I just recently got a 1996 Civic LX and wondering if it actually has A/C. I noticed in a picture I seen of a 1996 Civic EX that there is a A/C button on the climate control. And on my climate control there is a A/C delete (piece of plastic covering a hole) where the A/C button should be. I automatically assumed that my Civic just doesn't have A/C. But the other day I was replacing a brake line and I noticed every other part of a A/C system under the hood, compressor, receiver/dryer, condenser etc.

So I'm wondering if maybe the climate control has been replaced with one without a A/C button or do all Civic's come with A/C parts even if they don't actually have A/C. Can anyone tell me what is going on. Maybe I just need to find a climate control that has a A/C button.

Thanks

 

It was my assumption that all 96-00 Civics came with A/C. Can you post up a pic of the A/C delete button?

 

The button may have fallen off. All the control panels were built with an A/C button but it could be covered up. I think A/C was typically installed at the dealer (for tax reasons(*)) and after the dealer installed the parts under the hood, they would take the blank cover off of the button. A car ordered without A/C (if you could buy them that way) would not have a compressor, etc. just empty space there for it. Around 1999 they came up with the VP (Value Package) which included factory installed A/C, a non A/C DX was a special order hard to buy (it only existed to advertise a low starting MSRP).

(*) This was important in the early 1990s when many Honda cars were made in Japan. Having the dealer install the A/C after the car was imported increased the US percentage value to lower the import tariff.