₦airaland Forum

Akinfrank:
UPDATE: Water pump changed and the AC issue still remains, the compressor keeps engaging and disengaging at random, it mostly wouldn't work at all when the engine is idling, but if i dey fire am for road like this everywhere go cool within seconds and e go stay cool, if I apply brakes due to a speed bump And don't accelerate back quickly then the compressor disengages and i get ordinary warm air. people with ideas please come in, th water pump wey I change sef money no dey I just rugged am ni, I no fit drive without AC and I no won dey do irresponsible driving because i want make AC work.

So after taking it on a drive to Lagos on Christmas eve, my AC worked intermittently throughout the trip. With this AC issue I've been suffering a little longer crank than normal, but I've been ignoring it, and occasionally I just hear a click and the starter doesn't engage.
So today I try start am up and I hear the same click no crank, na so I vex knack the positive Terminal clip apako, next thing clip don break, I comot spare tight am up, naso long cranking disappear, and my AC return to normal Antarctica level 😭
The conclusion go be say ECU dey turn off the compressor when e detect voltage fluctuation from partial contact of the battery clips with the battery terminal, thanks everyone, everywhere good now.

Akinfrank:
Abeg kingreign and others, kindly contribute to this.
I want to add that my crankshaft pulley was wobbling a little and it was found that my water pump wasn't spinning freely when belt was removed, the mechanic i visited advised to replace the water pump as it could be harder on the engine through the crankshaft pulley, as the water pump will need lots of force to spin, he proceeded to say that i should replace the water pump first, said this is because the added force required to spin the water pump plus the load exerted by the ac compressor could be all too much thereby causing the compressor to cut off, shey this analysis make sense?

UPDATE: Water pump changed and the AC issue still remains, the compressor keeps engaging and disengaging at random, it mostly wouldn't work at all when the engine is idling, but if i dey fire am for road like this everywhere go cool within seconds and e go stay cool, if I apply brakes due to a speed bump And don't accelerate back quickly then the compressor disengages and i get ordinary warm air. people with ideas please come in, th water pump wey I change sef money no dey I just rugged am ni, I no fit drive without AC and I no won dey do irresponsible driving because i want make AC work.

GboyegaD:
I have never checked my engine oil. I just follow routine maintenance.

Dey try check am every morning, I get one neighbour wey him engine knock before he reverse out of the compound gate, after mechanic show mechanic see say him oil pan don knack something, bend and oil don leak. The oil don dey leak as e dey drive am come the day before, if to say e don check that following morning e for fit avoid that engine knock.

Akinfrank:
Bosses in the house, I have recently noticed my car ac blowing ordinary air for a few seconds like 30 seconds or thereabout and then resumes cooling and then the cycle repeats.
I thought maybe I'm low on gas as I haven't had reason to touch the AC since the car came in 2021, so I put on the ac with fan at max and checked the engine bay to see what's happening with the compressor, when i feel ordinary air in the car the compressor is not engaged, leave for a few minutes and the compressor engages sending very cool air.
Sharply I enter my technician side e say maybe na serpentine belt, mind you nothing do my belt I sha gree change am, but still the issue persists, I sha leave the shop dey go house.
My people what could be the reason for this, I should add that engine temperature doesn't affect this, it can happen on first start up in the morning, or randomly happen when driving on the highway at top speed and even when doing slow city driving, so this is not about engine rpm, or overheating or slow fan speed.
I was telling the technician maybe I'm low on freon, but he told me I'll not get any cooling at all if i am low on gas, quick Google search told me the compressor could be shutting itself off due to low refrigerant, so i don't really know, no be Google go repair am na, the two things wey google really suggest na low refrigerant or bad pressure switch, experts kindly use yoir wealth of knowledge to help biko 🙏🏾, the car is 09 hyundai sonata v6, i have not had AC issues since car was gotten in 2021, and car is not overheating.

Abeg kingreign and others, kindly contribute to this.
I want to add that my crankshaft pulley was wobbling a little and it was found that my water pump wasn't spinning freely when belt was removed, the mechanic i visited advised to replace the water pump as it could be harder on the engine through the crankshaft pulley, as the water pump will need lots of force to spin, he proceeded to say that i should replace the water pump first, said this is because the added force required to spin the water pump plus the load exerted by the ac compressor could be all too much thereby causing the compressor to cut off, shey this analysis make sense?

The OP pretends to not know that almost always, the ones at the very admired and coveted "top" have no elements of morals or hardwork in their stories of ascent, it does not take a wise one to see this, the more you look, the more you are allowed to see, the less admirable they become.
While I understand the point the op is trying to make, he grossly failed in the delivery, the phrase "money is important", must be closely followed by the mention of the word "enough", that the measure of success to many people is the amount of money made (either honestly or otherwise) is one of the reasons our civilization is still terrible, our core is dirty, that of greed, and lack of respect for those with professions which ensure the perpetuity of our race, farmers, chefs, and the likes, damn the op for that picture.
That a man is less travelled, has a smaller bank account doesn't mean he is less of a success than one who has seen the world and is able to donate to charities, we must stop pushing narratives like this, to do otherwise is to encourage crime and criminals, and in turn successfully unnecessarily make life harder for those who rely mainly on their strengths, skill, intelligence, talent, life isn't black and white, everyone is a contributor no matter how big or small the role is, and who is bestowed of the powers to weigh deeds against themselves, to compare lives?

RyanAutomotive:
Good morning sir,

Thank you for the detailed explanation — your observation that the compressor cuts off for ~30 seconds and then re-engages is very important. Based on everything you described, this is not a belt issue, not engine temperature related, and not random behavior. It’s a controlled A/C system shutdown.

⸻

🔧 Professional Diagnostic Insight

1️⃣ Primary Cause — Low / Unstable Refrigerant Pressure

Your technician’s statement that “if gas is low, it won’t cool at all” is incorrect for modern A/C systems.

On your 2009 Hyundai Sonata V6, when refrigerant level drops slightly (not totally empty):
• Cooling will still occur
• But pressure becomes unstable
• The low-pressure switch temporarily cuts off the compressor to protect it
• Once pressure balances again → compressor re-engages → cold air returns

This creates the exact ON–OFF cooling cycle you’re experiencing.

⸻

2️⃣ Secondary Cause — Faulty A/C Pressure Switch or Sensor

If refrigerant level is confirmed okay, the next suspect is:
• Weak or failing A/C pressure switch
• Or inaccurate pressure sensor signal

This causes the system to wrongly think pressure is unsafe, even when it isn’t — leading to random disengagement.

⸻

3️⃣ Less Likely (But Possible) Causes
• Compressor clutch coil beginning to weaken
• Excessive clutch air-gap
• Dirty condenser causing pressure spikes (usually worse in traffic, not random)

⸻

⚙️ Ryan Automotive Workshop Professional Take

We’ve fixed this exact complaint multiple times on:
• Hyundai Sonata V6
• Toyota Camry / ES series
• Accord & Azera models

In over 70% of cases, the root cause was:

Slight refrigerant loss + system protection logic
NOT total gas failure, and NOT belts.

Replacing belts or “guesswork repairs” will never solve this issue.

⸻

✅ Correct Fix Approach
1. Recover and weigh refrigerant properly (not top-up guessing)
2. Pressure test for micro leaks
3. Scan A/C live data (pressure cut-off behavior)
4. Replace pressure switch only if confirmed faulty
5. Recharge to factory specification

⸻

🔎 Professional Summary
Your A/C system is doing exactly what it was designed to do — protect the compressor. The fault lies in pressure control, not engine speed, temperature, or belt drive. Proper diagnosis will restore stable, continuous cooling.

⸻

Ryan Automotive Limited
Precision. Transparency. Excellence.
Professional Auto Diagnostics • Engine & Transmission Experts • Genuine Parts & Cooling Division
📍 Lagos, Nigeria
📞 Contact via profile/signature
Ryan Automotive Workshop Division

Thank you for the detailed information, the issue now is I am in Akure and it seems I need a very good AC technician that has tools, tools to evacuate the refrigerant and measure to see if it weighs up to spec ( to see if i have lost some refrigerant over the years). if the refrigerant loss has been ruled out then to proceed to checking the pressure switches, oomo I dey suspect the refrigerant sha but I no just won go blindly top up, how to find a reputable shop that's equipped is the problem now.

Make Una help me o, my car actually compressor dey do on and off, I see am for engine bay say when I dey feel cool air inside car d compressor dey spin, when e no spin ma ordinary air go dey inside car. What is causing my compressor to randomly shut off and restart itself at intervals?

Bosses in the house, I have recently noticed my car ac blowing ordinary air for a few seconds like 30 seconds or thereabout and then resumes cooling and then the cycle repeats.
I thought maybe I'm low on gas as I haven't had reason to touch the AC since the car came in 2021, so I put on the ac with fan at max and checked the engine bay to see what's happening with the compressor, when i feel ordinary air in the car the compressor is not engaged, leave for a few minutes and the compressor engages sending very cool air.
Sharply I enter my technician side e say maybe na serpentine belt, mind you nothing do my belt I sha gree change am, but still the issue persists, I sha leave the shop dey go house.
My people what could be the reason for this, I should add that engine temperature doesn't affect this, it can happen on first start up in the morning, or randomly happen when driving on the highway at top speed and even when doing slow city driving, so this is not about engine rpm, or overheating or slow fan speed.
I was telling the technician maybe I'm low on freon, but he told me I'll not get any cooling at all if i am low on gas, quick Google search told me the compressor could be shutting itself off due to low refrigerant, so i don't really know, no be Google go repair am na, the two things wey google really suggest na low refrigerant or bad pressure switch, experts kindly use yoir wealth of knowledge to help biko 🙏🏾, the car is 09 hyundai sonata v6, i have not had AC issues since car was gotten in 2021, and car is not overheating.

Thank you

Yes I was advised, but the rattling isn't even the major issue, so I went to another shop, someone suggested their name on nairaland here, shop name is Nuel and partners auto ltd at adebowale Akure, the car was scanned and he said my crankshaft position sensor wires were connected wrongly, he corrected it but the engine was still taking longer than usual to start up and was still vibrating in drive and misfiring, I was told to test drive it for the day and see if it would start the next day and so I left
The next day it would not start and I called him, he sent one of his apprentices to my house to have a look, the crankshaft code was still there but then the apprentice took out ignition coil on the first plug, stuck a nail and had the other side of the nail on the engine to confirm spark, there was no spark, he did it for the next ignition coil, there was no spark, so he called his boss, and the boss told him to check the fuses.
The apprentice took out my fuses one after the other and stuck them back in, told me none of the fuses was bad, after the check, he started the car and the engine came up immediately, no hard starting, sounded very fine, we drove it to their workshop and it drove really smooth, responded properly to the gas pedal and d vibration was gone, that was two days ago, yesterday I drove a total of 17 miles and the engine ran great, I'm still not so sure the problem is gone but they habe definitely touched where the issue came from, I didn't buy anything only paid for their service.
I am happy and hope this issue never cimes back, in all of this what I noticed is after the first day the issue if hard starting went away the next day (yesterday) I discovered my fan wasn't running when I started the car (the fan is direct so it should always run) the same shop sent me their rewire to fix the fan and the relay was damaged, burned, that's it.
Could fuses not contacting well or a burned fan relay cause issues like hard starting/no start/no spark, engine vibration at idle when it started, and engine cut outs?
@jceeesquare, thanks for replying, the engine isn't GDI it's lambda V6 DOHC engine, an older engine before GDI came.

jceesquare:
I believe you were advised to check the timing chain tensioner for the early morning rattling and not the timing itself.
For the late starting issue, your rewire might be right. If the fuel line does not hold pressure when parked overnight, you'll have delayed starting issues and would have to change your complete fuel pump assembly.
Is yours a GDI engine?

Happy new year fellow Nigerians and nairalanders, I'm still on my car's issue, I appreciate everyone who has commented, i met a mechanic who told me my car engine didn't jump timing, and advised to find a good electrician, my right wheel speed sensor was fixed, the wire was damaged, the abs light went out and my speedometer is now working, I don't know if this right wheel speed sensor and non functional speedometer was responsible for my random engine cut outs which I had before.
The issue I have left is with the hard starting, it will not start in the mornings, I called my mechanic he came and took out the vacuum hose connected to the throttle body, the he added a little fuel on the throttle body and told me to start the car, and the car started once, he then told me to consult an electrician.
The electrician I consulted first told me to get a new fuel pump, but I told him I had bought a new one in the past, then he said to change the whole fuel pump assembly, I believe nothing is wrong with my fuel pump assembly, and I don't really trust all these quick judgment without a definitive test.
After the car has been started by throwing some fuel into the throttle body in the morning, it starts up again itself but it cranks for a long time, so the hard starting still persists, it never starts itself in the mornings without adding fuel on the throttle body, I need your always valuable suggestions, I have to add that when this car is started it now makes an usual exhaust sound like a backfire, I've been told my exhaust pipe leaks but I'm certain that's not the case because this funny sound came with this hard starting, thanks for your replies.

Akinfrank:
I have the 2009 V6 3.3l Hyundai sonata and it has been making a rattling sound for about 3 seconds at first start up only, some say it's the timing chain/tensioner, last week it would drive smooth and cut out and sometimes refuse to restart until a few minutes have passed, took it to get checked and it had code for crankshaft position sensor, had that replaced with a new one (not a Hyundai made as the Hyundai office in Lagos said they didn't have it, a friend bought it for me at ladipo) replaced but the problem still persisted.
Took it back again and it had code for camshaft position sensor, had those replaced ( also new) and the random engine cutouts stopped but the car started shaking if on Drive and not moving, and it also didn't respond quickly when the accelerator pedal was depressed, it'd increase rpm but not increase speed accordingly/respond fast enough, the running was rough and this was new.
Took it back again and it was showing P0335, the mech said it has probably jumped timing( at this point the mechanic was already getting frustrated), drove it back home and parked it, and it won't restart, cranks but will not start, do you think it's the timing chain? If it is, can you recommend a good brand and where to buy? I need to fix the car and I don't know what mechanic or electrician to trust anymore, these sensors and other things I bought which appeared to be guesses from technicians I visited already cost me over 120k, I've been to three mechanics/rewire, the first mechanic Even had me buy a new fuel pump.
I need your advice on what to do and maybe a recommendation about a good mechanic/rewire based in Akure

Thank you, I'll update when there's any development.

jceesquare:
Take the valve cover out and turn cylinder 1 to top dead center (follow engine mark on harmonic balancer). If the timing is off even by a tooth, then your chain has slacked and tensioner bad.
Any mechanic that is comfortable working on a chain driven V6 engine should be able to set your timing right.

Thank you for your reply, is there a way to confirm its the timing chain and or tensioners? I am thinking the head and covers on the side can be taken down to see if the engine has jumped timing, and if this is really the case I have read timing chain replacing has to be done by a person who really knows what he's doing as there can't be mistakes, I don't know which mechanic to trust with such a Job, should that be the case, thanks again

jceesquare:
The initial diagnosis for stretched chain and bad tensioners were right.
Those engines are known to have tensioner issues.
Replace both tensioners, replace chain, replace all chain guides and your issues should be resolved.
Try to stick to recommended oil weight and change your oils regularly henceforth if you've not been doing that.

Thank you @kingreign, the electrician checked the continuity to the crankshaft position sensor wire with a test lamp the last time I visited, I don't know what the pulsator ring is, so far these are the codes the electricians have told me they saw after scan, firstly it was P0685 (about the main relay) it was checked and that went away, then it was P0011 and then P0335, I don't know if it helps to add that this problem began the day I noticed my speedometer worked intermittently, sometimes it doesn't work and then later it picks up, so I have a wheel speed sensor code, that was the first code, after these electricians have touched my car my speedometer permanently stopped working, maybe that's not the reason for the crank no start I have now but this is the car's history.

I have the 2009 V6 3.3l Hyundai sonata and it has been making a rattling sound for about 3 seconds at first start up only, some say it's the timing chain/tensioner, last week it would drive smooth and cut out and sometimes refuse to restart until a few minutes have passed, took it to get checked and it had code for crankshaft position sensor, had that replaced with a new one (not a Hyundai made as the Hyundai office in Lagos said they didn't have it, a friend bought it for me at ladipo) replaced but the problem still persisted.
Took it back again and it had code for camshaft position sensor, had those replaced ( also new) and the random engine cutouts stopped but the car started shaking if on Drive and not moving, and it also didn't respond quickly when the accelerator pedal was depressed, it'd increase rpm but not increase speed accordingly/respond fast enough, the running was rough and this was new.
Took it back again and it was showing P0335, the mech said it has probably jumped timing( at this point the mechanic was already getting frustrated), drove it back home and parked it, and it won't restart, cranks but will not start, do you think it's the timing chain? If it is, can you recommend a good brand and where to buy? I need to fix the car and I don't know what mechanic or electrician to trust anymore, these sensors and other things I bought which appeared to be guesses from technicians I visited already cost me over 120k, I've been to three mechanics/rewire, the first mechanic Even had me buy a new fuel pump.
I need your advice on what to do and maybe a recommendation about a good mechanic/rewire based in Akure

I have the 2009 V6 3.3l Hyundai sonata and it has been making a rattling sound for about 3 seconds at first start up only, some say it's the timing chain/tensioner, last week it would drive smooth and cut out and sometimes refuse to restart until a few minutes have passed, took it to get checked and it had code for crankshaft position sensor, had that replaced with a new one (not a Hyundai made as the Hyundai office in Lagos said they didn't have it, a friend bought it for me at ladipo) replaced but the problem still persisted.
Took it back again and it had code for camshaft position sensor, had those replaced ( also new) and the random engine cutouts stopped but the car started shaking if on Drive and not moving, and it also didn't respond quickly when the accelerator pedal was depressed, it'd increase rpm but not increase speed accordingly/respond fast enough, the running was rough and this was new.
Took it back again and it was showing P0335, the mech said it has probably jumped timing( at this point the mechanic was already getting frustrated), drove it back home and parked it, and it won't restart, cranks but will not start, do you think it's the timing chain? If it is, can you recommend a good brand and where to buy? I need to fix the car and I don't know what mechanic or electrician to trust anymore, these sensors and other things I bought which appeared to be guesses from technicians I visited already cost me over 120k, I've been to three mechanics/rewire, the first mechanic Even had me buy a new fuel pump.
I need your advice on what to do and maybe a recommendation about a good mechanic/rewire based in Akure, Ondo state.

I have the 2009 V6 3.3l Hyundai sonata and it has been making a rattling sound for about 3 seconds at first start up only, some say it's the timing chain/tensioner, last week it would drive smooth and cut out and sometimes refuse to restart until a few minutes have passed, took it to get checked and it had code for crankshaft position sensor, had that replaced with a new one (not a Hyundai made as the Hyundai office in Lagos said they didn't have it, a friend bought it for me at ladipo) replaced but the problem still persisted.
Took it back again and it had code for camshaft position sensor, had those replaced ( also new) and the random engine cutouts stopped but the car started shaking if on Drive and not moving, and it also didn't respond quickly when the accelerator pedal was depressed, it'd increase rpm but not increase speed accordingly/respond fast enough, the running was rough and this was new.
Took it back again and it was showing P0335, the mech said it has probably jumped timing( at this point the mechanic was already getting frustrated), drove it back home and parked it, and it won't restart, cranks but will not start, do you think it's the timing chain? If it is, can you recommend a good brand and where to buy? I need to fix the car and I don't know what mechanic or electrician to trust anymore, these sensors and other things I bought whjxh appeared to be guesses from technicians I visited already cost me over 120k, I've been to three mechanics/rewire, the first mechanic Even had me buy a new fuel pump.
I need your advice on what to do and maybe a recommendation about a good mechanic/rewire based in Akure, Ondo state.