2016 A/C Compressor Leak

Hello fellow Civic owners.

A few weeks ago I had noticed by car was blowing hot air out of the drivers side A/C. I had taken it to the dealership last week and they said my A/C Compressor had a leak, it's a common issue with this make and model year and that repairs would be covered under warranty- however my service rep told me that the parts for this fix aren't available and there's no ETA as to when they will be able to get them. Is this normal? My car has about 28k miles so I'm worried about this fix taking an extended period of time, going over the 30k and having them try to tell me it's not covered any more. Has anybody had an experience like this? Thankfully it's been cool this week and I haven't needed the A/C blowing to be able to drive the car, but with June around the corner I could see my black interior being unbearable with no working A/C. I'm in Northern California.

You will be covered even if go over your miles. Just have them put it in writing that you brought it in while it was still in warranty

Unless you're at some really shaddy dealer, they'll cover it since you brought it to them while still in warranty.

Any idea how long I should expect for a fix? I tried calling my service advisor to follow up (She promised to call me back this week and didn't), but no answer and that's what's starting to make me concerned. I have HondaCare on the car but they made it sound like getting it fixed outside of the 30k/6 warranty was a lot more of a hassle. My follow-up question is if you were in my shoes how long would you give them? As mentioned right now the weather is cool so I don't have to use the A/C but even when it gets to 70 outside the interior feels like an oven. They were going to give me a rental for the two days they originally had me penciled in for the repair, but when she saw she parts were not orderable they canceled the rental because they said they can't authorize it for an indefinite period of time.

thedoc420 said:

Any idea how long I should expect for a fix? I tried calling my service advisor to follow up (She promised to call me back this week and didn't), but no answer and that's what's starting to make me concerned. I have HondaCare on the car but they made it sound like getting it fixed outside of the 30k/6 warranty was a lot more of a hassle. My follow-up question is if you were in my shoes how long would you give them? As mentioned right now the weather is cool so I don't have to use the A/C but even when it gets to 70 outside the interior feels like an oven. They were going to give me a rental for the two days they originally had me penciled in for the repair, but when she saw she parts were not orderable they canceled the rental because they said they can't authorize it for an indefinite period of time.

Click to expand...

Check to see if they can reimburse you if you get a rental yourself.

nothome17 said:

Check to see if they can reimburse you if you get a rental yourself.

Click to expand...

Is that something they typically do? As I mentioned, my Honda Care covers a rental car while the car is in the shop but they said they are unable to provide me with the rental while they are waiting for parts and because there is no ETA on the fix.

I've been trying to google what rights I might have but there isn't anything cut and dry when
A) Dealer has acknowledged the issue that is covered under warranty
B) The car isn't "new" (Lemon laws don't seem to apply)
and C) The dealer says they cannot make the repair at this time.

Get your condenser replaced under warranty or pay for it out of pocket later

Dicecube said:

Get your condenser replaced under warranty or pay for it out of pocket later

Click to expand...

UPDATE:

The first dealership I went too diagnosed the problem as a A/C Compressor Leak and still has not gotten back to me once, after two weeks and a visit to the service manager. I even called HondaCare to ask about the issue and they said under some extenuating circumstances they will approve a rental car while the parts are unavailable but the request needs to be initiated from the dealership, and nobody from the dealership had contacted them regarding my vehicle.

Here was their diagnosis:

I was pretty fed up at this point and took it to another dealership and they said it was just the Condenser leak and replaced it.
Work order below.



Blows cold now, I'm not a car guy at all so really don't know if the problem is solved or just a bandaid until I hit 30k. Also what to do about the first dealership- they are a bunch of assholes, including and especially the service manager.

Keep all your records in case the compressor craps out on you again in the future. Hopefully honda will honor it since it was their replacement.

Dicecube said:

Get your condenser replaced under warranty or pay for it out of pocket later

Click to expand...

Hi, how did they determine whether the leak/leaks in your condenser is due to manufacture or road hazards? Thanks.

oliviaiiii said:

Hi, how did they determine whether the leak/leaks in your condenser is due to manufacture or road hazards? Thanks.

Click to expand...

I didn't determine it. I advised Honda service that my air conditioning unit does not work and they looked at it and determined that

For those of you that have had a leak in the compressor, did you have to get freon added to your car at some point before the compressor issue was discovered?

My AC worked great the first year I had it. The AC stopped blowing cold air at the start of the second summer and Honda said the manufacturing plant didn’t add enough Freon. They topped it off and didn’t find any leaks.

Now this year it’s blowing warm again again and Honda says it’s a bad compressor. Car is past warranty so they want $1,500 to fix it. Any chance these two issues are related? Or if the compressor was bad last year (or starting to fail) would it have worked with freon added to the system?

Dicecube said:

I didn't determine it. I advised Honda service that my air conditioning unit does not work and they looked at it and determined that

Click to expand...

I thought the question was how did they determine it, not who determined it.

warsaws said:

I thought the question was how did they determine it, not who determined it.

Click to expand...

I don't know?

ahitchcox said:

For those of you that have had a leak in the compressor, did you have to get freon added to your car at some point before the compressor issue was discovered?

My AC worked great the first year I had it. The AC stopped blowing cold air at the start of the second summer and Honda said the manufacturing plant didn’t add enough Freon. They topped it off and didn’t find any leaks.

Now this year it’s blowing warm again again and Honda says it’s a bad compressor. Car is past warranty so they want $1,500 to fix it. Any chance these two issues are related? Or if the compressor was bad last year (or starting to fail) would it have worked with freon added to the system?

Click to expand...

Sounds like typical Honda bullshit. Wouldn't be surprised if you had a leak and they bandaged it knowing you'd be in soon after warranty and they'll try to stick you with the repair. To answer your question no, I didn't have to get any freon added. I'm no car expert but I have no idea how they can determine the factory didn't add enough Freon. For me, originally one dealer told me it was a Compressor leak, then the next one said it was just a Condenser leak and was able to fix it but I'm afraid of running into the same issue you are. The original dealer also refuses to give me a work order with their diagnosis.