Hey everyone, Long time reader first time poster here.


I have a 1995 Accord LX 2.2L Coupe and am having trouble getting my AC to hold a charge (I know....old car). I have searched the forums and cant find somebody in the same situation.


I have replaced the condenser pipe to drier line, the high pressure to evap line, the condenser fan (wasnt spinning, now it is), the compressor (engages under pressure), the hi/lo pressure switch, and the compressor relay. I have gotten the AC to hold a charge for a few days at a time and now have a slow leak. I charge it to to around 55 low and 225 high. After a day or two the pressure has fallen to 15 low and 50 high. The system had many leaks when I started, so there is UV dye all over the place thanks to one of the uv dye recharge kits. Ive been noticing a larger than usual water puddle under the evaporator while it is fully charged, but I'm not sure this means the evaporator is bad. No leaks inside the cabin. I cant seem to find this small leak because of all the UV dye. There are speckles around almost every major AC connection from this one time the schrader valve blew out (not from pressure alone, the valve was damaged).


My questions are:


What are the main causes of excessive condensation from the evaporator? Could a bad condenser cause this?


If the evaporator was leaking would I see UV dye behind the glove box or would it all be internal?


Is it normal to hear bubbling/hissing inside the dash when you turn the AC off?


I'm considering replacing the condenser and evaporator to have a completely new system, would you recommend that? or would it be risky considering all the lines I need to disconnect in the process and likely having another leak?



Thanks for reading.



Plex

 

I'm pretty sure you would see dye coming from the condensation drain tube if you had a leak that was large enough to drain the pressure out of the system in a couple of days.
Could be a leak at the receiver drier as well..I'd check that canister carefully.

FYI that low pressure charge number is way too high should be around 30 or so.

Another very common weak spot is the suction hose with flexible rubber hose and crimps, many times the hose will fail near the metal crimping point, look for a little dye inside the metal collar where the rubber hose enters it.

 

Thank you for the response, I will check those two spots for dye later today.

 

On my hondas, I found the schrader valves needed to be replaced when they hit this age. But it sounds like you might have already replaced the whole pipe, so this may be irrelevant.

In answer to your questions about noises, I can't say I ever hear noises as described when turning on or off the AC.

 

My 97 makes noises from inside the cab..fyi

 

Thanks for everyone's replies. So I looked again with the UV light and there is a slight glow coming from the Evaporator drain line. I ordered a new evaporator and a condenser so the whole system should be new other than a few lines that don't show signs of leaking and electrical. I am gonna get them swapped out this weekend and hope that it holds a perfect charge. @hondaslave, its great to know that yours makes noise as well. That puts me at ease a bit. If I don't post in this thread again, that means that replacing those components worked. If anyone in the future has questions about anything 5th Gen AC related, I have gotten pretty deep into it so feel free to hmu.

 

You might want to post all that knowledge here, about how you id each part, concerns, costs, etc. It's always helpful and then a part of the forum instead of just in your head. Also, while it's fresh in your mind.

I'd be interested to hear the saga

 

@99stockcivic , here goes nothing.

I bought the car a little over a month ago for $1700. I knew at the time the AC wasn't working because the clutch was not engaging. Usually this just means the compressor is bad on a car this old. I went and ordered this AC compressor (with clutch) from Amazon for $160 ( Delphi CS20104 10S17). The installation wasn't too bad. I had to remove both the power steering pump and alternator to access the compressor. I went ahead and replaced the belts since I had everything disassembled (got them from auto zone, sorry no part numbers, I threw the packages away).

After installing the compressor, I grabbed a Receiver Drier and a 20oz can of Arctic Freeze R134A with the little plastic line from Orielly's. To get to the receiver/drier I had to remove the battery and battery mount. After removing the old receiver drier by loosening the nuts on either side of the unit, I help it up to the one from Orielly and they did not match. The ports for the original unit were horizontal facing, while the new one's ports were vertical. Since it was already night time, I reinstalled the old receiver drier and and attempted to charge the system. After about 3/4 the can was gone, the compressor still wasn't kicking on and I realized I must have a bigger problem. As soon as I shut the car off I could hear a massive hiss from a leak. It sounded like it was coming from below the battery where I reinstalled the old drier. I figured the old drier was probably bad. The next day I went to Advance and bought the correct drier and installed it. After wasting another expensive can of freon, the same result happened. The compressor did not kick on and hissing continued under the battery.

At this point I knew I needed to do some more in depth diagnosis, so I went to Orielly and rented their vacuum pump, since I couldn't afford to keep trying to find the leak with freon. (btw don't try and correct me and say that R134a isn't freon, because I don't give a single ****.) I also had to buy a manifold gauge set, which I picked up on sale from Harbor Freight for $40 (WINNN!!). I put a vacuum on the system, listened carefully, eventually found that the line running from the condenser to the drier was the culprit. When I placed my hand over the very end of the line that was running to the drier the hissing changed. Apparently they do not make this part anymore and there is 1 ******* on eBay selling them as "The last one," and then once you buy it there's magically another "last one" (this is so he can price gauge). So I spent $55 bucks on a 8 inch line, installed it, and tried to vacuum the system again. It held a perfect vacuum so I decided it was time to investigate why the compressor wasn't kicking on (it should kick on even if there's a decent sized leak, while you charge it).

Looking down at the radiator/condenser from the front of the car, to the right of the radiator, there are 2 relays that are coated with rubber and held on by a 10mm nut. One is for the ac compressor clutch and the other is for the condenser fan. At the time neither the fan nor the compressor were kicking on. First I checked all the fuses in both the cabin and in the engine bay. The fuses in the engine bay are in the corner between the battery and the glove box, the fuses in the cabin are next to the hood release on under the dash on the drivers side. All the fuses checked out fine. I decided to grab the relay for the light from the fuse box in the engine compartment, since it has the same connectors as the compressor. I swapped the relay for the windows with the compressor relay, then with the condenser fan relay and neither one kicked on. To me, this ruled out the relay as the SOLE issue.

After doing some studying, I believed (I was not sure) that there is a hi/lo pressure switch that verifies appropriate pressure then sends a signal to the ECM, and then the ECM sends a signal to compressor relay/ condenser fan to turn on. Assuming this, I wasn't sure if jumping the compressor relay would cause the clutch to engage since the signal is supposed to come from the ECM anyways (so I thought). I jumped the relay using some speaker wire and was surprised to hear the compressor clutch engage. I also jumped the condenser fan and nothing happened. At that point I was pretty certain the fan motor was bad so I ordered this condenser fan from PartsGeek for $40 (2403-256254 API). For the compressor, I couldn't decide whether I it was Relay, the pressure switch, or the ECM. I decided to buy a relay and pressure switch from Orielly and replaced both. The relay was $40 and the pressure switch was $38.

After receiving the new condenser fan, I installed that as well. Very simple installation. Don't listen to youtube, you do not need to get under the car. just reach down there for the bottom bolt. Now that. I had installed the new fan, relay, and pressure switch, I purchased 2 12 ounce cans of freon from advance and used my manifold gauge set to charge the system. After 5 second the compressor kicked on and the condenser fan kicked on also. The system took the charge, and the AC was ice cold. I felt like the job was done.

After turning off the car, it was time to remove the manifold gauges and as soon as I removed each fitting, the Schrader valves were both hissing. I put the fittings back on and evacuated the system. I bough a pack to two Schrader valves. While the low side valve came right out, the high side valve was stuck. I kept turning it to the left and it would fee like it was loosening, then it would make an audible click and nothing would happen. I hooked my impact driver up to it and tried to reverse it to no avail. As a last ditch effort, I grabbed my smallest pair of needle nose pliers and got a good grip on it and yanked it out. It took a surprising amount of force. Once examining the valve the I had just snatched out of the port, I realized that it was only half a valve. The other half was still in there. I decided to take a tiny drill bit and drill through the valve (yes I realize this isn't wise). I did drill through it and was able to get another valve in but it would never stop leaking. So I ordered another high side line from PartsGeek ( Part # HA11007C UAC, runs from the drier to the evaporator.)

I received the new high side line and replaced it, definitely remove the cruise control and the low side line at the evaporator to make your life easier. At some point in the process I wore a hold in the 8" line I had purchased from eBay before and totally blew a gasket. Once I got done cussing out the invisible people in my garage and punching a couple holes in the wall (JK), I took a trip to local junkyard and got lucky enough to find another Pipe, Condenser (proper nomenclature).

I recharged the AC and it worked for 2 or 3 days. That is when I posted in here to try and get some assistance.

God bless anyone with the patience to work on AC in an old car.


- Plex

 

@Plex

That was a great "journey" you took us on with this post! After seeing what you've gone through I am not worthy to attempt to do more than do the occasional 12 oz can top offs.

My system leaks but as far as I can tell only at the crimp section of the suction line, it is a slow leak that generally has become a bit larger as some years have gone by. Now I need to top off every four months for proper compressor operation. I want to replace the hose line but I'm almost worried about the 10 mm bolt securing that line into the compressor being seized in the aluminum threads...Should I try? Hmmm...

But seriously you pointed out a LOT of potential weak spots for others to check into. Thanks for the post.
.

 

No problem man. I would say go for it. Of all the compressors I've changed I've never had a single one seize up on the compressor. Just spray a good bit of pb blaster or WD40 on there the night before and you will be fine.. oh, and change the O ring too.

 

Yeah, that was a great post. You are definitely showing perseverence. Hope you are near the end of solving this.

 

Thanks for the encouragement, the fact that you haven't had any bolts seize up on the compressor gives me confidence! I'll try it.