Hey guys,

I just got a 90k maintenance on my 2001 Honda Prelude. Prior to the service my A/C was running fine and I never experienced this problem, but right when I got my car back I started experiencing issues with my A/C. When I pulled out of the lot it was perfectly fine, but then a day later I turned my car on and my A/C was not blowing ANY air at all. I was confused and I automatically connected the problem with something one of the technicians may had done.

So the A/C was not blowing at all while I was driving, regardless of how high I set the fan to blow, or how cold or hot I changed the temperature setting. I drove for about 20 minutes, parked my car, and left the car for about 2 hours. When I got back in after 2 hours, I turned the car back on and somehow the A/C was working again like there was never a problem. Then as I was driving for about 15 minutes, it turned off again, and then turned back on again. This was about 2 weeks ago. I haven't had a problem since then, but today it happened again and it still hasn't turned back on.

When I turn my car off, and turn it onto the "A/C" position and turn the A/C on, I can hear the fans under my hood running, just no air is blowing out.

That's all the information I have right now. Is it possible that a Honda tech caused this to happen? What should I do? I already paid $1000 for the 90,000 mile maintenance + timing belt/ac belt/drive belt replacement.

Thanks so much for your help.

Rahul

 

Turn the fan on full and stick your head down by the glovebox. If the blower is working you should be able to hear it running. If the blower does not even turn on then the problem probably isn't related to the work they did.

Did they change the cabin filter/hepa filter? (5th gens use them right?) That filter is directional and if it's installed backwards it might block the airflow.

 

Thanks for the fast reply.

I don't think they messed with the HEPA filter, but even if they did and installed it backwards, it would be blocking airflow 100% of the time. My A/C blows air sometimes, and sometimes it doesn't. Kinda like a short circuit or something. I'll listen for the blower motor and let you know what I find.

 

So I listened for the blower motor and I didn't hear anything at all. Later on when the A/C kicked back on I heard the blower motor. It's a clicking sound by the glove box correct? Either way, when the A/C is off, the motor definitely isn't working. Any ideas?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by rbhambha &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Thanks for the fast reply.

I don't think they messed with the HEPA filter, but even if they did and installed it backwards, it would be blocking airflow 100% of the time. My A/C blows air sometimes, and sometimes it doesn't. Kinda like a short circuit or something. I'll listen for the blower motor and let you know what I find.

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

It's not even possible to install it backwards. But if there were messing around there they could have unplugged a connector or something.

So does the compressor even turn on? If they changed the belt they could have not got the tension on it right.

Why don't you just take the car back and have them figure it out if they caused it?

 

I know the 4th gens had issues with the solder joints in the climate control unit, maybe you are having a similar problem. Next time your AC isn't working, give it a couple of thumps, and see if it turns back on.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by integra15 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Why don't you just take the car back and have them figure it out if they caused it?</TD></TR></TABLE>

I took the car back 2 days after I got it back and the tech said that he couldn't find anything because it wasn't happening while it was in the shop. He said the only way they could figure out what was wrong is if I took it in while it's not working. Also, he said they don't do any work on my car that would cause something like this to happen. The compressor does turn on by the way.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Giant_Bean &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I know the 4th gens had issues with the solder joints in the climate control unit, maybe you are having a similar problem. Next time your AC isn't working, give it a couple of thumps, and see if it turns back on.</TD></TR></TABLE>

The tech told me to thump the area where the transistor is, and the blower motor. I've done both and it doesn't seem to fix the problem when it is happening.

I'm stuck and have no idea what to do. Thanks for all of your help by the way guys, I really appreciate it.

 

Okay so some more information. When I turn on my car, most of the time the blower doesn't work. So I tried hitting the motor under the glovebox pretty hard and that fixed the problem. It's happened 3 times now and I've fixed it every time by knocking on the blower motor. Is it slowly dying or is there a short circuit or something?

Thanks.

 

bump, any ideas guys?

 

its prolly not because of the 90k maintenance because i have a 98 prelude that did the same thing about a month ago and for a week it would not work and comeback on then go off again but for about the past 2 weeks its been working fine. its prolly something to do with the ac fans in the 5th gens is all i can think of.

 

My blower motor quit working unexpectedly three years ago & later that day it started working again. I have not had this issue reoccur ever since.