I've been looking for the past 2 days for a new compressor and clutch for my 1993 honda civic lx. I was told by more than one person that sanden has dicountinued and will not make compressors for my year model car. My question is---- what is the best aftermarket compressor on the market to buy? I see a variety of prices but I don't have any experiences on wht to buy and what not to buy. I'm planning to replace the compressor,dryer, expansion valve and maybe the condensor if I have to. Anybody have any views?
Thanks for any help.

 

R12 or R134a?

 

I couldn't find a sanden compressor and clutch for either refrigerant. I was planning to convert to r134 if I found a factory one. I am not going to waste my good money buying a re-manufactured one. I don't want to have nightmares. I'm really just looking for opinions on what to buy that will be the next best choice.

 

Amazon lists multiple A/C compressors for a 93 Civic, including one from Denso. Enter your car information at Amazon and search for "ac compressor". I'm not saying you have to buy through Amazon. It's a resource to find out what fits in your car and customer ratings. Then you can price compare anywhere you choose.

 

Are you saying denso would be a good choice? What about four seasons? Some of the places are offering kits complete with dryer and o-rings and expansion valve which seems like it would be handy if I ordered off line. What every I buy, I need it to last for a few years as this is an expensive project.

 

Yes, Denso makes outstanding compressors. I think they manufacture the stock compressors for Toyota - at least equivalent quality to Sanden. They also make stock compressors for some 96-00 Civics.

Not sure about the other brands. Maybe somebody else knows. Kits are a good way to save money. Shop around and read the reviews.

Why are you rebuilding the entire A/C system? Care to share some background?

 

I've had this car around 12 years. I bought it for my daughter to learn how to drive. It was a fixit upper so it had a few things wrong with it. She failed horribly at driving as she damaged all four corners of the car. She decided she would save the world and not drive and I had to agree with her. I had the A/C repaired when I first bought the car. I've been restoring the car when I have extra money. I been driving the car as a work car. The A/C hadn't blown cold in a few years so I thought I deserved A/C this summer. I took it to a local garage and the mechanic said the a/c was low on Freon so he shot some dye and added refrigerant. I took the car knowing good and well it must have a leak but I was in a hurry to get home. The A/c was blowing hot the next day so I took it back. I saw some dye at the service port so I knew the scherader valve was leaking. He replaced the valves in the high and low side and recharge the system. I left and as I was driving home on the highway when I noticed the temperture started rising. I also noticed a small squeal like a bearing would make if it was lacking lubrication. The next day the squeal got a little louder and I was afraid the clutch was going to come apart. I'm afraid to use it any more and it wasn't getting very cold anyway. I decided I would rebuid the system myself so I could learn a little about the system and save some money to. I'm trying to buy the better parts as I want to do it right the first time. Anyway that's my story and I'm sticking to it. I'm a maintenance journeyman for a large factory so I'm qualified to make a few mistakes along the way.

 

Did the noise go away when you turned off the A/C?

After recovery of old refrigerant, did the shop replace lost oil and the receiver/dryer and place the system under a deep vacuum before recharging the system with refrigerant?

Are you planning on doing the A/C overhaul work yourself or will a shop do it?

 

Denso is fine but if you really want something thats close to oem, just order Honda's oem parts or there remanufacture parts, Honda also does remanufacturing on used parts, you just have to send them back the old one.

edit: I take that back, they only reman certain parts. The compressor wasn't one of them. Sorry.

 

The shop that did the work last week did not do any recovery and did not pull a vaccum . As far as I know he just added oil and freon after he changed the scheader valves. I'm planning on doing the work myself. If need any help I have a cousin who is in the refrigeration business. The only part I have doubts about is the expansion valve.

 

Big blunder by the shop. With any large refrigerant leak, it's inevitable that air enters the system. Therefore, the squeaking is possibly caused by contaminating air in the system. This is very bad and can cause further damage to the system.

My recommendation before you buy any replacement parts is to have a reputable A/C shop recover the refrigerant and oil. Then, replace the receiver/dryer and recharge properly with oil (volume) and refrigerant (weight), and go from there.

 

The squeak is more like a metal to metal sound. I want to completely evacuate the lines and remove as much oil as I can get from the system. I do want to look at the evaporator coil and replace the expansion valve which may have been part of the problem of not staying or getting very cold. I know this is a lot of trouble but this car is part of a love hate relationship which I have been on the losing side way to long. I had a quote from a reputable shop of 1500. and some change. I have a friend who has a reclaim tank. I have a vaccum pump and a good set of gauges and more time than money. Since I'm not going oem I should easily come in under 750.00 and I will be totally happy when I'm done if it blows 58 degrees and can hold its temperature. The compressor that's in it now is not oem.

 

This^ is also how a slipping belt sounds. High pressure due to air in the system could make it difficult to turn the compressor shaft, causing the belt to slip. However, it's only one possibility. To determine what's actually wrong with the system, you need to do diagnostics - recover, recharge with proper weight of refrigerant, and then performance test with a manifold gauge set.

Your plan is basically to replace the entire system. That should certainly yield a working system, but it's unclear to me that you need to spend so much money on a complete overhaul. It also sounds like you could do the job yourself to save a lot of money.

 

If I vacuum the system for an hour will I have to replace all the oil including what is in the compressor? Should I take off the compressor and drain first?
My biggest gripe with this system is the air has never been that cold since it was converted to r134a 10 years ago. Thanks for all your help and advice!
Happy independence day
Extreme

 

If you plan to do the job yourself, get the 96-00 Civic service manual. A google search will yield a free download.

Service manual page examples: