is it possible to DIY an AC guard?

arsh88

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So honda, being the poor company they are, have decided to try and claim my AC is broken due to "road debris" and thus won't cover it even though the car only has 23k. My question to them is, how the hell can a rock get in there if you didn't design it incorrectly, in which they had no answer. So, i'm stuck paying $850 on this POS. My question is, does anyone know of a way to create some sort of guard so that small gravel sized rocks can't get behind the grill without impeding function? I can't be paying $850 every 2 years because honda made a piss poor placement decision of their AC components.
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Centripetal

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Unfortunately, if you block the air too much going through the condenser, the AC will not do very much cooking.
I had 150k miles on my RSX before I replaced the compressor. Road debris are a fact of driving. Unless you were rallying the car, this is normal use.

Remind them of the Magnuson Moss Warranty Act and ask them to prove it. How can they be certain there wasn’t a manufacturing defect that eventually caused it to fail.
A lot of warranties only cover manufacturing defects. That includes somebody mishandling while being manufactured/assembled. However, some dealers are nice and go beyond.
 

HondaDNA

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All you have to do is look at it, the condenser is right out in front. If its dented up then they are telling you the truth. $850 is over board thou.
 

gtman

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You could use some wider mesh gutter guard.

Honda Civic 10th gen is it possible to DIY an AC guard? ima
 

Fit2Hatch

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I chose 304 1/4" square stainless weaved .032" wire mesh. It is expensive, rigid and stays pristine overtime even in harsh environments.

On my C6 Corvette, although a bottom feeder, but also has a large frontal opening, two independent wire mesh panels are mounted, using 10-24 Allen head on home made custom stainless brackets installed with rivnuts, so panels are removable in case I need access for service without removing the large one piece bumper cover. Aside being a grit guard, it also prevent trash from being suck into custom front facing air intake snorkel. This has served me well for over a decade on the Vette.

On the Hatch, way simpler since bumper cover's air slot opening doesn't provide any meaningful service , so I simply cut stainless wire mesh to slightly larger than opening and epoxy each in place for all frontal openings. Beside AC condenser, low mount intercooler is protected as well.

Peace of mind for me for sure.

Good luck.
 


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arsh88

arsh88

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All you have to do is look at it, the condenser is right out in front. If its dented up then they are telling you the truth. $850 is over board thou.
I don't doubt they're telling the truth, but it's also factual that if the manufacturer designs it so the AC can take a rock and break then that is in fact a manufacturing defect. They should have designed it better.
 

HondaDNA

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Its a sub $20k car, they designed it to work. It can take some hits but its not bullet proof. You pay insurance for reason also...
 


 


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