I have a 97 Accord Lx 4-Cyl 4-door,

Driving it with AC feels like driving the car loaded with 4 full size adults - is it normal? I bearly notice any change in RPM with/without AC. Very sluggish at low speeds but ok at high speeds, could this mean IAC valve is not functioning correctly? or is it some thing else.

A tech at a dealership told me that the right(Passenger) axle is leaking (around 3 years back) but I never noticed even a drop of oil on the grage floor. When I saw the car from below, I see some oily residue seeping from the drive shaft -> Tranny junction. Oil resedue does not look red to suspect tranny oil - so what is your advise to me?

 

Well the axle part you need to replace. Its grease not oil. When you mean AC with 4 adults is it blowing warm or is it going abnormally slow? When you turn on the AC you put extra load on the motor eventually making it a bit slower at the low end. Once you get going then it becomes better.

 

Sorry I meant driving with AC is equivalent to driving with heavy load.
I am sure it wan't this bad when the car was new, though it has 82K miles, I don't think AC should add that much load to feel a real diff in performance. It drives like a car with clogged air filter at low speeds. Do you think the AC compressor or something going bad? by the way AC still works I don't get any hot air.

Where is the grease? is that the bulky part near the tranny joint on the drive shaft?

 

Well if your A/C is still blowing cold then there is nothing wrong with your A/C. The Grease is in the joint. If the Boot is tore as you said you should see some gritty material that looks a bit wet. That would be your grease. Since you havent changed it in 3 years prob most of it around the area of the torn boot so might mistaken for oil at times. Well did you purchase this car new or used? 4 cylinders when you turn on A/C you will feel sluggish when driving low speeds or tryin to accel hard.