The A/C of my 2002 Civic LX has not been working for a while, I troubleshot it last weekend and found ECM/ECU doesn't send command to clutch relay. I thought maybe ECM/ECU needs to be replaced which will cost $400 for just part.

I brought my car to a local mechanic this morning, after 1.5 hours ($127+tax) they told me the thermal protector is actually bad, part will cost $75, but installation will be 2 hours/$170. Since I have ~106k miles on the car, they also recommended to replace timing belt/water pump/drive belt/antifreeze for $600. If I do it, the cost of installation of thermal protector will be 0.5 hours/$42.

I am happy that the cause of A/C failure is not ECM/ECU, but I am not sure if the installation of thermal protector will cost that much. I would like to get your opinion if it will really take 2 hours, and if I can install thermal protector by myself (not very skilled, but can do oil/wheel/brake change reasonably well). If I can't do it by myself, I might consider to do timing belt replacement at the same time.

Thanks a lot.

 

$600 seems steep for all that. I had my timing belt and water pump done for $300 at my local shop.

 

The thermal protector is on top of the compressor near the back (end away from the belt). You can probably reach it by taking the power steering pump off. I don't see how doing a timing belt at the same time makes it any easier.

Some people have just bypassed the protector by cutting the wires and connecting them together. Of course if you do that you have no thermal protection, which means the compressor is likely to blow if you keep running the A/C system when it is low on refrigerant.