Olmsteez
Member
- Thread starter
- #1
Forgive me creating yet another thread on AC condensers. But, I didn't really see one dedicated to the plight of the hatchback!
My wife's 2017 Civic hatch (50k miles) started with AC issues about 2 or 3 weeks ago. It was struggling to keep up with a wet, humid day. About a week later the AC failed entirely. I poked around here a bit and found a bunch of threads about failing condensers and the now famous TSB 19-091. I printed out the TSB and brought it into the local Honda service center and agreed to have them diagnose the AC for $160. They confirmed that the condenser failed and then said that my VIN was not covered by the TSB. According to the rep, hatches were excluded. They wanted $1100 to replace the condenser and recharge the system. Obviously, I laughed. Especially at the bit where they wanted $450 to recharge the system.
I took the car to a local, trusted mechanic and had them do the work. They indicated that they could not visually confirm that the issue was the condenser. There was nothing that looked like road debris induced damage. I then took the old condenser unit to an AC specialty shop to have them inspect the condenser and pressure test it. They found no visible damage to the condenser. They pressure tested the condenser to 30psi and found nothing leaking. They went on to say that a condenser could see as much as 200psi on a warm day. But, they had no means to test beyond 30psi. They said damage caused by road debris would have most definitely been apparent at 30psi. This same shop charged the AC system with the fancy new refrigerant (including oil and dye) after pressure testing the system with nitrogen. After finding no leaks, filled the system.
Cliff's Notes: After Honda diagnosed my system with a condenser failure, two separate shops were unable to find damage caused by road debris. One shop pressure tested the condenser to 30psi -- which would have identified a failure from road debris.
Honda needs to expand the TSB to hatches!
Pics for anyone that is interested. And yes, I kept the condenser.
My wife's 2017 Civic hatch (50k miles) started with AC issues about 2 or 3 weeks ago. It was struggling to keep up with a wet, humid day. About a week later the AC failed entirely. I poked around here a bit and found a bunch of threads about failing condensers and the now famous TSB 19-091. I printed out the TSB and brought it into the local Honda service center and agreed to have them diagnose the AC for $160. They confirmed that the condenser failed and then said that my VIN was not covered by the TSB. According to the rep, hatches were excluded. They wanted $1100 to replace the condenser and recharge the system. Obviously, I laughed. Especially at the bit where they wanted $450 to recharge the system.
I took the car to a local, trusted mechanic and had them do the work. They indicated that they could not visually confirm that the issue was the condenser. There was nothing that looked like road debris induced damage. I then took the old condenser unit to an AC specialty shop to have them inspect the condenser and pressure test it. They found no visible damage to the condenser. They pressure tested the condenser to 30psi and found nothing leaking. They went on to say that a condenser could see as much as 200psi on a warm day. But, they had no means to test beyond 30psi. They said damage caused by road debris would have most definitely been apparent at 30psi. This same shop charged the AC system with the fancy new refrigerant (including oil and dye) after pressure testing the system with nitrogen. After finding no leaks, filled the system.
Cliff's Notes: After Honda diagnosed my system with a condenser failure, two separate shops were unable to find damage caused by road debris. One shop pressure tested the condenser to 30psi -- which would have identified a failure from road debris.
Honda needs to expand the TSB to hatches!
Pics for anyone that is interested. And yes, I kept the condenser.