James Curle

I have a 2004 Honda Accord, EX, 2.4L, 227K+ miles.

I've owned it for about 2 years now, and as long as I've owned it, it really struggles when the AC is running. On mild days (75-85 F), the AC will run just fine, but on hotter days, it really struggles to keep up. I just replaced the compressor after it bit the dust, and the replacement works, but I still have the same issue and fear it will take the replacement compressor someday.

The engine really labors under these hot conditions, and thinking it was an issue of low refrigerant, I recharged it with a guage kit from an autoparts store. That improved the cooling capability, but the next day at a stop, when the engine was really struggling, I heard a series of controlled hisses and could smell refrigerant. I assume this is the system discharging automatically due to excessive pressure. After it discharged enough to relieve the high pressure, the system cooling effectiveness returned to its prior luke-warm state.

- I have not taken it to a shop to measure the high and low side pressure readings, but everything I've read would lead me to believe I have excessive high-side pressure and lower-than-normal low-side pressure (due to the evacuated refrigerant). I plan to have these readings taken to confirm my suspicions.
- It seems likely there's a clog or blockage, and the two most likely spots seem to be either the expansion valve or in the condenser.

SO...after all that...in the group's collective experience, is one scenario more likely than the other?

Condensers seem easier to replace but are more expensive. Expansion valves are cheaper to replace but require a bit more work, it seems. In a perfect world with unlimited funds, I'd probably replace both, but I was thinking of starting with the cheaper fix (expansion valve) first. But if these rarely go bad relative to the number of condenser cloggings, I won't waste my time starting there.

Thoughts?

holmesnmanny

whenever the compressor gives out you want to replace the condenser

and you should do a proper evac and recharge so the compressor doesnt explode again

DCFIVER

The cheaper(and wiser) move is to pay a shop with the proper equipment to diagnose it rather than needlessly spending your limited funds on parts you may or may not need.

WIth that said,sounds like poor air flow across the condenser.....

holmesnmanny

You can purchase AC coil cleaning foam that comes in a can and use it on the condenser. You spray it and let it sit for a half hour, then spray it off.