With the air conditioning on my car idles rough and will sometimes stall at a stop sign. What's wrong?
by 
curveworn
ANSWERS: 4
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Your car idles at a lower rate than is required by the AirCon. This can occur for a lot of reasons. See your local auto repair shop for a diagnostic.
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Normally, an A/C-equipped car has some way to increase the idle speed of the engine whenerver the A/C is on so that it can compensate for the extra load on the engine. It sounds like this is not happenning in your vehicle; it assumes the A/C is off even when it's on and thus does NOT compensate for the added load as it should, resulting in a too-low idle and occasional stalling. Without knowing a little more about the vehicle, I can not be much more specific though. Sorry. :(
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Try cleaning the Idle control valve as it may be throwing in more air during load of the ac. Check the coolant temperature sensor and clean with WD 40 if required. If the car has been run a lot with the ac ... then the refrigerant levels in the ac could be low.. thus needing a full inspection and service at an authorized workshop. Before that you could check for possible leaks of oil from broken hoses, a very tight ac compressor belt. Last resort spend big bucks.... All d best.
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As an Nissan Altima owner...I would recommend that you immediately check in the intake gasket. They are a common failure for my car and cause rough/low idle...that is very noticable when the a/c puts additional load on the engine. Try spraying carb cleaner around your intake manifold as the car idles...if you see that it slightly revs...you have a leak. Part is 10 bucks...but the service to install it it rated at 6 hours$$.
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