My car has plenty of freon, but still not getting cold. Is there anything I can check before paying a huge bill? I have done work myself in the past like timing belt, water pump, etc, but never worked on A/C. I just want to know of any typical A/C problems the 90 accord have. By the way, I realize I'll need a mechanic to drain the system and then refill if the problem is serious. Thanks in advance!

 

when was it last recharged

freon loses its capability to cool after a period of time

just in case you did not know
you must have your whole a/c system rebuilt in order to get it charged now
damn EPA!!!
also check fuses and see if the compressor turns on when you turn on the a/c

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by blueaccord2 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">My car has plenty of freon, but still not getting cold. Is there anything I can check before paying a huge bill? I have done work myself in the past like timing belt, water pump, etc, but never worked on A/C. I just want to know of any typical A/C problems the 90 accord have. By the way, I realize I'll need a mechanic to drain the system and then refill if the problem is serious. Thanks in advance!</TD></TR></TABLE>

One thing you may want to check is to be sure BOTH fans are running when you turn the AC on. If they are not ... you will not get cold air.

As for the answer above about freon getting old ... I have never heard that before. I have worked on cars for over 30 years and this is new to me. As long as a system is sealed it will hold the freon and will blow cold.

And the comment about having to have the entire system rebuilt ... not true. You can indeed still get R-12 if you want to pay the price. Most shops are beginning to phase it out for R-134. All you have to do is get adapters to go on the lines and you will need to add some oil to the system. The one thing you do have to watch if you convert to R-134 is that you only charge the system to 75% of its normal capacity.

 

If you know it's fully charged with freon, then the possibilities are 1) plugged expansion valve, 2)faulty compressor clutch, 3)bad compressor, 4)fans not operating properly, 5)short in wiring (12v for comp clutch, low pressure cut-off switch, etc), 6)faulty ECU. You can check most of that stuff fairly easily. Check obvious stuff like fuses, then look to see if the compressor starts turning when you turn the a/c on (the outside of the pulley will always turn, but you'll see the inside of the pulley cycle on and off every couple minutes). If it doesn't, try this (and only if you know for sure there's freon and oil in the system). Unplug the electrical connection from the low pressure switch (located right by the reciever/drier), and take a piece of wire and jump the 2 connectors inside the plug. Turn the a/c back on, did the compressor start turning this time? If it did, then you either have a bad low pressure switch, not enough freon, or too much freon. If not, pull the plug (1 wire) from the compressor and connect an electrical test light to the chassis end of the plug with the a/c on. It should show voltage, and if it doesn't then you've either got a short, a bad ECU, or bad on/off switch. If it does show voltage and the compressor never turned on, then you've got a bad compressor clutch. You can test the stator coil resistance by connecting an Ohm meter to both wires going to the coil, (+) probe to one wire and (-) probe to the other, doesn't matter which way it goes (the one wire that gets plugged in, and the other is screwed to the body of the compressor). If it shows no resistance then the clutch/coil is bad. I don't know if your compressor is the same as mine, but for me it should be about 3.75 ohms of resistance, and if it shows that then it's still good. Also like was mentioned above it could be the fans not working right. I had this happen on mine where it wouldn't blow cold everytime I came to a stop. Turned out to be a bad relay for my main fan, which obviously caused it to not run at all. The small a/c fan was running, but going backwards for some reason and blowing the hot air from the radiator right onto the condenser, which didn't help any either, lol. Both fans must be operating properly in order to keep the condenser cool, which is a must for an a/c system to work properly. That's an easy thing to check though.... both should come on as soon as you turn the a/c on, regardless of engine temp. The expansion valve you'd have to figure out with a pressure gauge, and I forget the exact symptoms to look for to spot a plugged valve, except obviously a/c not getting cold. Mine plugged up the day after I got the rest of the a/c fixed and recharged, and when I turned it on (with the engine at normal idle speed), the RPM's went down considerably lower than normal (like to around 650 or so) and it shook quite a bit, like it was putting a big strain on it. That's all I know on that. Anything after that I'm lost, lol. That should give you something to start with though. Good luck!

 

I appreciate the tips you guys. I should have stated that my compressor does appear to be working properly, but I will check the other possibilities. The wife wants to use her share of tax return to pay for all this, but if I can fix it, she can pay me. LOL

 

I would also check to make sure the flapper doors on the heater core a fully shut, look under the dash on the passenger side while turning the hot/cold ***, the rod end that controls how far open or closed may be out of adjustment.

 

hey i am having the same problem check your accumulator and there is a little valve inside of it that i forgot the name of, i am having the same problem