I picked up a 1990 Accord EX a few weeks ago. The A/C works, sort of. It blows fairly cold from the vent nearest the passenger door, but the other ones are barely chilled at all. Does this need a simple recharge? Or does it sound like a bigger problem to you folks?

 

i have a 91 and the A/C doesnt work at all. i had a leak and theres no point fixing it.
if you still have cold air then you probably just need a refill. try that its your cheapest bet IMO.

good luck

 

Are you getting air flow from the left dash register (outlet) or is it just not (as) cold?

P

 

You need a recharge due to a leak, probably not cheap to fix.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by P_Adams &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Are you getting air flow from the left dash register (outlet) or is it just not (as) cold?

P</TD></TR></TABLE>

There's airflow from all vents. It's slightly colder then it would be without the a/c running, but it's far from as cold as it should be. The only one that feels like it should is the vent on the farthest right (passenger side).

 

I had the same problem with mine last summer... this year it wouldn't even kick in. I recently got a free recharge (friends of friends are wonderful), and I can hear a hissing coming from behind the glove box (or somewhere in the area) when the A/C is turned on. Still getting cool air out of only the one vent, though. So, all I can tell you is that I'm almost positive I've got a leak back there (I'm not sure what A/C component it is), and it sounds like you've got the same.

Listen around and see if you can hear a high-pitched hissing when the A/C's on. It should help you find the leak.

 

The left a/c register is always the last one to cool down because of two things:
1) It's the furthest from the evaporator core (located up and behind the glove box.
2) You don't feel effective cooling until the duct work cools down.

It does sound like you're suffering with a partial charge, but I would suggest having an authorized A/C tech recharge the system and at the same time either perform a leak test (with an electronic leak detector) or install some florescent dye in the system. The dye will glow under a blacklight (untraviolet) indicating the leaks' location.

Believe me, It's cheaper doing it this way rather than throwing money at it based on a noise.......

P

 

Thanks for the help folks. I'll be getting it checked out this week or next.