A/C problems?

I have the 17 Si. I’m having problems with my AC it was working perfectly a couple months ago when I was in Florida. The right two vents blow cooler air while the left two don’t blow cool air at all it’s just hot. Not sure if I need a recharge? Also I’ll have it in auto and when I go to push the AC button the auto button will turn off. Not sure what to do.

fowlerk1 said:

I have the 17 Si. I’m having problems with my AC it was working perfectly a couple months ago when I was in Florida. The right two vents blow cooler air while the left two don’t blow cool air at all it’s just hot. Not sure if I need a recharge? Also I’ll have it in auto and when I go to push the AC button the auto button will turn off. Not sure what to do.

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could need a recharge or just an ECU problem. When I had a Focus a couple years ago, it had the same problem and I took it to a local mechanic, charged me $20 to tinker with the ECU and it fixed it. The AC on these civics is notoriously bad though, so I wouldn't be surprised if it was something else. No way of knowing unless you take it to the dealer since you're under warranty.

fowlerk1 said:

I have the 17 Si. I’m having problems with my AC it was working perfectly a couple months ago when I was in Florida. The right two vents blow cooler air while the left two don’t blow cool air at all it’s just hot. Not sure if I need a recharge? Also I’ll have it in auto and when I go to push the AC button the auto button will turn off. Not sure what to do.

Click to expand...

I'm far from an A/C expert, but if one side blows cold well, while the other is blowing hot, it might be that the A/C is working correctly as far as compressor & refrigerant is concerned, but instead, there is a problem with the DUAL side hot/cold control.

ie It is as if one side is set for full COLD, while the other is set for Full Hot .. or at least, the system seems to be working that way, even if the controls indicate otherwise. (or maybe you have it set that way without realizing it ? )

SCOPESYS said:

I'm far from an A/C expert, but if one side blows cold well, while the other is blowing hot, it might be that the A/C is working correctly as far as compressor & refrigerant is concerned, but instead, there is a problem with the DUAL side hot/cold control.

ie It is as if one side is set for full COLD, while the other is set for Full Hot .. or at least, the system seems to be working that way, even if the controls indicate otherwise. (or maybe you have it set that way without realizing it ? )

Click to expand...

Greetings from Toronto,

We had an extreme winter season here this year with -30°C daily temperature and it lasted longer than usual from Nov 2018 - Apr 2019. In last 6-7 months, I have never turned on AC in my 2016 Honda Civic LX and now its summer here and Victoria Day long weekend. It was +25°C yesterday and I tried to turn my AC on but it wasn't blowing cold air as it should be. I tried to set it on lowest temp setting which is +15°C with the highest fan setting and turned off Auto setting but still it wasn't cooling even after half an hour of highway driving and AC running.

So, just to make sure,

1. I open up the fuse box and located the 10V fuse for Air compressor and replaced with the new 10V fuse to see if it solves the problem. This hack didn't work.
2. There could be an issue with the relay itself but at this point I am not sure. It could be just the low refrigerant issue as well
3. Lastly, I checked the clutch which engages the air compressor to make it running and I saw that that clutch wasn't spinning with the engine belt. There should not be any issues with the compressor because the car is just less than three year old with 80k kms on it.

At this point I am thinking its just low refrigerant but the good thing is my car is still under Honda Plus Warranty thats why I am not planning on doing anything myself. Its Victoria day long weekend here so on Tuesday I am gonna call the dealership and take my car for the inspection and see what happens. I will keep you guys posted.

I am also open for any suggestions if you guys would like to share.

Thanks.

CiViCRiDeRtO2016@ said:

Greetings from Toronto,

We had an extreme winter season here this year with -30°C daily temperature and it lasted longer than usual from Nov 2018 - Apr 2019. In last 6-7 months, I have never turned on AC in my 2016 Honda Civic LX and now its summer here and Victoria Day long weekend. It was +25°C yesterday and I tried to turn my AC on but it wasn't blowing cold air as it should be. I tried to set it on lowest temp setting which is +15°C with the highest fan setting and turned off Auto setting but still it wasn't cooling even after half an hour of highway driving and AC running.

So, just to make sure,

1. I open up the fuse box and located the 10V fuse for Air compressor and replaced with the new 10V fuse to see if it solves the problem. This hack didn't work.
2. There could be an issue with the relay itself but at this point I am not sure. It could be just the low refrigerant issue as well
3. Lastly, I checked the clutch which engages the air compressor to make it running and I saw that that clutch wasn't spinning with the engine belt. There should not be any issues with the compressor because the car is just less than three year old with 80k kms on it.

At this point I am thinking its just low refrigerant but the good thing is my car is still under Honda Plus Warranty thats why I am not planning on doing anything myself. Its Victoria day long weekend here so on Tuesday I am gonna call the dealership and take my car for the inspection and see what happens. I will keep you guys posted.

I am also open for any suggestions if you guys would like to share.

Thanks.

Click to expand...

There is a VERY GOOD chance that you are low on Refrigerant R1234yF.

Your symptoms and conditions are a good match for the refrigerant having leaked out, due to the seals drying out, because you did not use the A/C for an extended time.

Ideally, you should run the A/C for a good 5 minutes, at least once a week, to ensure that the seals stay lubricated.

Hopefully, the Dealer with check the refrigerant levels (by measuring the High & Low Pressures), and will either top it up back to the correct pressure, or do what many tend to do, in that they pump it out, and refill it again with the factory recommend charge weight, and the check the pressure (and if they know what they are doing, adjust the charge amount to maximize the cooling temperature differential on a hot day)

Then,
"you should run the A/C (Max cold) for a good 5 minutes, at least once a week, to ensure that the seals stay lubricated"

BTW: You noted that the CLUTCH was NOT en gauging. This is most likely due to the Refrigerant being very low, and there is a a pressure sensor in the A/C system that detect the low pressure due to low refrigerant, and stops the Compressor from engaging. A GOOD THING -- this has probably saved your compressor from damage when running with low refrigerant levels.

CiViCRiDeRtO2016@ said:

Greetings from Toronto,

We had an extreme winter season here this year with -30°C daily temperature and it lasted longer than usual from Nov 2018 - Apr 2019. In last 6-7 months, I have never turned on AC in my 2016 Honda Civic LX and now its summer here and Victoria Day long weekend. It was +25°C yesterday and I tried to turn my AC on but it wasn't blowing cold air as it should be. I tried to set it on lowest temp setting which is +15°C with the highest fan setting and turned off Auto setting but still it wasn't cooling even after half an hour of highway driving and AC running.

So, just to make sure,

1. I open up the fuse box and located the 10V fuse for Air compressor and replaced with the new 10V fuse to see if it solves the problem. This hack didn't work.
2. There could be an issue with the relay itself but at this point I am not sure. It could be just the low refrigerant issue as well
3. Lastly, I checked the clutch which engages the air compressor to make it running and I saw that that clutch wasn't spinning with the engine belt. There should not be any issues with the compressor because the car is just less than three year old with 80k kms on it.

At this point I am thinking its just low refrigerant but the good thing is my car is still under Honda Plus Warranty thats why I am not planning on doing anything myself. Its Victoria day long weekend here so on Tuesday I am gonna call the dealership and take my car for the inspection and see what happens. I will keep you guys posted.

I am also open for any suggestions if you guys would like to share.

Thanks.

Click to expand...

I have the same problem with my lx. But this only happens if it’s cold outside. I don’t know how the outside temp affects the a/c but it does. If the temp outside drops under 50 degrees Fahrenheit then my a/c will blow hot unless I drop it all the way down to “Lo” setting. But if the outside temp is above 70 degrees then the a/c worked perfectly. I can select 68 and it actually blows cold. It makes no sense so I will also be taking it to the dealer soon

mvela said:

I have the same problem with my lx. But this only happens if it’s cold outside. I don’t know how the outside temp affects the a/c but it does. If the temp outside drops under 50 degrees Fahrenheit then my a/c will blow hot unless I drop it all the way down to “Lo” setting. But if the outside temp is above 70 degrees then the a/c worked perfectly. I can select 68 and it actually blows cold. It makes no sense so I will also be taking it to the dealer soon

Click to expand...

Hi,

I'm sure you know this but just to make sure... Is your AC set on a fixed temp on Auto mode? If it is then depending on outside temp, it will automatically adjust inside temp to the preset auto temp.

SCOPESYS said:

There is a VERY GOOD chance that you are low on Refrigerant R1234yF.

Your symptoms and conditions are a good match for the refrigerant having leaked out, due to the seals drying out, because you did not use the A/C for an extended time.

Ideally, you should run the A/C for a good 5 minutes, at least once a week, to ensure that the seals stay lubricated.

Hopefully, the Dealer with check the refrigerant levels (by measuring the High & Low Pressures), and will either top it up back to the correct pressure, or do what many tend to do, in that they pump it out, and refill it again with the factory recommend charge weight, and the check the pressure (and if they know what they are doing, adjust the charge amount to maximize the cooling temperature differential on a hot day)

Then,
"you should run the A/C (Max cold) for a good 5 minutes, at least once a week, to ensure that the seals stay lubricated"

BTW: You noted that the CLUTCH was NOT en gauging. This is most likely due to the Refrigerant being very low, and there is a a pressure sensor in the A/C system that detect the low pressure due to low refrigerant, and stops the Compressor from engaging. A GOOD THING -- this has probably saved your compressor from damage when running with low refrigerant levels.

Click to expand...

Thanks very much for the advice Scopesys! I'm taking it to the dealer on June 1st and hopefully it's just low on r1234yf. One question though. Are you in US or Canada? How warranty is working out for you Americans? Any auto warranty has a really bad reputation here. You literally have to fight for your auto rights here.

Is r1234yf refill covered under Honda warranty (or extended warranty) in US?

CiViCRiDeRtO2016@ said:

Hi,

I'm sure you know this but just to make sure... Is your AC set on a fixed temp on Auto mode? If it is then depending on outside temp, it will automatically adjust inside temp to the preset auto temp.

Click to expand...

No I don’t like the auto option. I like to set my own temperature and fan speed

CiViCRiDeRtO2016@ said:

Thanks very much for the advice Scopesys! I'm taking it to the dealer on June 1st and hopefully it's just low on r1234yf. One question though. Are you in US or Canada? How warranty is working out for you Americans? Any auto warranty has a really bad reputation here. You literally have to fight for your auto rights here.

Is r1234yf refill covered under Honda warranty (or extended warranty) in US?

Click to expand...

Depends on Dealer .. most time its a fight to get them to do what the customer considers to be warranty, vs what they claim is not.

Re-Fill of fluids is most likely NOT covered by warranty.
ie Oil change s etc.

IF you are low on Refrigerant, and the car is in the warranty period, then there is a general Warranty issue the the A/C system, because it is LEAKING... fixing the Leak should be covered by the warranty, and since the system has to be filled with R1234yf, because it lost it due to a warranty issue, the refill should be covered as part of the warranty repair.

Here in the USA, it would seem that many of the Dealer Techs are not that knowledgeable about A/C systems.. they have just picked up enough to be dangerous. From my reading here in the forum, they are even worse in Canada, especially in the more isolated areas.

The difference between an typical Tech and a good tech is an A/C that blows cool air, and one that is correctly serviced (and optimized), and blows COLD air.