Civic AC heading for lawsuit?

ShopGirl

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It is more of the type of repair. I agree that this should not happen at all and the design is bad, but AC is a frill. Everyone has different uses for their car but to me if the AC goes it is not the end of the world because the car overall is still great.

Like I said it's all about how you use your car.
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ShopGirl

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See, this is an issue right here. In a car with automatic climate control, you actually don't know how much you use the AC circuit. Even in the winter, the defrost cycle uses the AC to help dehumidify the air so that icing is not an issue. To which I will expand and say to the comments earlier about AC being a nice to have being a bit misguided of a thought in the modern era. Climate systems in cars are and have been about more than keeping you cool in the hot summer.

So ya, this is a bit of a serious issue long term for all of us, even if if you have had a fix that was fully or mostly covered. How long till something else or perhaps even the same part, fails. As nuts as it is, I almost think getting the extended warranty for me might be a real thing as I believe I still have till the end of my third year/60,000kms to get it added on. And I say it is nuts as it is giving more money to Honda over an issue or potential issue that shouldn't have to be mine to pay for.
I have a 2016 CIvic Touring and my AC just went. I was told that they have no idea when a new compressor will be available as they are on backorder because so many people are having the same issue. They told me it was going to cost around 1,200 dollars to fix. My car is a few weeks away from 3 years and I have 15,000 miles on it. The dealer said they would call me when the part came in. Well, that was unacceptable to me. I have owned Hondas my entire life and have been very loyal and never had any problems with any of the ones I owned in the past. I am in Ohio and it has been in the upper 80s and low 90s all summer and I cannot drive a car without AC. I called the GM at my dealership and told him this is unacceptable and I expect a loaner car to drive until mine can be fixed. He was very apologetic and called me back and told me to come and pick up a loaner car to drive and that he would get mine repaired as soon as the compressor came in which was supposed to be the next day. It has been two days and I haven't heard if the part came in but at least I have a loaner to drive with an AC that works. I believe a class action law suit is warranted. I truly have lost my faith in HONDA and most likely won't buy another HONDA.
 

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I have a 2016 CIvic Touring and my AC just went. I was told that they have no idea when a new compressor will be available as they are on backorder because so many people are having the same issue. They told me it was going to cost around 1,200 dollars to fix. My car is a few weeks away from 3 years and I have 15,000 miles on it. The dealer said they would call me when the part came in. Well, that was unacceptable to me. I have owned Hondas my entire life and have been very loyal and never had any problems with any of the ones I owned in the past. I am in Ohio and it has been in the upper 80s and low 90s all summer and I cannot drive a car without AC. I called the GM at my dealership and told him this is unacceptable and I expect a loaner car to drive until mine can be fixed. He was very apologetic and called me back and told me to come and pick up a loaner car to drive and that he would get mine repaired as soon as the compressor came in which was supposed to be the next day. It has been two days and I haven't heard if the part came in but at least I have a loaner to drive with an AC that works. I believe a class action law suit is warranted. I truly have lost my faith in HONDA and most likely won't buy another HONDA.
As a south floridian, high 80s, low 90s sounds like a great time.
It's been 95+ throughout the entire day with 80%+ humidity every single day. I am so glad that my AC has not given out yet, as it is already making those swirly / water noises.
 

BriteBlue

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Find an independent shop that specializes in AC work. Some places by me only do AC & radiator work. Years ago you could replace just the seal on a compressor, at least on some vehicles. Maybe Honda's compressors are not made way but best to check it out.
 

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Thought I’d check out my Civic & used an AC thermometer in the driver’s side center dash vent.

The house thermometer read 91° and 56%RH. It was partly cloudy with some sun on the car but not blazingly hot. The Civic’s thermometer indicated 90°.

The Civic’s control was set at 70° on Auto and was in the recycle mode. I was going 30-40 mph which was about 1200-1800 rpm. The AC thermometer varied between 43-45°, with the higher reading when stopped.

I then manually set the fan on High & the AC thermometer started creeping up to about 48°, so I set the control back to Auto where the fan was about on 1/3.

About an hour later & on the way back home the Civic’s outside thermometer indicated 88°. The Civic was still set at 70° on Auto and in the recycle mode. The AC thermometer read about 45° when the car was stopped at a light but now got down to about 42°, maybe 41°, when moving.

The vent temperature is definitely 40° cooler than the outside ambient temperature. I just hope it stays that way.
 


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Has anyone found a solution to this? I just called my local dealer and just for a freon recharge, they want to charge me $450. That's absurd. This is the second time the AC goes out in 6 weeks. There's definitely a design flaw in this system. I chose a Honda for its good reputation but the 10th gen is clearly flawed. I cannot afford to drop hundreds of dollars every other month.. Help.
 

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Has anyone found a solution to this? I just called my local dealer and just for a freon recharge, they want to charge me $450. That's absurd. This is the second time the AC goes out in 6 weeks. There's definitely a design flaw in this system. I chose a Honda for its good reputation but the 10th gen is clearly flawed. I cannot afford to drop hundreds of dollars every other month.. Help.
Currently R1234yf is about $70 a Pound (in Bulk), and the Civics take about 1 pound if empty, to fully charge.
It's not a lot more expensive to purchase a couple of 8oz cans, that anyone can buy, on places like Ebay.

So what is the remaining $450 - $70 = $380 for ?
Well, maybe according to the "Book" 2 Hours labor @ $125 / hr, so now we are left with $ 255 profit. That's over a 100% mark up on cost -- very nice if you can get it !!!

Yes, they probably have a $10,000 R1234yf automatic service machine, but at $255 profit a job, that is soon paid off.... and most of the time the machine is doing all the work, so the actual time the Tech has to devote to the job is minimal.

A/C work is the Goose that lays the Golden Eggs !!!
 

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Has anyone found a solution to this? I just called my local dealer and just for a freon recharge, they want to charge me $450. That's absurd. This is the second time the AC goes out in 6 weeks. There's definitely a design flaw in this system. I chose a Honda for its good reputation but the 10th gen is clearly flawed. I cannot afford to drop hundreds of dollars every other month.. Help.
Did they ever diagnose a leak?

Do they have any type of guarantee such as they'll "top off" the system within 30 or 60 days if it's not blowing out cold air? If you went back every 29 days & complained & they had to add refrigerant every time at their cost they might look a little harder for a leak.

By me there's a couple independent shops that do a lot of AC work. They do other work too but more or less specialize in AC. The kind of place a dealer or other shop might send a car to in order to fix a difficult AC problem.
 

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Has anyone found a solution to this? I just called my local dealer and just for a freon recharge, they want to charge me $450. That's absurd. This is the second time the AC goes out in 6 weeks. There's definitely a design flaw in this system. I chose a Honda for its good reputation but the 10th gen is clearly flawed. I cannot afford to drop hundreds of dollars every other month.. Help.
I went to a nearby shop that said that the old freon is almost the same thing. Made it work in mine for only $100... not a permanent fix but it is one.
 

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I went to a nearby shop that said that the old freon is almost the same thing. Made it work in mine for only $100... not a permanent fix but it is one.
You might not want to BROADCAST that locally -- but "good for you"

Your DEALER cannot do that, even if they wanted to
 


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Thought I’d check out my Civic & used an AC thermometer in the driver’s side center dash vent.

The house thermometer read 91° and 56%RH. It was partly cloudy with some sun on the car but not blazingly hot. The Civic’s thermometer indicated 90°.

The Civic’s control was set at 70° on Auto and was in the recycle mode. I was going 30-40 mph which was about 1200-1800 rpm. The AC thermometer varied between 43-45°, with the higher reading when stopped.

I then manually set the fan on High & the AC thermometer started creeping up to about 48°, so I set the control back to Auto where the fan was about on 1/3.

About an hour later & on the way back home the Civic’s outside thermometer indicated 88°. The Civic was still set at 70° on Auto and in the recycle mode. The AC thermometer read about 45° when the car was stopped at a light but now got down to about 42°, maybe 41°, when moving.

The vent temperature is definitely 40° cooler than the outside ambient temperature. I just hope it stays that way.
If you set to recirculate, of course it will cool 40 F lower than outside until the outside temperature is so high that the operation of the condenser is impaired. However, the air that the AC takes in is much colder than the ambient temperature and the delta T on the evaporator is much less. Try turning off recirculation.
 

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https://www.bgprod.com/blog/heres-what-you-need-to-know-about-r-1234yf/

Here a happy salesman, apparently very enthusiastic about the wonderful new green refrigerant, tells you that:

- R-1234yf is very corrosive
- Servicing requires longer times
- The use of dye for leak detection is highly discouraged because recovery machines won't allow recovery of contaminated refrigerant
- But not to worry, you don't need to find leaks, since "the system is designed to have low leak potential" and shouldn't require service as frequently. Service intervals average a minimum of 3 years or 60,000 miles.:nixon:

Then he says "with chemistry there is always a solution" (to fake climate "science" I guess).

I never serviced in any way the 134a A/C system in the minivan I traded in for my current 2018 Honda civic. For over 210,000 miles and 18 years.
 

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https://www.bgprod.com/blog/heres-what-you-need-to-know-about-r-1234yf/

Here a happy salesman, apparently very enthusiastic about the wonderful new green refrigerant, tells you that:

- R-1234yf is very corrosive
- Servicing requires longer times
- The use of dye for leak detection is highly discouraged because recovery machines won't allow recovery of contaminated refrigerant
- But not to worry, you don't need to find leaks, since "the system is designed to have low leak potential" and shouldn't require service as frequently. Service intervals average a minimum of 3 years or 60,000 miles.:nixon:

Then he says "with chemistry there is always a solution" (to fake climate "science" I guess).

I never serviced in any way the 134a A/C system in the minivan I traded in for my current 2018 Honda civic. For over 210,000 miles and 18 years.
Thanks .. Your post and the link will keep a grin on my face all day !!!
 

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I have a 2016 CIvic Touring and my AC just went. I was told that they have no idea when a new compressor will be available as they are on backorder because so many people are having the same issue. They told me it was going to cost around 1,200 dollars to fix.
The compressors are and have been for a long time, Denso supplied parts. My lifetime experience with Honda and AC has been that the clutch wears out prematurely. Typically somewhere between the 8 and 12 year mark. The hack fix is to remove a washer spacer on the clutch assembly shaft. As annoying as it is, it is not the end of the world. What is going on now is downright crazy. There doesn't seem to be a single thing in the AC system that hasn't had an issue and seemingly regardless of trim or body style. Just terrible.

I never serviced in any way the 134a A/C system in the minivan I traded in for my current 2018 Honda civic. For over 210,000 miles and 18 years.
Agreed. This whole push to 1234yf is either eco-warriorism gone wild or a total scam. The reality is that other than one clutch washer, a dryer and a clutch assembly replaced by just getting a whole compressor through my brother, I have NEVER had to recharge 134a. My parents cars that had 134a had only once on a GM need it. My oldest Honda, a gen 7 Civic that was 16.5 years old when it was sent to the big road in the sky, never leaked.

I hope to all get out that the manufacturers push back on this and put an end to it and return to 134a.
 

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If you set to recirculate, of course it will cool 40 F lower than outside until the outside temperature is so high that the operation of the condenser is impaired. However, the air that the AC takes in is much colder than the ambient temperature and the delta T on the evaporator is much less. Try turning off recirculation.
Yes the outlet temperature is going to be warmer in the normal mode. However I checked my AC system in the recirculate mode because everything I've read including manuals for my other cars state to check in the recirculate mode.
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