Stall?

The car air filters capture dirt and filth, which are important for your health since they allow you to breathe clean air. Your car might stall because of a dirty air filter because it cannot pass enough air when the air filter is filthy or blocked. As a result, the air-to-fuel ratio becomes unbalanced.

In most cases, a faulty air filter doesn’t directly cause stalling of the engine. However, a faulty air filter can lead to issues with the car’s and engine’s internal components. Your vehicle will stall because of these issues. Therefore, constant cleaning is required to prevent stalling. When your car has a clogged air filter, you will experience the following issues:

• Decreased engine performance
• Lack of pace
• Unusual noise emanates from the engine.
• Decreases in mileage
• Activates the check engine light

– What are the Symptoms of a Weak Fuel Pump?

A malfunctioning fuel pump is one of the hardest automotive issues to identify. As a result, any problem with the gasoline pump may impair performance or cause your car to break down. Under such circumstances, your car will undoubtedly display at least one of the signs of a bad fuel pump. Here are some of them:

• Stuttering engine
• The car will not start
• Low fuel efficiency
• Bitching and moaning from the fuel tank
• Car Surging
• Scorching engine

Wrap Up

The proper functioning of the vehicle’s air conditioning and heating system is important to ensure the comfort of the occupants sitting inside the cabin. But sometimes the car stalls when you switch on the car heater AC because it puts more pressure on the engine. We have discussed above various potential causes of this problem. In conclusion, your engine squanders a lot of energy running the AC. We hope this article helps you to pick the root cause.