2016-2019 Evaporator failures/leaks

[Swordfish]

I’m in a crappy situation.

Back in February my car was blowing hot air out of my driver side vents. Took it to Honda and they told me there was no leak but that I was low. They filled up my system. After the diagnostic fee, recharge, and labor I was down $500.

Took it to Honda again this morning for the same damn thing…. This time they found a leak in my condenser which is covered under warranty… but wait! My evaporator coil is leaking too. They said the evaporator is not covered and that they will charge $2,100 to fix it. This has been so frustrating.

The guy at the service desk said he would submit a good will claim ticket to Honda and call me back Tuesday with information. Might just submit one myself. I don’t believe he will do it. We will see I guess.

At this point I’m just going to ride with no AC. No point in paying 2K.

Which honda dealer did you go to in SoCal ?


I thought there was a lawsuit related to the a/c issues because when one item fails it causes a chain for the others to fail as well ?

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[JVel]

Which honda dealer did you go to in SoCal ?

Fontana.

had it fixed via good will claim.

 

[Israel]

Which honda dealer did you go to in SoCal ?

 

[Israel]

Fontana.

had it fixed via good will claim.

Nice yellow overlays on the Leds turn signals . Out of the subject I know lol
You install them?

 

[Swordfish]

Fontana.

had it fixed via good will claim.

I'll have to keep this in mind. I'm in Long Beach but I had to have my condensor replaced. So far it is working, but leery about the rest of the system tbh.

 

[JVel]

I'll have to keep this in mind. I'm in Long Beach but I had to have my condensor replaced. So far it is working, but leery about the rest of the system tbh.

yeah man I wasn’t about to pay $2,100, especially when at the time I owed like 1k on my civic.

anyways, I had them submit a good will claim and Honda got back to me saying to pay $500 and they covered the rest. For now my AC is running good as new.

 

[JVel]

Nice yellow overlays on the Leds turn signals . Out of the subject I know lol
You install them?

thanks, they’re actually over the LED strip. I installed them myself. Check out @Jets Vinyl on Etsy.

 

[rtypefk8]

2016 Honda Civic Touring w/ 33,000 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 thats after many years of ownership.

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

From: https://www.civicx.com/forum/threads/2016-2019-evaporator-failures-leaks.52319/post-904088

2019 Civic Type R w/ 23,000 miles
Purchase date: 2021/10
Did not check A/C upon purchase

2022/04 Blowing hot air. Recharged A/C with R1234yf from Autozone - fixed! (Got a quote from a local Honda dealer to fix issue - estimate was $370 for a diagnostic.)

2023/05 A/C still blowing cold.

 

[btschafer]

I had the common symptom: blowing warm air on the driver's side with A/C on. Dealer diagnosed it as a leaking condenser and replaced it under the 10yr extended warranty. (I had a letter from Honda dated July 2021 informing me of the issue with "some" of our vehicles and they were extending the condenser warranty to 10 years.)

 

[amprsand]

My 2017 touring's evaporator core started leaking last summer. Got it fixed and it has already reared its ugly head again in the last few weeks. Thankfully the shop I took it to warranties any work they do for a year, but I'm pretty disappointed. Hopefully second time's the charm.

 

[2000Honda]

I am going through the same A/C problems with my 2016 Civic EX-T. Here is the timeline:

July 2022 - A/C blows less volume and not cold (but not super-hot) after 1 hour to 1.5 hours of driving. Sometimes I stop and turn off A/C for a while and it works better, but still not as cold as it should be.

May 2023 -- problem resurfaces with warm weather

June 11, 2023 (+/-) -- received letter from Honda indicating that my A/C compressor seal problem is now covered under extended warranty.

June 30, 2023 -- brought Civic to dealer for $19.95 oil change; asked for visual inspection of A/C system.

June 30, 2023 -- informed that visual showed nothing; quoted about $175 for more extensive inspection. Nothing. Quoted additional $200 to remove Freon and replace with Freon plus dye. I approved because I knew it wasn't operating correctly. The inspection of my car stated something to the effect that the A/C had failed inspection and there was outstanding warranty work to be done. Tech was to do work on Saturday, but he didn't work that day; he did the work on Monday. To my delight, I was only charged for the oil change when I picked up the car! I did not pay the $375 +/- A/C repair charges that I had authorized.

Drove it briefly (10 min.) on the 6th and 7th, no problem.

July 8, 2023 -- Packed the car for a 50-minute drive and NO COOLING AT ALL. Hot air.

July 10, 2023 -- Civic back in shop. I was told there were "issues with the repair". This mealy-mouthed corporate lawyer-speak gave me no information. WHAT were the issues? The service manager called me 30 minutes later and said my service advisor, "Grace" was new (I could tell that right away!). He said he checked the car when it came in because he checks all work that comes back broken again. He said it is unusual for these repairs to come back broken again. He said they were fixing it and would be ready by 6 pm.

Grace called me at 5:30 to tell me work was done, but they'd like to test it again in the morning. I agreed.

July 11, 2023 -- Woke up to an 8:03 am email saying "

The following special order part(s) have arrived as of 07/01/2023.

Part Description	Part Number
W-CONDENSER ASSY-	80100-TBC-A02

So, I guess this morning they tested and realized that the condenser had also failed. Waiting on a call. I haven't authorized any new charges this week. So far it seems to be covered under warranty.

Hope this helps others with similar symptoms.

 

[2000Honda]

Just wondering (mine is apparently being repaired atm under warranty), what is the cost of the A/C evaporator part itself? $1600 seems excessive. Is this a job that someone who knows car repair can do themselves at home? Any special equipment needed?

 

[TheCanadian]

Just wondering (mine is apparently being repaired atm under warranty), what is the cost of the A/C evaporator part itself? $1600 seems excessive. Is this a job that someone who knows car repair can do themselves at home? Any special equipment needed?

You gotta pull the entire dash. Time consuming.

 

[dick w]

You gotta pull the entire dash. Time consuming.

Yeah. The part is relatively cheap. It's the labor that runs it up. One of the most invasive repairs there is.

 

[dick w]

Any special equipment needed?

To begin with, an R-1234YF AC machine. These *start* north of $1k.

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