Please read! Verified A/C issue with 1.5L

[johnc_22]

My wife and I had an Altima rental last weekend. Much better A/C than my Civic. I plan on raising it with the dealer at first service interval. It's not adequate for Atlanta summers (or fall for that matter). I'm hoping it's low on coolant or there's some other issue. It does blow cool when it's not that hot out.

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[dallasjhawk]

My wife and I had an Altima rental last weekend. Much better A/C than my Civic. I plan on raising it with the dealer at first service interval. It's not adequate for Atlanta summers (or fall for that matter). I'm hoping it's low on coolant or there's some other issue. It does blow cool when it's not that hot out.

not sure how far you dug in this thread, but there are instances of the systems being undercharged on delivery. The dealer would have to hook it to the machine check the charge and refill the system. That has fixed the issue for some

 

[shadowspar]

Poor PDI - best to ask to see the PDI checklist for what else they didn't check.

I think this would have been one of the harder issues to pick up on -- the A/C seemed to blow cold right when you start the car up, and it only became really apparent after a drive of a few minutes on a warm day. Still, I agree with you that it should have been caught -- I'm definitely going to grab the PDI checklist and look over everything on it that I can do myself.

 

[sunnysunday]

Got my car back today. Had the compressor replaced.

1400$ job, however I remembered I had an extended warranty through my credit union and only forked over 100$

 

[xXxHondaCivicxXx]

Got my car back today. Had the compressor replaced.

1400$ job, however I remembered I had an extended warranty through my credit union and only forked over 100$

That's good, but shouldn't Honda's warranty for your car cover the part? It's not like the part was replaced due to wear and tear.

 

[dallasjhawk]

That's good, but shouldn't Honda's warranty for your car cover the part? It's not like the part was replaced due to wear and tear.

Only if the car was inside the warranty period. If they bought a warranty through the credit union, they take care of it. My credit union offers extended warranties.

 

[Silverocket]

Got my car back today. Had the compressor replaced.

1400$ job, however I remembered I had an extended warranty through my credit union and only forked over 100$

did it fix it for good?

 

[Silverocket]

After SIX times taking my car to Honda of New Rochelle this summer, they finally replaced the compressor....praying this finally solves the issue. I cannot believe what I have gone through with those people. I was there all fucking summer and they put me through so much shit, doubting the issue even existed, accusing me of tampering with the Freon. Fucking awful.

 

[xXxHondaCivicxXx]

After SIX times taking my car to Honda of New Rochelle this summer, they finally replaced the compressor....praying this finally solves the issue. I cannot believe what I have gone through with those people. I was there all fucking summer and they put me through so much shit, doubting the issue even existed, accusing me of tampering with the Freon. Fucking awful.

Wow, I am sorry to hear that they put you through all that! But what shocked me was their accusation! Idk why they would go so far to accuse the customer of tampering with the Freon (R1234yf). As for me, I had to take my car 2 times before they decided to replace the compressor. The first time, they replace a part on the compressor, the second they said they overfilled the Freon (R1234yf), and after testing they found that the issue was still there and they needed to replaced the compressor.

Overall, the dealership and my service advisor have been very understanding with my concerns. I wouldn't know if the compressor replacement works until I test it next summer, but I hoped it fixed the problem with both our cars!

 

[zroger73]

Pet peeve warning!

Cars haven't used Freon in over 25 years. The name Freon was trademarked by DuPont and refers to the old R12 (Freon-12) refrigerant that was used in automotive air conditioning systems until 1993. Beginning in 1994, R134a became the standard refrigerant since R-12 was no longer legal for use in new cars. Over the last few years, manufacturers have been transitioning to R1234yf which is about 10 times more expensive than R134a and requires new service equipment. Very few aftermarket shops are equipped to handle this new refrigerant, so you're mainly limited to dealers for now. The main advantage of R1234yf is that it is less harmful to the atmosphere than R134a and manufacturers earn fuel economy credits by using it which encourages its use (even though it doesn't increase fuel economy). Most new Hondas (including our Civics) use R1234yf refrigerant. It's not Freon. The word "Freon" is often (and incorrectly) used to describe any refrigerant the way "Kleenex" is often (and incorrectly) used to describe any facial tissue.

 

[Silverocket]

Wow, I am sorry to hear that they put you through all that! But what shocked me was their accusation! Idk why they would go so far to accuse the customer of tampering with the Freon.

Oh, allow me to try to explain it briefly. At one visit (3rd?), they checked the freon/coolant levels and determined that it was overcharged, as folks have referenced in these AC problem threads. Fine, so they said I was factory overcharged at 0.571, drained it and refilled to the factory spec of 0.425.

I continued to have AC issues and brought car back in... the next day I get a call saying yes they see there is still a problem, and asking me where else have I taken my car, because the freon/coolant level is back up to overcharged (0.581). I tell them truthfully that I have not serviced my car anywhere else aside from an oil change, and the service manager tells me I better hope no one finds out about this, because it could VOID MY WARRANTY (car is about 14 months old, 11k on it).

At that point, I become livid. The car had already been in 4 times with no fix and it seemed to me like they were just looking for any way to get out of their duty of servicing it under warranty, and get out of me being a thorn in their side about a problem they are tired of hearing about. What bothered me even more, is the fact that this only showed me that they in all likelihood didn't actually drain it in the first place, so that fuck up is on them...and they tried to switch it around on me and act like they were doing me a favor to "keep that under wraps" while they continue to work on it.

My service manager also said to me that "he would cover the costs" of that particular service of re-draining and re-filling the freon/coolant... as if I was not under warranty and he was doing me a favor. Meanwhile, he is covering his own ass and his own techs for whatever fuckup happened. The paperwork on that particular service by the way, was a complete sham job. Nowhere in that write up are coolant levels mentioned, the service was written up as a simple O-ring replacement, to cover all their asses and not having to reference the freon/coolant magically refilling itself to almost exactly where it was originally found.

Aside from THAT, the car was still not fixed... they replaced the compressor finally, it should have been done on the 3rd visit, not the 6th. You would think they could determine the bad compressor without the help of Honda engineers getting involved, or that the engineer would get involved sooner. The bottom line is they didn't believe my problem was real, valid, or legitimate.

Please note this is just ONE of the nightmare service visits... I have plenty more stories about dealing with these people over the summer.
If you're looking for a nice, long, slow hand job that lasts from Memorial Day to Halloween, go to Honda of New Rochelle, NY. I still have not decided if I should completely eviscerate the two people there who made my summer hell in the email survey things when I have the opportunity to give them the real reviews. It was a BAD experience and I know if I start writing about ALL the visits again, it will be really, really bad.

 

[jliiiiil]

Went to take delivery of my 18 Sport hatchback last Friday, as I was driving to the dealer my sales guy calls me and tells me the AC compressor locked up. My first instinct was to walk away from the sale and find a different one, but this was only one of 3 manual hatches in a 400 mile radius of Denver. It was actually this thread and a couple others that made me feel a little bit better about the situation knowing it wasnt just me lol. After some research, and knowing I had the extended Honda Care warranty I eventually gave the go ahead to replace it, service techs found the car was shipped with no oil in the compressor...wtf!?!?

 

[Billy4202]

You'd think QC problems with the A/C would be ironed out at this point. Sadly I guess not.

It began to gradually take longer and longer to get decent cold air to blow late last summer. I prefer windows down for shorter trips so I didn't pay much mind to it. Then we had an 80 degree day in January and I had no cold air at all. Brought it in with literally 100 miles left on the warranty, they claimed that the system was out of refrigerant, evacuated the system and recharged it. They also put a dye in so they can diagnose for a potential leak if it happens again this summer. My dealer couldn't actually find a leak, but they didn't discredit the idea that a small one may be present. We'll see what happens, but today was (finally) a moderate 70-degree day, and the A/C blows strong and cold again

FWIW, I have one of the earlier builds on here. Mine was manufactured in November '15.

 

[Shankmeyster]

Went to take delivery of my 18 Sport hatchback last Friday, as I was driving to the dealer my sales guy calls me and tells me the AC compressor locked up. My first instinct was to walk away from the sale and find a different one, but this was only one of 3 manual hatches in a 400 mile radius of Denver. It was actually this thread and a couple others that made me feel a little bit better about the situation knowing it wasnt just me lol. After some research, and knowing I had the extended Honda Care warranty I eventually gave the go ahead to replace it, service techs found the car was shipped with no oil in the compressor...wtf!?!?

Quality control at Swindon is lacking apparently.

 

[tacthecat]

Depends on cause - a mis-manufactured cable or part built by an outside contractor is hardly a Swindon problem, improper assembly would be.
Which was it?

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