Hello all. I have a friend with a 1999 Accord DX. She told me that when she turns the air on (there is A/C, but not used because the condensor needs to be replaced) to get fresh air in the car, it does not come out. I check this out myself. When you turn the air on high on any setting, you can hear the air, but very little is coming out. When the car is actually on, when you have the air on 4, it sounds like a jet engine. Very loud sound, but the blower sounds like it is working. I have changed the cabin air filter on this probably about two years ago. I went and took the filters out and they were gross!!!! Chopped up leaves, pine needles and bits of foam. The bits of foam have me though, because I have no clue where that is coming from. I vacuumed the area where the filter is. There is a air coming through that area, very strong. In fact, it helped me blow some of the crap out of there but running the air without the filter in. Made a damn mess in the car.

Little background on this vehicle. This past winter a tree fell on the windshield and hood of the car. The air filter casing and hose had to be replaced, but nothing else was replaced in that area, other than fixing the hood and the windshield. Could there have been more damage to the air system then once thought. It has just started making the noise over the past two weeks. No problem with heater or air after the accident. My other thought was this car is living in the Berkshires of Massachusetts. Possibly a mouse made a home in there somewhere. Maybe there is a nest in an air duct. Its the bits of foam that make me think this.

My big problem, is that I don't know where to look for damage. I was able to obviously get to the cabin air filter, but all of the ducts appear to be solid and tucked away in the upper dash. I am not a mechanic, but I do do some work on my own car, mostly oil/diff/transmission changes. If you guys have any idea of where I should be looking let me know.

Also, I did check out the regular air filter and that is clean. There is nothing in the air filter casing. I just have a feeling there is a clog somewhere in the air system, and I just don't have a clue where to start.

Thank you in advance for any help you can give with this.

Charlene

 

set the air on recirculate. if the air blows well on recirculate, it's not your ductwork, and you should have a fresh air clog. If not, your evaporator may be clogged (this is unlikely since your car has a cabin filter to catch it all before it makes it to the evaporator). you may need to remove the cowl cover to see/access the fresh air intake path.

 

Thank you for your input!!! Forgive my ignorance, but where is the cowl cover?

Thank you again!!!!

 

cowl cover is the plastic cover that is under the windshield wipers at the base of the windshield that has a screened portion that lets in fresh air to the car. you may have to take the wipers off to get the cover off. It's just a suggestion. you can maybe see your clog if you take it off the car.

 

I did look in there. There are two pieces you can take off without removing the wipers. I did not see anything. I suspect that the clog is not from the outside. There is great air flow from the area where the cabin filter is. When I took it out, and put the blower on, it blew very strong into my face. Pretty messy. My guess is it is after the fresh air coming from outside. Haven't had a chance to look at it today because I am working. Hopefully tomorrow!!! Thanks again!

 

did you set the air to recirculate and try it that way? that will eliminate the clog being in your ductwork. if you have plenty of air flow through the vents when running on recirc, then you don't have a clog in the dash. if you only get restirction when the air is set to fresh, the clog should be between the air intake on the outside and the fresh/recirc door.

 

Well...hopefully this picture uploads. It appears someone was living in the blower fan. After I took it out, cleaned it up, and replaced the cabin filters.....everything appears to be fine. Just wonder where the guest went. Thank you for all the replies!!!! I really appreciate it!!!!

 

Man, that's terrible. Hopefully your guest has moved out. Glad to hear it's fixed.

 

Much better now!!! Amazed at the amount of crap that came out!!!!

 

weeww,,never thought it could look like that..but good thing it was fixed now..

 

You probably had a guest with its entire family living in there.