Hello everyone and happy Thursday.

Here's the story. My girls 2007 CR-V was blowing warm air (ever since we got it....1yr ago). I also noticed the compressor wasn't turning on, so I suspected the system was low on Freon. I bought a DIY recharge kit and serviced the system. After servicing the system, the compressor turned on....but (to me) it's turning on and off too quickly (about 1/2 sec), and it bogs down the engine enough to where I think its bad (drops about 300rpm).

It blows cold air now, but for only a few seconds.


My thought is that it might need more Freon, but I'm not sure.
My overall concern is that I take it to a mechanic to fix, but he rips me off. If the compressor is shot....then it's shot. I just don't want someone telling me the compressor is bad (and charges me for that) but swaps out a pressure switch.

All help is always appreciated.



SIDE NOTE: I purchased an A/C Pro recharge kit and followed the instructions to the letter. As I was servicing the system, that's when the compressor kicked on for the first time.

 

This stuff is way over my head. We added some to my system when the compressor wouldn't kick on. it ran cold for maybe a day but I'm assuming the leak took over.

If your system is too low on freon the compressor won't kick on.

I would look into it further but it's actually been quite nice this summer so far, as opposed to last year when it was 95 and a bajillion humidity for 3 months straight. I know you can overcharge them and really screw things up.

I googled it a while back and found a huge writeup on servicing A/C's on i think a civic and it was way over my head so I just gave up. If you have to have it fixed and I would assume living in south florida you do. Ask around and look for a shop that services A/C's correctly. Lots of shops will do it wrong and **** your system up. Overcharging the system will **** it up.

 

My system is pushing out hot air too and im thinking about doing the freon install myself, I just dont want to up my ac lines and have to go to the mechanic to try to fix it

 

Make sure your system is full and stays full. You will need gauges to read the pressures. If you have access to them, record the pressures over a week to determine if you have a leak. If you don't have a leak bring your car into the dealership if your car has under 100,000 miles. Honda extended the warranty on the A/C compressor clutches to 7 years or 100,000 miles on 07-11 CR-V's and will change it out for free.

 

Those can's to fix A/C you can get at a parts store are not freon. It's propane in them, because you need a license to buy freon from a store. They don't last long at all, because you have a leak for it to not have anything in it to begin with.

So take it to a shop and get them to do a proper inspection of it with the sniffer that shops use to find A/C leaks.

 

 

There is an extended warranty on the clutch, but my 2007 CRV turned out to be the compressor bearing and they would not cover it. Dealer charged me $150 to diagnose!!! Looking at replacing the compressor myself. Some ozone "might" get into the air though.....

Honda CRVs have issues with AC compressors over many years. Suggest you look at Nissans. More reliable.

 

That is 100% untrue.

Freon is a brand name for starters. Refrigerant is the proper term. You need a license to buy R-12 refrigerant but you don't need one to buy R-134. Yes, propane will work as a refrigerant, but they would never sell you a kit to put a flammable liquid into your a/c system. Get into a wreck with the condenser right up front and BOOM!!

Those kits usually come with a built in gauge. Turn the a/c system on max cool with the engine running connect the hose and see where the needle points on the gauge. If its in the green then you have plenty in there. If its less than green add some. If its above, you have too much in there. There are a couple reasons why the compressor could cycle often. The pressure switch is on between 25psi and 300psi. If the system pressure gets outside of that range the compressor will kickboff until the pressure gets back in that range, then kick on again. Too little refrigerant in the system will cause the pressure to drop below 25psi. Too much will cause it to go over 300psi. Another cause is if the fans on the radiator aren't coming on with the compressor. We all know hot expands, cold contracts. If those fans aren't cooling the hot refrigerant in the condenser, the pressure goes above 300psi and the compressor shuts off. When it all cools down the pressure drops and the compressor kicks on again. Another unlikely situation would be the evaporator getting too cold and tripping the evaporator temp switch. It keeps the evaporator from icing up.