When I hit the button for the Auto-Climate, the recirculation light shuts off. Is this supposed to happen? Does this mean outside air is being used to regulate the temperature?

 

Auto is automatic, meaning it selects the appropriate settings, so if recirculation is not needed, it will turn it off, and when it is needed, it will turn it on.

If you want it otherwise, you can manually select recirculation and then it will turn the auto off and the recirculation on.

And yes, when the light is off, outside air is being used.

 

You should not be habitually using recirc. The "auto" feature will actually turn on the recirc if conditions call for it, ie: real hot day, and car has been sitting in the heat of the sun....auto will use recirc. until conditions permit the introduction of outside air, which is 90%+ of the time.

 

You're right. In addition, the recirculate feature increases cabin humidity, thereby causing interior window fogging. Never a good idea to use recirculate in the colder months and keep it to a minimum in the summer time.. use the AUTO setting and let the system do what it does best.

 

Really, the opposite is better. If it is 95 degrees outside and it's 145 degrees in side of your car, then it is easier for the a/c to cool the 95 degree air than the 145 degree air. So it should bring in outside air until the temp inside begins to drop, then switch to recirculate when the the cabin air is cooler than the outside air, say 90 degree (cabin) versus 95 degree (outside).

I do it manually and found it to be much quicker.

 

DAMN. I guess the advanced electronics built into the highly engineered Acura HVAC systems fucked up AGAIN! I wish those guys would get it right.

 

Think again.

Using recirculate will make the inside air cooler sooner as it's not bringing in MORE hot air that also needs to be cooled once inside.

Most cars that I have seen will cool on recirculate when set to max ac cooling.

 

Why not just open the windows until the car cools off?

 

That is recomended as well.

 

Notice I said that in the summer months, using the AUTO setting is the way to go. In AUTO, the HVAC will run on recirculate for as long as it takes to bring the interior temperature to a manageable level. I have used both the manual and AUTO settings and have tested them both on extended drives. The AUTO does a better job of controlling the interior cabin temperature. And in AUTO, the HVAC is linked to the Navi for temperature balancing.

 

There are 2 reasons why I keep the recirculation on at all times:

1) I hate it when a foul smell gets into the car from outside. Once the smell is in turning the recirculation on is pretty much useless.

2) In Houston they don’t have commercial highways like they do in NY so these 18 wheelers are all over. There's also an abundance of old ass air polluting pick-up trucks that spew smoke all over the place. Needless to say, I don’t want to inhale any of that sh*t.

The car I had before the TL (Nissan) had the option of turning on the Auto-climate while having the recirculation on at the same time.

 

You already have an excellent cabin filter. I'm sure someone will correct me on this if I'm wrong, but I don't think recirc air is routed through the filter. I know outside air is. If that's the case, you really aren't doing yourself any good.
I used to think it was more efficient to run recirc. in summer also. Seemed to make sense, and have the compressor run less if you recirculated inside air at 80 degrees, rather the outside air at 90 degrees...but I guess the factories have proven me wrong.

 

cabin filter may take out particles of dust, but not smell. At least not enough for Houston area.

BTW, I've noticed that it is somewhat automatic even Auto, and then turn on recirc.

In other words, if set on 72 "auto" and the "auto" indicator goes away the fans still adjust as you get closer to 72 degrees.

I'd imagine the only difference between the way the Acura works and the way the Nissan mentioned above works, is the "auto" indicator.

 

Exactly!! By rolling down the windows the outside air is cooler than the inside air, hence your interior cools quicker.
By pulling in outside air first, you will be getting cooler air than you would be by recirculating hotter interior air. As the cabin cools, then recirculate the cooler than outside air. Doing this you'll find you will be raising the temp setting because it will get so damn cold.

Maybe it's a region thing, but with the heat and humidity of central Fl. this works!

 

You will definitely fog up if you run the recirc when it's raining outside!

 

While I can appreciate and understand your logic on this situation, it isn't entirely correct. Basic laws and principals must be adhered to when talking about refrigeration or HVAC. The most important being that in order for you to cool down a vehicle (or refer or room or whatever), you must remove the heat.

In the case of a car, this is most effective when you have the Recirc in the on position. The reason is this. With recirc on, you are pulling almost 100% of cabin air over the condenser, and removing the heat from that air only. With Recirc off, you are only pulling about 50% cabin air along with outside air and the cooling effect is not nearly as great. Yes, it would be much more effecient to run recirc all the time, but a lot of people argue the air gets 'stale', especially if you are the type to smoke with windows up or if there is 3 passengers and there is a lot of talking going on.

If you put the windows down for a few minutes upon starting a hot car, this goes a long way to letting the inital hottest air escape. Tinting windows helps in not only keeping the temperature down when sitting, but keeping it down while driving, therefore using less energy (gas) to keep the maintained temperature.

Respect.

-Jeff

 

Actually, 0% of the cabin air is being pulled over the condenser regardless of whether or not you use recirculate.

 

I think he meant evaporator.

 

I just had my A1 service done a few days ago, the dealer gave me some coupons for service, one of which was for a HVAC system cleaning where they remove 'fungus' from the system.

 

Yep, I know he did. I was just curious to see if this would get picked up. Not trying to be a jerk.. honestly.

 

Thanks for the correction, SB. I meant evaporator.

-Jeff