Hi all,

I am beyond frustrated with the way I am not getting any satisfaction from my Honda servicing. My car went in to get the AC working properly on the 12th of July, and now it's Sept 2nd, and it's worse than when I brought it in. They've actually had it all summer and say they have replaced a ton of parts but it is worse than ever.

As the engine heats up, the temp of the air coming from the vents is warmer and warmer (any ideas as to why)?. Can anyone provide some general thoughts on what this could be? It's a 97 SI and I love the car, but this probem that seems to have totally baffled the mechanic. I've already sunk about $800 in it and it works worse than before the parts went on. I've taken the car home, because I need it, and they say they will call the Honda "tech line" to try to figure this out.......am I being unreasonable to think that this is amount of time to not have a repaired AC is totally unacceptable?

Jim

 

What exactly have they replaced?

 

Did they blow out the condensor if they havent changed it is your fan for the a/c coming on at all?

 

they've replaced the field cool, clutch part, various hoses, evaporator, and honestly I don't know how much more. The unit works ok when the car engine hasn't warmed up, but once it does, the air out the vents gets warmer and warmer. I've monitored it with a digital thermometer and it can easily go up from around 58f to 76F. Any thoughts??

 

Sounds like it could be simply the heater fighting the A/C (heater will always win). Clamp off the heater hoses and test drive.

There is a valve on the firewall that is supposed to cut off the heater when the dash control is on full cold, but trouble with the adjustment or the valve itself is common.

 

thanks mk378, what you say makes sense, I have tried to explain to the tech that the problem with the cooling becomes a real issue as the engine warms up but he seems just focus only on the various parts on the ac itself. Do you have any idea how expensive or involved adjusting or replacing the valve might be?

 

Is it a climate control unit? It so blend doors may not be closing completely. 01-04 Blazers & the WJ Jeeps are also famous for this. It is because these years have climate control A/C Heater Units. My 98 has blend doors also but Jeeps problems started in later years for the most part from what I read.
I'm assuming Honda & others use similar designs.
I'm not sure if Honda uses a vacuum blend door or an electric. Either way there must be a way to check them. Ask the dealer if there are blend doors & are they working correctly. This door is how you can set the temp @ say 76 degrees & the cabin stays in that temp. If it gets too cold the blend door will allow a little heat in then close. In the winter, if it gets to warm they allow in cold air until temp is met.
I hope this makes sense. I'm not a Honda expert but I'm a retired mechanic that tries to stay up some on the newer stuff.

 

thanks for the input on that 90civic. I'm not sure if mine has blend doors, because I've always had to do the adjusting with the lever on the panel manually. There is no ability to set and exact temp as such, would that indicate that it's not the door blending system? On another note, I've noticed that since getting my car back after being at the dealership, the heater fan is making a bit of a growling sound (that one should be a simple fix I'm sure).

I've contacted Honda Canada customer service and they are going to have their tech people call the dealership to try and put some more ideas out there to solve things. I really do appreciate everyones help from this forum because I really am lost with this kinda thing.

 

The blend door and water valve system is mechanical. There is a flexible cable from the dash lever to a mechanism on the bottom of the heater box and another cable from there to the valve under the hood. As you move the lever to full cold, the blend door diverts air around the heater core and the water valve also closes to keep the core from heating up at all.

Any third party mechanic can do the test with the line clamped off. You can buy special clamps intended to temporarily close off coolant hoses.

 

Thanks for the explanation mk378. I'm going to keep this thread updated and will let you know how it goes. I have thought for weeks now that it must be something related to what you're saying. I appreciate your thoughts, as well as everyone else who's posted.......Jim