I have a 1990 Prelude SI and I'm trying to fix the A/C. There are 2 lights on the button that you push to turn the AC on. A green one that shows if it's pushed on or not, then after a short time a red light comes on and the compressor kicks off. It shoots cold air all up until the red light comes on. I found nothing on this in any book. Some people told me it could be that I'm low on freon or the compressor could be in need of replacement. It seems to work perfectly until that red light kicks on... wtf. If I am hard accelerating, it goes on usually right away... if I am crusing at 2-3k rpm sometimes iit works for 10 minutes.

 

I'd a start out with recharging the system, much cheaper and less time consuming than replacing a compressor.

Also has your car been retorfited for R-134a or are u still using R12?

Or for a suggestion u could take it to any local repair shop and have them diagnose it, and then U could replace what is needed.

 

thanks. I believe it is an R-134 system but unsure. Is there a way of telling for sure that I am low on coolant before taking it somewhere to get recharged? On a previous vehicle I had, there was a small round window in the freon line that I couild see air going through suggesting that was low/slow leak maybe. I have not found such a thing on my Prelude. Honda wanted $400 up front just to 'look' at it. Not worth it for me. What does recharging a system usually cost?