Help guys. I have a 90 Civic LX 4 door. The air conditioner quit working about two years ago. You hit the button but no cool air comes out.

I have heard that low refrigerant can cause the unit to quit working. Well I have a can of R12 and the attachment to mate up with the low pressure port so I can charge the unit.

I was told that the compressor needs to be working before it will suck anything in. Is there a way to force my compressor to try and kick on? Is there a fuse for the a/c unit? I wasn't able to find one in the fuse block under the steering wheel.

Thanks!

 

Typically compressors won't come on when the refridge is low (to protect the compressor from burning up). You need to over-ride that sensor, but only long enough to get r12/freeze12 in the system!

 

Agreed but how do I actually DO that?

 

Erm, why not have a professional handle it? You don't want to risk blowing out your compressor if you don't know what you're doing.

You can convert to R134a too while you're at it.

 

It's at least $85 to diagnose the system and charge it. If it isn't a charge problem then it's even more money on a compressor should it be shot. I've already put $50 into this recharge kit that I haven't loaded since I need to kick the compressor on.

We're talking about an 18 year old car with 140,000 miles on it. I'm just not sure I want to dump hundreds into getting this working when money is tight.

Is there a way for me to tell if the compressor is working or not?

 

To see if the compressor will come on,
You can put a jumper wire in the connection
for the low/dual pressure switch.

 

Hey thanks man that helps me out. Without jumpering that switch is there any easier way to tell if the compressor has actually kicked on or not? If not no big deal I'll just jumper it over and see what happens.

Is there a fuse for the compressor? I couldn't find one in the fuse block under the steering wheel.

 

You should be able to see if the compressor clutch engages or not, this will tell you if it's on.