16 Civic AC Not Working

[anthonyc]

Ah, so it's not backorderd, They are just making people wait forever. I guess I still have 5 weeks to go....

I'm telling you they are trying to get people to buy new cars...

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[zspeed]

Ah, so it's not backorderd, They are just making people wait forever. I guess I still have 5 weeks to go....

I'm telling you they are trying to get people to buy new cars...

It is backordered because of the shutdown that happened to the manufacturers as well. There are a lot of 10th gen Civics that are affected and suffering from the a/c breakdown.

 

[anthonyc]

2020 Civic's are still rolling off the assembly line though....

I was told this part comes from China. There were issues for a couple months after COVID hit there and you could tell just shopping around that things were difficult to get. That hasn't been the case for a couple months now.

 

[LesAnanasNeParlentPas]

i hope honda improves the build quality for the new civic. they don't care about build quality like they used to.

 

[zspeed]

i hope honda improves the build quality for the new civic. they don't care about build quality like they used to.

It's so un-Japanese of them to have a decline in quality.

 

[anthonyc]

i hope honda improves the build quality for the new civic. they don't care about build quality like they used to.

The late 90s Honda's were as good as they got. They've been going downhill since then really.

Saying that, I like my 10th gen, just wish they had put a quality condenser in the car so I wouldn't be where I'm at. I am on a medication that has made me heat sensitive, and we've been having one of the hottest summers in recent memory. Then we have the elephant in the room which is COVID, just been a brutual summer all around.

 

[LesAnanasNeParlentPas]

The late 90s Honda's were as good as they got. They've been going downhill since then really.

Saying that, I like my 10th gen, just wish they had put a quality condenser in the car so I wouldn't be where I'm at. I am on a medication that has made me heat sensitive, and we've been having one of the hottest summers in recent memory. Then we have the elephant in the room which is COVID, just been a brutual summer all around.

it is not just honda though, even toyota and german cars have went downhill in fit and finish as well. only two car makers that seem to improve in built quality are hyundai and mazda. though mechanically, even the cvts in the civics i have not really heard any reliability issues with them since it came out for six years, which is a good sign.

 

[anthonyc]

it is not just honda though, even toyota and german cars have went downhill in fit and finish as well. only two car makers that seem to improve in built quality are hyundai and mazda. though mechanically, even the cvts in the civics i have not really heard any reliability issues with them since it came out for six years, which is a good sign.

I was looking at the Mazda 3, the one thing I really didn't like about it was visibility. It also didn't have the daylight LED's on it at the time. Not a big deal, but it swayed me a little more towards the Civic.

I've been a loyal Honda guy since the late 90s, it's been hard for me to let go. My Civic is almost paid off, and I won't be getting rid of it anytime soon. We'll see where I go in a few years when I start looking again.

 

[schmiddr2]

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.

In an attempt to be thorough, I bought the Interdynamics gauges to check the pressure, and 3 cans of 1234yf just in case (and a valve to adapt to the cans which was a tricky job). It took but a few minutes and I found the system was low on refrigerant. Added some 1234yf and all is well. It seems to be more than a minor leak, but should last 1 month. The problem that is confusing: when the system is low on refrigerant it seems it doesn't flow properly through the evaporator and causes a similar problem to a bad expansion valve, or causes the expansion valve to limit refrigerant flow making it very cold in a spot. The refrigerant comes in on the right side of the evaporator and doesn't flow through quickly enough, which is why people say it is cold on the right side of their car, but hot on the left side.

Now I am waiting on an updated condenser PN and availability. And since I'm already opening the system for that, I'll replace the evaporator and expansion valve too. Plus all the O-rings in the system. It's more work than I prefer because it should not have failed but I really don't care to work with Honda on this nor do I worry too much about the cost. This may not be a solution for everyone or anyone, but for me it's nice that my father worked in HVAC/chillers for 25 years and I'm 40yr old Industrial controls tech.

 

[zspeed]

In an attempt to be thorough, I bought the Interdynamics gauges to check the pressure, and 3 cans of 1234yf just in case (and a valve to adapt to the cans which was a tricky job). It took but a few minutes and I found the system was low on refrigerant. Added some 1234yf and all is well. It seems to be more than a minor leak, but should last 1 month.

Now I am waiting on an updated condenser PN and availability. And since I'm already going in for those things I'll replace the evaporator and expansion valve too. Plus all the O-rings in the system. It's more work than I prefer because it should not have failed but I really don't care to work with Honda on this nor do I worry too much about the cost. This may not be a solution for everyone or anyone, but for me it's nice that my father worked in HVAC for 25 years and I'm 40yr old Industrial controls tech.

Hoping that you can post a video regarding recharging the refrigerant on the 10th gen Civic.

 

[anthonyc]

Hoping that you can post a video regarding recharging the refrigerant on the 10th gen Civic.

Is your A/C all sorted now zspeed?

 

[zspeed]

Is your A/C all sorted now zspeed?

Yes. Everything is working perfectly. Way better when I got it from the dealership as brandnew.

 

[anthonyc]

Yes. Everything is working perfectly. Way better when I got it from the dealership as brandnew.

Nice! I was never that impressed with the Civic's A/C from the start, I just figured that's how the car was. Hopefully I'll have the same experience as you when it gets fixed.

 

[zspeed]

Nice! I was never that impressed with the Civic's A/C from the start, I just figured that's how the car was. Hopefully I'll have the same experience as you when it gets fixed.

It was a downhill for Honda when they used Keihin parts especially the compressor. The Denso system from the Toyota was always ahead and durable.

 

[Ninetofive]

Just adding my recent experience with this issue. About a month ago I noticed the A/C was no longer blowing out cold air (it may have been dead for some time as this was probably the first time I used the A/C this year). Took the car in to a local dealership and they pretty quickly determined I needed a new condenser. My car is still under factory warranty until September 2020 thankfully as when I looked up my car it did not show the recall/warranty extension for the condenser. Was advised parts were on back-order and they would contact me once they came in. 4 weeks later parts finally come in and I drop the car off. Everything is now fixed and they also ended up replacing the compressor as they found it was also not working once the new condenser was installed and the system recharged.

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