2019 Si dealership visit for AC Whistling Noise, A Pillar Rattle

perkidddoh

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I just dropped my car off at the dealership to get looked at.
The few outstanding issues I brought up was the AC making a whistling/leaking noise when driving, only happens when the AC is on. When the AC is off it's not there. Rep was telling me that for issues like this it could be a 490+ charge for diagnostics.
Second issue is the A Pillar rattling, the issue is intermittent. They said I could be charge 170 if it shows that it isn't covered under warranty.

My question is: is this normal and are just simply using this to deter people from asking any warranty work? I went ahead with it but I just can't imagine them coming back and telling me that the A pillar rattle was fixed but out of warranty and now I have to pay $170. That goes the same with the AC noise.

If it helps, this Honda dealership is close by and not the dealership I purchased from.
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SDAlexander8

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They will deny there is a problem with your A/C until it is not blowing cold any more.

The whistling noise is a good indication that you may be losing refrigerant, but it’s not worth risking having to pay the diagnostic fee until it is blowing hot.

My advice:
Your A/C will eventually fail due to the condenser leaking. My went around 36,000 miles and 3 years. Don’t get the diagnosis done until it stops working completely. In the meantime, ignore the whistling.

When it does completely crap out, you’ll first notice that cold air is coming out of the passenger side and warm out of the drivers side. This will last a couple days maybe.

Then soon you’ll hear some crackling noises and mist coming out of the center vents. Nothing but hot air. This is when you need to shut your climate control system off completely and sweat it out until you can get it taken to the dealer to get fixed.

A lot of people will keep running it hoping it will magically start blowing cold again, but they end up damaging their compressor seals while running the system low on refrigerant. The CONDENSER is covered by the extended warranty. The COMPRESSOR is not and will cost ~1800$ to replace. Some people are even having the EVAPORATOR start leaking, and that is a nightmare job of ripping apart the entire dash to replace.

I would think that enough lawsuits are in the works that we will eventually see the entire system covered for 10 years, but it hasn’t happened yet.
 
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perkidddoh

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@SDAlexander8 thanks for the advice. In terms of issues aside from the whistling noise, I haven't encountered anything else nor does the performance of cold air degrade to a warm air for the times that I've used it.
I got my car back a few hours after yesterday and they added foam to the a pillars "based on similar issues they've encountered with other reported issues", as stated on the invoice.
The ac was said to be performing as normal and other cars are "also making the same noise." I call BS. We shall see.
 

SDAlexander8

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@SDAlexander8 thanks for the advice. In terms of issues aside from the whistling noise, I haven't encountered anything else nor does the performance of cold air degrade to a warm air for the times that I've used it.
I got my car back a few hours after yesterday and they added foam to the a pillars "based on similar issues they've encountered with other reported issues", as stated on the invoice.
The ac was said to be performing as normal and other cars are "also making the same noise." I call BS. We shall see.
It is, but they have no choice but to send you on your way. They won’t tell you that it is likely your A/C is going to eventually fail. Just do your best not to run it when it does fail, and get it to the dealership asap. If you do that it is likely that you will not have to pay a dime.

Could happen next summer, could happen the summer after that. Depends on usage and how bad the leak is.
 

DRUSA

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The ac was said to be performing as normal and other cars are "also making the same noise." I call BS. We shall see.
If the whistling noise sounds like a tea pot hiss, it's the system low on freon and is leaking. Could be a condenser, compressor or evaporator leaking.

The diag fee is standard procedure. If the repair goes warranty the fee is waived. Actually proud of your writer lol, I get screwed on diag times all the time with 1HR quote of diag with 7 different lines of issues, homeboy did it properly.
 

RS27

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A pillar rattle super common. Pull screw cover. Unscrew Phillips. Remove a pillar. Add foam. Reinstall. Fixed.
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