chiefbrody
Senior Member
- Joined
- Mar 11, 2017
- Threads
- 5
- Messages
- 91
- Reaction score
- 133
- Location
- Florida
- Vehicle(s)
- 2017 Honda Civic EX-L

2017 Civic EX-L SedanIs your Civic a sedan or hatch?
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2017 Civic EX-L SedanIs your Civic a sedan or hatch?
Ya, see what is weird is most of the indications are that it is the other way around except for those that had to have an AC compressor replaced because of the oil dilution issues before they came out with the software fix. I had to wait for the condenser when the dealer here replaced it under warranty. The new suction hose they also replaced arrived faster and it was a whole new part #.I talked to the service advisor for a bit and he said he doesn't know why Honda is only covering the condenser because he hasn't seen any civics with condenser problems, only compressor problems.
Amazing how they change their story when confronted by an owner that shows some awareness of the problem !!I have a 2016 Touring sedan bought in Nov 2015. Car has been great except last September when on a road trip we noticed that the A/C wasn't blowing cold air. Took it to the dealer and they could not find a leak. They charged me $200 to recharge it and they put some dye in it and said to bring it back after 1000 miles. They also said if they find the leak they will refund the cost of the recharge. Brought it back after 1k miles and they could not find the leak, but it was still blowing cold air so they said to bring it back when it stops working. Couple weeks ago it stopped blowing cold air so I took it back to the dealer. Initially they said it was the condenser and that it would cost $600 because they found rock damage. I said show me, and while I saw some bent fins there wasn't really any damage that would cause a leak. I said if the rock damage was causing a leak, the dye should how where. The tech wasn't aware of the dye so he checked again with the UV light. He couldn't show any leak from rock damage, nor any leak at all. They recharged it for free so it's working again, but I am worried that this may become an annual event. I really hope Honda figures this out and proactively offers a fix.
BTW, thanks for uploading that picture of the rock damage inspection instructions. When I pulled that out to compare they changed their tune. I'm guessing most people don't challenge their findings and end up paying a lot for unnecessary and ineffective part replacements.
Yeah, when they wanted to charge me for a new condenser, I asked if they would refund the cost of the first recharge. When they did the recharge with dye, I asked them to put in the notes that they would refund the cost if the leak was found. They tried to claim that the rock damage wasn't the cause of the leak, in which case why would I need a new condenser? It didn't make sense so I asked to see the condenser for myself, which was when I mentioned to the tech that dye was put in last time, which he didn't know. It seems they operate on autopilot until someone pushes back and is armed with information.What does not seem to make sense with the above, is that if they put UV Dye in the unit when they recharged it the 1st time, and it leaked, so needed a 2nd re-charge, where did the dye go, and why could they not find any sign of the dye when you brought the car in the 2nd time to be recharged, AFTER they had put the dye in. ??
Pretty sure that is a pic of the intercoolerMy 16 EX-T at about 43.4K miles’ A/C just started crapping out yesterday. It wasn’t a gradual change over weeks: while driving to the store, it went from frigid cold air to lukewarm within about two minutes. Took a picture this morning, and now wondering if they’ll replace condenser under TSB 19-091 should the condenser actually turn out to be the problem.
View attachment 178116
Which looks like it’s been driven on gravel roads dailyPretty sure that is a pic of the intercooler
Yeah was in a rush and posted the wrong pic. But also yes: they’ve been doing intense construction where I live for the better part of 3 years, but I was able to take alternate routes to my office until I couldn’t anymore. Got the gravel part right, sadly.Which looks like it’s been driven on gravel roads daily
Given the rampant problems I’ve been reading about throughout the day on here during downtimes in the office, I’m strongly considering rigging a cover so the gravel doesn’t continue pummeling itthe good news is the flat edges of all those bent fins cool down very effectively.... the rest of the fin behind the bent edge.... not so much
Get some thin cheap metal mesh, lay 3 layers on top of itself to create a fine mesh. Sadly this impacts cooling capacity to some extent since you are partially blocking airflow. But I did it on my WRX for the TMIC (because people love putting tools there) and it worked great.Given the rampant problems I’ve been reading about throughout the day on here during downtimes in the office, I’m strongly considering rigging a cover so the gravel doesn’t continue pummeling it
I’ll have to try that once I get the situation of “why my A/C just took a dump out of nowhere” figured outGet some thin cheap metal mesh, lay 3 layers on top of itself to create a fine mesh. Sadly this impacts cooling capacity to some extent since you are partially blocking airflow. But I did it on my WRX for the TMIC (because people love putting tools there) and it worked great.
Personally I just have left mine alone, I haven't really looked up close to see the condition of the fins. over 30k miles....