2016-18 Model Year Air Conditioner Failures

[fazekas]

I own a 2016 Honda Civic Touring w/ 33,500 miles. Has been in the shop 4 times for AC problems:

2018/09 - Blowing hot air. Compressor and various components replaced by dealer shop Still under warranty, no charge.

2019/04 - Blowing hot air. Dealer/shop couldn't find leak, recharged refrigerant.

2019/12 - Blowing hot air. Compressor leak (now my second), now out of warranty, $1400 quote. A lot of back and forth between dealer, district parts manager, and case manager at Honda. Received "goodwill assistance", price reduced to $174.

2020/10 - Blowing hot air again, this time Evaporator Core. $2000 quote. a lot of back and forth between dealer, district parts manager, and case manager at Honda. Price reduced to $695, BUT the part has been on national backorder, so who knows when it will actually get fixed.

The AC system in this model year is either poorly designed, components cheaply manufactured, or a combo of both.

I've driven and owned MANY vehicles in 40 years of driving, have never, ever owned a car with AC failure, let alone multiple. May have needed refrigerant replenish, but that's after many years of ownership.

First impressions are important, this was my first Honda, and my last.

Anyone else with similar issues for same model year, please post to the thread. Thanks.

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[SDAlexander8]

A lot of new tech went into this generation civic and unfortunately they’ve had some problems. Sorry the brand was soiled for you.

The core of Honda as a company has much higher standards than what you’ve experienced, and they’ve made fantastic reliable vehicles in the past.

Sadly a dealership is a business full of people who don’t care and Soichiro can’t be there at the dealership with you to help make it right.

 

[Fk7_412]

18 civic sport here.
Two months ago experienced the whole, AC on but blowing hot air. They deemed it a compressor issue and offered an 80/20 split. Essentially I bought the part ~$300.. This past week, same thing happened again. They conclude it was a condenser leak this time and replaced it free of charge under the recall.
Personally and I hate to say it, might be a matter of time before the frustration of AC issues makes me move on from Honda.

 

[SDAlexander8]

18 civic sport here.
Two months ago experienced the whole, AC on but blowing hot air. They deemed it a compressor issue and offered an 80/20 split. Essentially I bought the part ~$300.. This past week, same thing happened again. They conclude it was a condenser leak this time and replaced it free of charge under the recall.
Personally and I hate to say it, might be a matter of time before the frustration of AC issues makes me move on from Honda.

Air conditioning is a pretty important thing to not mess up. Keep your receipts, I think they’ll extend warranty on all A/C parts.

 

[fazekas]

A lot of new tech went into this generation civic and unfortunately they’ve had some problems. Sorry the brand was soiled for you.

The core of Honda as a company has much higher standards than what you’ve experienced, and they’ve made fantastic reliable vehicles in the past.

Sadly a dealership is a business full of people who don’t care and Soichiro can’t be there at the dealership with you to help make it right.

The dealership has actually has been great, they even admitted receiving calls daily for Civics with the same problems, they have done a lot to help. It’s Honda regional management and corporate that is the issue. AC is a known problem for this model year. Honda needs to do right, admit its failure and fix it.

 

[SDAlexander8]

The dealership has actually has been great, they even admitted receiving calls daily for Civics with the same problems, they have done a lot to help. It’s Honda regional management and corporate that is the issue. AC is a known problem for this model year. Honda needs to do right, admit its failure and fix it.

They have to get the official bulletin from Honda before they can stop pretending there is no problem. It’s coming, don’t worry.

 

[babypj]

Air conditioning is a pretty important thing to not mess up. Keep your receipts, I think they’ll extend warranty on all A/C parts.

It’s terrible we have to wait to see if they’re going to give us our arm back. If I had to pay 450 for a diagnostic but KNEW the problem would be fixed, I’d be all for it. Since I have to pay and know it won’t be fixed, I have no reason to believe it was worth the arm or the leg.

 

[Lifesabeach]

There have been some issues with this in Europe but not sure how wide the issue is here I'm just wondering how many folks run their AC in Auto? I keep mine on Auto all the time and so far have not had any problems on my 2018.....touch wood I don't want to tempt fate

 

[TopCatCt]

There have been some issues with this in Europe but not sure how wide the issue is here I'm just wondering how many folks run their AC in Auto? I keep mine on Auto all the time and so far have not had any problems on my 2018.....touch wood I don't want to tempt fate

My condenser failed after 18 months, replaced under warranty, apparantly it was a coating problem inside the core, dealers where told to replace any units foc that failed that were not caused by physical damage, in the states I think they have extended the warranty to 10 years

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