Hello, I was wondering if I could get some input on my A/c problem. I have a 2010 Honda Civic, A/c was working when I bought the car, but now that the weather got hottter, it stopped cooling down. We did the service on it, no leaks seemed to be present, them we replaced the Compresor (apparently it had a shortfuse, the mechanic said I needed a new one) I bought one online remanufactured and after installing it the AC still didn't work. We bought another compressor at O'Reilly (the mechanic said the one online was not good quality, that's why the ac was still broken) and was installed, but the ac still didn't cool down, then we bought the expanse valve and replaced it, and he gave me the car saying it was ready, and even though it is slightly cooler, the air is too warm, especially when the weather hits 110 degrees. I decided to replace the clutch relay fuse, and still doesn't work. I spent a fortune and my mechanic doesn't seem to know what's he's doing, he's just literally replacing all the parts that could be wrong with the car and charging me. So far the compressor, expansion valve, drier, a/c relay have been replaced for new parts, and the freon service was done. Any ideas what could it be? Thanks

 

Its worth checking the hvac controls. Sometimes the actuator that directs the air flow between cold and hot gets stock or stops functioning. Sadly this all under the dashboard .

 

Seems like they changed just about everything. I don't know if that year Honda has an a/c temperature switch, but that could be faulty. A good a/c mechanic will check the temperature of the low and high pressure lines. The low pressure lines should be just above 0 C/freezing. If these are all correct then your A/C likely is working properly and the issue could be that your heater core is reheating the air.

 

I believe the 2010 Civic is the same as the 2007.

Two things I can think of, are you hitting the MAX AC button? And Are you hitting the recirculation button?

I noticed, regular AC button with fresh air pulling the hot air from outside is not that cool.

MAX AC and recirculation on the other hand pushes nice cold air as it's not trying to cool the super hot outside air.

 

Morons like your "mechanic" are the bane of my professional existence. Honestly there is not much that can be done from here. The AC system is fairly dynamic. First thing to be done s to check refrigerant purity and throw a set of gauges on your car to monitor the pressure at different operating values, then go from there.


Maybe try Yelp or Googling a high rated shop in your area. Your problem is probably not overly complex,you just need someone who knows what they are doing.

 

Definitely get a new mechanic.

 

You wouldn't know if AC pressure is commonly low at idle on the 8th gen civics would you?

I've been waiting for OP to report back and also curious to know if Honda did a poor AC design on this generation of civic. I'm not willing to throw a crap ton of money at the AC if it's an Achilles Heel.

 

The 8th gen has an excellent AC system. Nice and cold. Early model years had an issue with the system during light accel, which required a reflash. Other than that the systems worked fine.

 

Okay thank you.

I checked some of the things I read a Honda Technician advised on 8thgen forums regarding the AC and everything seems to be working when on, fans, compressor spins etc etc. So maybe it needs a recharge.

I thought the system was a closed system so not sure how it would lose refrigerant without a leak. Seems like I have to toss some money at it as it only goes cool with max AC and bringing RPM up to 2500 or so. At idle it pretty much blows warm air with a hint of cool mixed in.

Thanks for the info.

 

All AC systems leak to varying degrees,hence the need for a periodic recharge. The leakage rate is minor, and has improved through out the decades with the improvement of seals and hose material(the sources of the seepage)

Problem is,the system charge has become smaller and smaller,with most passenger cars having no more than 16-18oz of refrigerant. This makes the recharge rate a little more frequent than in the past. Typical time frame is 7-10 years. If you need to recharge sooner,then you have an abnormal or gross leak,and it needs to be found.

 

Excellent info, thank you. The car is 10 years old.

So now I guess the question is, should I take it to the stealership to recharge or would my nervous (never done before) mechanical aptitude allow me to recharge it myself safely to see first if that's the culprit?

 

If youre not sure what youre doing.. Take it to a REPUTABLE shop. A/c systems are a precise science. It requires expensive investments in equipment and someone experienced to diagnose most issues. The old days of just adding a can of freon are long gone. The money spent is well worth it to have the repair done correctly.

 

Thanks.

That's the same impression I was getting researching.

And instead of just an AC shop, I will contend with the higher pricing of my local dealership. With their HDS system they will be able to tell if there is anything more than a recharge required all from the drivers seat supposedly.

Just hate the added expense, but well worth it to be sure it's done properly, especially for this car, this one is worth the extra love.

Cheers all and thanks!

OP Sorry to Hijack your thread, but there has been some great info added to it due tot eh hijack. Cheers

 

Not really. Sure, on the Prius-type cars yes it's more complicated but an auto ac is really pretty straight forward once you know the basics. There are really good how-to's on youtube for diagnosing and charging and except for recovering refrigerant the average diy'er can simply use a good leak detector with uv glasses and dye kit, a vacuum pump, and some gauges to properly diagnose and recharge a system properly, making sure to vacuum down the system for atleast a half hour to remove all moisture and making sure to add the proper amount of oil in the system when opening it up.