I have a 2000 civic in excellent sharp. Everytime I turn on the AC during hot weather the RPM jump when idling feel like its about to stall...and it make a clicking noise when i have the AC on. Also When i am driving it with the AC on i can feel that it is losing power and gaining power in the mid RPM....does anyone know the problem? please help!!!

 

The A/C compressor robs a lot of your engine power. It requires a lot of force to compress the refrigerant, and that force comes out of your engine's HP. You feel the power off and on because the compressor has an electro-magnetic clutch which cycles on and off (the compressor doesn't have to be on at all times to sufficiently compress the refrigerant. The drop in RPM at idle is due to the extra load placed on the engine when the compressor kicks in. As for the clicking, the compressor makes a clicking noise as it cycles on and off, and it should cycle maybe 3 or 4 times a minute. If it cycling constantly (on-off-on-off) ect with very little pause in between then it is most likely the refrigerant in the system is not at the right pressure, and you would need to get it serviced at a garage with the proper a/c equipment.

 

If i take my car to get the refrigerant refill would that fix the problem too?

 

Well, you havn't told us if you even have a problem.Allthe symptoms you described are part of normal a/c operation. The only problem would be if it's cycling on and off too fast, and in that case getting the refrigerant removed and refilled properly would fix that.

 

The AC robs power and gas so I never use mine. But Tim706 is correct most of the things, like losing power and lower idle RPM, are all part of the AC system working and you shouldnt worry about it.