2016 AC Granaded dealer $3000+ to fix

[dallasjhawk]

You are welcome to pay as much as you like out of pocket for defective components. I don't live in a warm climate where I can keep my eye on the AC, basically it is something you would find out during the first warm days each year. You live in Texas my dude, you would notice your AC the second it started to fade, I suppose you are not familiar with northern climates, there are on a few months when you actually use the damn thing which makes it even more of a thing I choose to cry about considering how little use it had. I did not decide to let the warranty elapse, that would be silly. Believe me, Honda is not "giving" away these parts out of the goodness of their hearts, the dealer told me that the 2016s had issues with the ACs failing so keep a close eye on your AC, maybe you can catch it before the pump spews shrapnel into your condenser.

did you or did you not opt to not purchase the extended warranty while apparently living in a climate that you would only know 2 months out of the year that the AC works? I'm not paying a penny out of pocket while my extended warranty is still in effect. FYI, Im from the midwest, I understand how cold climates are. I also know you need your AC to be able to make the defroster work correctly. And did you miss the other part of my comment where I said I already had mine replaced since the minute I heard it making weird noises I took it in?

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[BestCarEver]

did you or did you not opt to not purchase the extended warranty while apparently living in a climate that you would only know 2 months out of the year that the AC works? I'm not paying a penny out of pocket while my extended warranty is still in effect. FYI, Im from the midwest, I understand how cold climates are. I also know you need your AC to be able to make the defroster work correctly. And did you miss the other part of my comment where I said I already had mine replaced since the minute I heard it making weird noises I took it in?

I suppose we could argue about how much smarter you are indefinitely. You win, you are smarter.

 

[dallasjhawk]

I suppose we could argue about how much smarter you are indefinitely. You win, you are smarter.

I know I am, there was never a debate But anyhow, I told you I was glad they covered some of it. Not sure why you tried to come at me. cheers brother

 

[Hollywoo0220]

My 2016 Civic was just diagnosed for $120 with AC Compressor failure which destroyed additional components. My car was extremely well taken care of, still looks brand new being not yet three years old with 98K, (61K miles) 38K out of standard warranty (tomorrow is my third year anniversary). This is a known issue, extremely disappointed. Honda is in the process of reviewing my complaint to remedy my situation. I heard gurgling sounds from my car the day I picked it up, which I now realize was my AC gently grenading itself as I no longer hear those sounds. I can’t believe I am forced to deal with this issue as I picked Honda reliability, now I have to rely on Honda goodwill to fix an obvious defect. The estimate to repair us over $3000 or 7% of the cars value when new! My mother in law’s 10 year old Hyundai Accent with same milage still has a working AC.. Damn…

This is absolutely absurd....vehicle is at 61,000mi and it is out of warranty. You are also claiming that the vehicle was "gurgling" (whatever that means) since day one. Does that mean that you knew what it was and never got it corrected? I'm afraid not. You didn't know what it was and are just grabbing at apples as if that makes any difference. Honda is a business, if they stick to the warranty details they are completely within their right Legally, Morally, and Ethically to do so.
Bottom line is, cars cost $ to fix - nothing lasts forever. By the way - the Hyundai you mention has NO relevance. Buy one of those next time.

 

[BestCarEver]

I have to side with the OP on this one even though the title of this thread is a bit of an exaggeration.

I was actually quoted that number at the dealer... Having said that, I've learned that big numbers attract a lot of attention, never had so many replies here or on Facebook, appreciate the attention, thanks for replying.

 

[BestCarEver]

This is absolutely absurd....vehicle is at 61,000mi and it is out of warranty. You are also claiming that the vehicle was "gurgling" (whatever that means) since day one. Does that mean that you knew what it was and never got it corrected? I'm afraid not. You didn't know what it was and are just grabbing at apples as if that makes any difference. Honda is a business, if they stick to the warranty details they are completely within their right Legally, Morally, and Ethically to do so.
Bottom line is, cars cost $ to fix - nothing lasts forever. By the way - the Hyundai you mention has NO relevance. Buy one of those next time.

So salty... Oh my god.. geez dude, you make it sound like the money is coming out of your own pocket. This is not an ethical or moral dillio dude. Shitty parts, they are replacing for free BECAUSE they are defective, not because they are saints. Hard to believe you even bothered to write a response. I am not going to check this thread from this point, got what I need adios bro...

 

[Syntek]

My 2016 started blowing hot air before I traded it in for a 2019 Si. Before I traded it in, they diagnosed it and stated there "were no leaks" and did a system recharge for free. Though that's bullshit since if there were no leaks, the freon wouldn't be low to begin with. Mileage was around 56,000 before I turned it in.

 

[BestCarEver]

My 2016 started blowing hot air before I traded it in for a 2019 Si. Before I traded it in, they diagnosed it and stated there "were no leaks" and did a system recharge for free. Though that's bullshit since if there were no leaks, the freon wouldn't be low to begin with. Mileage was around 56,000 before I turned it in.

It is bullshit. I just scheduled in my replacement putting me out about $800 in total and the ladies in the service department seemed to be overly familiar with the AC replacement job, something that should not really happen regularly enough to have that level of familiarity. I hope you enjoy your new Si, love that new car smell.

 

[Syntek]

It is bullshit. I just scheduled in my replacement putting me out about $800 in total and the ladies in the service department seemed to be overly familiar with the AC replacement job, something that should not really happen regularly enough to have that level of familiarity. I hope you enjoy your new Si, love that new car smell.

Thanks, didn't think it would be a huge difference compared to the 2016 tuned EX-T but man, even at stock I feel a big difference in handling and power delivery. I have my programmer ready, just haven't tuned it yet since I'm still adjusting to driving MT before I go start doing stupid shit to the car.

Honestly I would have pushed the issue further but seeing as I was returning the car anyway I figured it wasn't my problem anymore. This is of course, assuming that this issue isn't still present on the 2019's and hopefully doesn't come up later on down the road. The symptoms from what I remembered were:

-Prolonged hissing when the compressor was kicking in at first. (at least 5-10 seconds)
-Passenger side blew colder air compared to driver side (But eventually blew warm air as well)

 

[BestCarEver]

Thanks, didn't think it would be a huge difference compared to the 2016 tuned EX-T but man, even at stock I feel a big difference in handling and power delivery. I have my programmer ready, just haven't tuned it yet since I'm still adjusting to driving MT before I go start doing stupid shit to the car.

Honestly I would have pushed the issue further but seeing as I was returning the car anyway I figured it wasn't my problem anymore. This is of course, assuming that this issue isn't still present on the 2019's and hopefully doesn't come up later on down the road. The symptoms from what I remembered were:

-Prolonged hissing when the compressor was kicking in at first. (at least 5-10 seconds)
-Passenger side blew colder air compared to driver side (But eventually blew warm air as well)

Since you are not keeping the car much passed the warranty this seems like an inconvenience at most. There are fewer and fewer MT cars out there, and I heard that the new Honda's have a really nice gearbox, had a 96 civic with a 5 speed. I drove MTs for the most part but now I am loving the CVT. It feels almost like an electric vehicle without the noticeable shifting. I would hazard a guess that Honda is probably getting sick of replacing AC systems on the down low and would much prefer to have this issue taken care of for their new cars, I have faith in Honda getting it right eventually. I am hoping my new AC will be a keeper...

 

[dallasjhawk]

Since you are not keeping the car much passed the warranty this seems like an inconvenience at most. There are fewer and fewer MT cars out there, and I heard that the new Honda's have a really nice gearbox, had a 96 civic with a 5 speed. I drove MTs for the most part but now I am loving the CVT. It feels almost like an electric vehicle without the noticeable shifting. I would hazard a guess that Honda is probably getting sick of replacing AC systems on the down low and would much prefer to have this issue taken care of for their new cars, I have faith in Honda getting it right eventually. I am hoping my new AC will be a keeper...

I feel like the AC thing was mostly a 2016 and early 2017 model year thing. and part of the issue was they were coming either over or under filled from the factory and I think that cause a lot of compressors to eat themselves.

 

[Syntek]

I feel like the AC thing was mostly a 2016 and early 2017 model year thing. and part of the issue was they were coming either over or under filled from the factory and I think that cause a lot of compressors to eat themselves.

Hope so. I was on the fence with keeping my car but with this issue it sort of pushed me over to just upgrade. If this problem doesn't come up later on (or faulty injector/mifire ) I'll keep this one for the long haul.

 

[BestCarEver]

Hope so. I was on the fence with keeping my car but with this issue it sort of pushed me over to just upgrade. If this problem doesn't come up later on (or faulty injector/mifire ) I'll keep this one for the long haul.

Totally, they got most of their issues figured out. I figured there will be some issues because it was a major model update including new body, engine, tech, but it was really the best out of all the rest. Enjoy the new ride...

 

[Gruber]

I guess the main issue in this thread is whether the AC has the right to fail relatively early. In principle, no, but actually, yes.

Maybe I'm lucky, but never in my driving life I had to service a car AC. In my experience in all vehicles I ever owned it just blew cold or hot air as required, until I got rid of the car, which never happened before > 100 kmiles. Notably, the minivan that my wife drove and which we used for many summer vacations, driving thousands of miles in hot weather, had the AC working like new for 18 years and well over 200 kmiles. Compressors in home AC systems and in refrigeration systems quite easily last for well over 20 years.

So there is no doubt AC systems can last for life of a car, without even ever adding refrigerant. At least the traditional systems which were perfected over decades. Unfortunately or fortunately, the auto AC technology is changing as car manufacturers comply with efficiency/environmental requirements. The costs of these changes are mostly covered by the consumers, just like in many other cases.

I already paid for replacement of a couple of electronic devices which failed after warranty because of bad soldering caused by the introduction of lead-free solder about 10+ years ago. I would bet it also happened a lot to car computers. It took time before the manufacturers mastered the new technology. I fully expect the AC on my civicx may fail because it uses the new type of refrigerant which requires a new oil, and a variable compressor, which is more complex.

 

[BestCarEver]

I guess the main issue in this thread is whether the AC has the right to fail relatively early. In principle, no, but actually, yes.

Maybe I'm lucky, but never in my driving life I had to service a car AC. In my experience in all vehicles I ever owned it just blew cold or hot air as required, until I got rid of the car, which never happened before > 100 kmiles. Notably, the minivan that my wife drove and which we used for many summer vacations, driving thousands of miles in hot weather, had the AC working like new for 18 years and well over 200 kmiles. Compressors in home AC systems and in refrigeration systems quite easily last for well over 20 years.

So there is no doubt AC systems can last for life of a car, without even ever adding refrigerant. At least the traditional systems which were perfected over decades. Unfortunately or fortunately, the auto AC technology is changing as car manufacturers comply with efficiency/environmental requirements. The costs of these changes are mostly covered by the consumers, just like in many other cases.

I already paid for replacement of a couple of electronic devices which failed after warranty because of bad soldering caused by the introduction of lead-free solder about 10+ years ago. I would bet it also happened a lot to car computers. It took time before the manufacturers mastered the new technology. I fully expect the AC on my civicx may fail because it uses the new type of refrigerant which requires a new oil, and a variable compressor, which is more complex.

Exactly.. I remember a stack of dead laptops about a foot and a half tall that failed prematurely at work. There was no real way to economically repair them as most likely the replacement parts would have the same issue anyway, so off they went into the unknown. I am not sure if it is the refrigerant or the oil. I know the oil is compatible with the older refrigerant but not the other way around. Honda seems to be somewhat accommodating up till this point and has most likely cost them millions already, which would provide the financial incentive to perfect these parts. In the mean time, we are once again taking one for the team with either additional expense or hassle. I hope that third year of production has these issues already sorted. I just hope it is not one of those situation where later model owners think their ACs are fixed simply because it takes a few years before the failure becomes noticeable.

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