2002Civic AC that no one can seem to fix
 

Last May I went to work one morning and the AC was working fine and by the end of the day it was blowing warm air. I have been trying to get his fixed for a year now and no luck.

Took it to the mechanic and was told I needed a new compressor so I had it replaced. Still, no cool air - the temperature felt more like a house fan. Took it back to the mechanic twice and they evacuated and recharged the system then lied to my face that it got so cold the mechanic was run out of the car.

Took it to a Honda dealer - they said the previous mechanic overcharged the system so they evacuated and recharged - Still, same problem with them telling me it is fine.

Since all this started there has periodically been a nasty damp smell that comes out of the vents when the AC is on - of course, it is blowing warm so that increases the smell.

Two weeks ago, I had an overheating problem so I took it to yet another garage and had them look at the AC. Same drill - it needs to be evacuated and recharged. They did, however, give me one bit of information - the idle temperature would only reach 60 degrees.

This week I took it to another garage that is supposed to specialize in AC and electrical repairs and something interesting happened along with way. For the first 50 minutes of my drive - no cool air, then suddenly it kicked in and got as cold as I remember it getting before it broke. I had the air cranked all the way and the the fan on high and I could occasionally hear that there was a momentary hitch in the speed of the fan - this happened several times on the drive.

Anyway, after working on it all day, the AC specialist/mechanic said he thought it had to be the expansion valve so he replaced it as well as the dryer. He had it in the garage and was getting idle temperatures of 40 degrees so he thought all was fixed and told me I could pick it up. However, he called me back 20 minutes later because he decided to take it on a test drive just to make sure and guess what? Back to the same old problem.

He is stumped as to what it could be and I am into this for $2,700 already. Any ideas?

When it is not cooling but supposed to be, is the compressor engaged? Do both radiator fans work?

According to the mechanic, the compressor is working as it should and there is no trouble with any of the fans.

I have had compressors replaced on other cars so I never expected this level of difficulty in getting it fixed.

I am starting to think I will just have to trade it is for a new car - can't survive a Maryland summer without AC; we have already had almost of week of temps with heat indexes near 100 and the summer hasn't even started.

Obviously, something is not working as it should, or it would be cool inside your car.

When you press the A/C button, do you hear the click or clunk of the compressor engaging? If you look at the compressor, you will see the plate next to the belt start spinning (when engine running but compressor not engaged, the belt moves but the plate does not) Do the fans come on?

If compressor and fans run the next thing is to check the metal line that starts from a hose from inside the car then it goes over the top of the engine and down to the compressor. In normal operation this line should get cold and have water sweating on it in humid climates. The other line from the compressor will be too hot to touch.

Two common reasons for poor cooling after compressor replacement:

1. The condenser is clogged up with metal debris from the old blown compressor. Replacing the condenser along with the compressor is recommended.

2. Or there is too much oil in the system. In order to remedy that, the system needs to be emptied and each part disconnected and flushed out with an A/C flushing machine.

$2700! I would have taken mechanic 1 to small claims court.

You could have gotten a completely new AC system for that amount of money.....heck, a new engine for that amount of money!!!

From all you've gone through something does seem to be clogged. Dryer should have been changed at step 1 when the compressor was changed. That's A/C 101

Maybe a resolution
 

Thanks you for all the tips.

The mechanic checked pretty much all the things suggested here and nothing worked He was about to give up because he had done everything he could think of and decided to take one more look at the compressor. He discovered that the previous mechanic installed the wrong model compressor, it was off by one digit - he is ordering the correct one and I have my fingers crossed that this will solve the problem. If not, this Honda is getting traded in.