I recently moved from Indiana to Las Vegas and I have experienced problems with my AC in a 2002 Honda Civic EX. When I drive home from work around 5 PM the AC will be cold but after about 10-15 minutes the AC will become warm (doesn't do it all of the time) and it usually does it when I come to a crawl in traffic or stop. If I turn the AC off for 2-3 minutes and turn it back on the air is cold. I notice that when it does get warm my car revs a little higher and will go back to normal when I turn the AC off. It has never done this is the morning when the outside temperature is much lower. I had the freon level checked and it was fine and I straightened out the fins on my condensor. I took it to a shop and they said my compressor is working property even though it makes a small noise when the AC is turned on. They told me I need to replace the condenser (like $600). I'm not mechanically savvy so I want to make sure I'm not getting taken. I read on a site somewhere that it may be the AC fan switch. Any ideas or suggestions?

 

Cools for a while then quits is often the compressor clutch gap. Drive until it stops cooling then pull over (leave the engine running and the A/C button pressed) and look under the hood. See whether the condenser fans are running, the compressor is engaged, and is the suction line (the metal pipe that goes over the top of the engine down to the compressor) cold.