we recently bought a 2002 civic ex 130,000 miles. the ac was not working.
i replaced a high pressure pipe that was cracked and the receiver/drier.
took it to the honda dealer for an evac and recharge. it is working great now very cold.
however the dealer said that the compressor is loud and is likely to be failing.
he recommended not waiting till it fails could damage other AC components.

the dealer will not evac the system and let me replace the parts. They will charge me $148 again for what was just done, no price break unless they do all the work. There price which includes replacing one of the low side pipes was $1100.

Questions:
• should i wait till compressor failure or replace now?

• given the milage should i also go ahead and replace any other items like the condenser to save moony in the long run?

•we are on a tight budget and the price of a used compressor looks great compared to new. i found a low milage fo $125.00 but i do not what to through money away. I do not have experience with using used parts. Is this a good idea or not in this case?

any good advice is greatly appreciated.
thank you.

 

If the comp. is truly going out, you definitely want to replace it sooner then later. The longer it goes, the more debris it'll put in the system. Don't run your a/c anymore.

IMO, a used one is to much of a gamble. I played that game once, and it was bad, had to start from scratch, money out the window.

If you're on a budget, get your car out of the dealer and do the work yourself. It's not a difficult job if you have some basic tools.

I bought one of these comp. kits on ebay last summer, and it's been working fine since.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...8328&viewitem=

I would also replace the condenser. If the comp. is going, it's probably putting junk in the condenser, and they can't be cleaned. I bought one off Rockauto for about $100 bucks. Yours probably has most of it's fines smashed in anyways.

Replace these parts, and take it somewhere for a vac/recharge.

So about $250-300 in parts, $100-150 for the vac/recharge. Sounds better huh?

 

thanks this was helpful. you confirmed what i was thinking.
i was also uneasy with a remanufactured compressor. but it sound like you have had good luck with it. i will look into it also.
thanks again

 

I was too, but so far so good.

A new one from Honda is a little over $400. Might be worth the extra money depending on how long you plan on keeping the car.

 

rather then going through the dealer... just get a Sanden Compressor... Sanden is OE for Honda.

part# 38810-PLM-A12

if you were to open up the Genuine Honda box.. you would see Sanden on the compressor.

 

thanks for advice
after reading more here and at other sites i have another question.

the dealer said the compressor could fail tomorrow or in six months.
if i replace the compressor now and do the work myself.
i will need to replace the compressor, condenser and probably the dryer as well as the line that is bent, plus have the system flushed and recharged. I will lose the $158.00 i just spent on the recharge.

what else could happen if i just wait for it to fail.?
the reason being i will have more time in the fall (i am restoring the out side of our 90 year old cedar shake sided house), savings is low after just buying the car.
and i don't like the idea of the recharge fee just evaporating for nothing.

I realize that if it fails next week the point is mute and it is a gamble.

given all that needs to be replace even with out a complete failure is there any reason not to wait?

thanks again

 

That's your call.

The failing sound could be a worn clutch plate, that's external.

But if it's something internal, it's putting debris into the entire system, which can be hard to flush out. But, it happens all the time, so it's not like it's impossible to replace the parts, clean the system, and be put back to normal.

 

This.

Pull the belt off and spin the compressor pulley by hand to see if it makes noise/ spins freely. The pulley bearing can go bad and make some noises (mine did) in which case you can replace the clutch set. If it spins free of sound and resistance then its time for a new compressor.