16 Civic AC Not Working

schmiddr2

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Don't know if you run your car in ECNO mode but if you do the compressor will not run all the time and it will blow random. Turn it off and the compressor is always engaged. If it's super hot out it's hard for it to keep up in Ecno mode.
Never eco mode. The evaporator is freezing up and preventing air flow; it has blown ice out of the vents. The main cause of this is expansion valve. Could be caused by refrigerant freon levels but ive check this.
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Gruber

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16 EXL. Over the last year my AC air temps from the vents has varied randomly even when set at one temp. And when the outside temps get higher it is more noticable. More recently I've noticed my vents not blowing as much air when using AC. I've had some days where its very humid or rainy and the vents will blow fog like when opening the freezer door on fridge. If i turn the AC to off, gradually the vents blow harder and the fog goes away.

I've had the car to the dealer but they didn't really want to find the problem and just told me that the refrigerant freon is full. After some hours of research I've determined the most likely culprit is the expansion valve. Its on the side of the evaporator. Ill be changing it within the next few weeks. Good video on YT were a guy changes this on an Accord, with new o rings and oil.
I don't see any sign of any problem with your AC from this description. The fog is just physics - you can't have Honda fix physics.
The vents are not supposed to blow constant temperature when they are set to any setpoint. They are supposed to maintain the temperature sensor at the setpoint, and the controller may also vary the vent air temperature to try to achieve this. It can also vary fan speeds when on AUTO.
 

zspeed

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Never eco mode. The evaporator is freezing up and preventing air flow; it has blown ice out of the vents. The main cause of this is expansion valve. Could be caused by refrigerant freon levels but ive check this.
If that’s the case, you need to switch it to heat to defrost it and it’ll be okay again.
 

schmiddr2

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I don't see any sign of any problem with your AC from this description. The fog is just physics - you can't have Honda fix physics.
The vents are not supposed to blow constant temperature when they are set to any setpoint. They are supposed to maintain the temperature sensor at the setpoint, and the controller may also vary the vent air temperature to try to achieve this. It can also vary fan speeds when on AUTO.
Its a 16' car. This started last year. So for 4 years this didn't happen. When the AC is on for a while I can hear the fan blowing like he'll but very little air coming out. I've removed the filter for a test and still have the same problem. The air blows over the evaporator and when it freezes it slows the flow of air from the vents, nothing to do with the fan. And when this happens the air is so cold it turns to fog or freezing air. After turning off the AC for a few minutes the air blows faster again and the fan never changed speed.
 
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schmiddr2

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If that’s the case, you need to switch it to heat to defrost it and it’ll be okay again.
Heat is unnecessary, just turn off the AC. And this does work as I said before. Leave the AC off for a few minutes and the evaporator thaws. Yesterday I did this and once it thawed ice flew out of the vents.
 


schmiddr2

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I'm really only posting this information to help people. If someone has a similar problem. I appreciate the advice, but ill just report back once the parts are changed to confirm or dismiss this solution.
 

Gruber

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Its a 16' car. This started last year. So for 4 years this didn't happen. When the AC is on for a while I can hear the fan blowing like he'll but very little air coming out. I've removed the filter for a test and still have the same problem. The air blows over the evaporator and when it freezes it slows the flow of air from the vents, nothing to do with the fan. And when this happens the air is so cold it turns to fog or freezing air. After turning off the AC for a few minutes the air blows faster again and the fan never changed speed.
So you may be right. You should though just measure the temperatures and test at the LOW setting, so it's not regulating. I thought the fog is an unrelated observation, but it might indeed indicate the temperature becomes too low at times. I would check at the LOW setting, ECON off, recirculation on, starting after AC was off for some time. Normally, air out of the vents should become cold, but not close to freezing, and stay there. If the evaporator is indeed freezing, then the air flow could indeed decrease, and the temperature out of the vents could go either higher at higher flow or even lower at low air flow.
If it goes to a seriously low temperature at low air flow (in the thirties) it could indeed indicate freezing, which is a relatively common issue with any AC.
AFAIK there is a temperature sensor at the valve/evaporator and it's accessible to scanner tools, so it can be diagnosed.
 

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I took my car in yesterday for an A/C diag and it did come back as being a bad condenser. The service advisor said that the part has been ordered, however he did not give me a time frame as to when it would arrive.

Anyone else had this done recently? How long did it take? We've having the hottest temps we've had in years, a real lousy time to be without A/C.
 
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Condensors here in the UK are on back order and its taking around a month for dealers to get them from what I am led to believe.
 

zspeed

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I took my car in yesterday for an A/C diag and it did come back as being a bad condenser. The service advisor said that the part has been ordered, however he did not give me a time frame as to when it would arrive.

Anyone else had this done recently? How long did it take. We've having the hottest temps we've had in years, a real lousy time to be without A/C.
I’m a month waiting already. It’s pissing me off big time.
 


anthonyc

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I’m a month waiting already. It’s pissing me off big time.
Ahh that's what I was afraid of. The crappy thing is my A/C was somewhat working before, but I had nothing but warm air after they checked it. It's been leaking for 4 years, I'm not sure why they couldn't have filled it up just for the time being. Yeah some would leak out, but not much. It's not like they can't reclaim whatever is left in the system when the condenser arrives.
 

zspeed

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Ahh that's what I was afraid of. The crappy thing is my A/C was somewhat working before, but I had nothing but warm air after they checked it. It's been leaking for 4 years, I'm not sure why they couldn't have filled it up just for the time being. Yeah some would leak out, but not much. It's not like they can't reclaim whatever is left in the system when the condenser arrives.
Yeah, same thing here. Just the freaking warm air. Looks like they just disconnected my compressor since it’s not engaging anymore. I’m just so done with owning a Honda. The quality of their cars just deteriorated over the years and they just made it even more complicated to work on.
 

anthonyc

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Yeah, same thing here. Just the freaking warm air. Looks like they just disconnected my compressor since it’s not engaging anymore. I’m just so done with owning a Honda. The quality of their cars just deteriorated over the years and they just made it even more complicated to work on.
The compressor won't kick on if the pressure is too low, that's probably the issue. They probably reclaimed everything in the system to save some $$. The refrigerant is pretty expensive for these cars.

My car is almost paid off and so far has been solid. Things happen, it's just a lousy time of year to be dealing with no A/C. At least I'm mostly WFH these days.....
 

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Well crap, just today my AC started blowing warm air on drivers side and mildly cold air on passenger side. I'm at 35,600 miles. I better take it in ASAP, eh?
 

anthonyc

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Well crap, just today my AC started blowing warm air on drivers side and mildly cold air on passenger side. I'm at 35,600 miles. I better take it in ASAP, eh?
If you are still under the 3/36 B2B heck yeah. The service manager said that 90% of the time it's the condenser, but I'd take it in just in case it's something else. A/C systems can get expensive.
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