i have a 06 honda civc lx. my ac quit working the other day. i had a guy jump the compressor to see if thats what the deal was. the compressor is still good. so i have a electrical problem somewhere any suggestions on what it could be?

 

Is the Condensor Fan fuse blown under the hood? If so disconnect the condensor fan from the compressor and pop in a new fuse. Start the engine and turn on the AC. Look under the hood to see if the condensor fan is spinning. If so, your clutch coil is shortening your fuse and will have to be replaced.

 

Also, how do you jump the compressor?

Thanks.

 

Don't "jump the compressor". That is likely to cause a dangerous overpressure.

General "compressor won't engage" troubleshooting goes like this:

First check if the refrigerant is still there. If you have an A/C gauge manifold use it to confirm the pressure in the lines is more than 60 psi. If you don't have gauges, find the pressure switch (which I think is on the receiver) and unplug it, see if the switch is a closed circuit. If it's open you probably have no pressure and the switch is doing its job to prevent the compressor from running dry. Confirm that with pressure gauges then find and repair the leak. It is futile to try to just recharge when there is a major leak. Also never use leak stop.

If the pressure switch is closed, plug it back in and check the compressor fuse. Observe whether the condenser fans come on and the engine rpm changes when you press the A/C button. If all that happens it should just be the compressor relay or clutch. If not it is a deeper problem. I don't know if the 06 has a CAN bus or simple DC control wiring. The service manual would need to be consulted for further troubleshooting.

 

thanks for the info. let me get this to my guy and i will get bk to yall. thanks guys.

 

ok guys, talked to the guy who is helping me out with this. all fuses are good. he did exactly all that,mk. he only wired it direct to check the compressor to check if it worked. it does. so i guess i have a deeper issue like you said. we dont have a local honda dealer around so we called to see how much it would cost to have the computer check it out. we explained what we ve done and the mechanic said it sounds like it could be the climate control ****? has anybody heard of this?

 

well I'd first check to make sure you have contact at the a/c switch. The switch on the control unit often has problems. If that is good I'd check the compressor relay. If that is good I'd say jump the thermostat and see if it starts. If it does replace thermostat (on evaporator). If not then you probably have a leak in the system and the pressure switch won't engage the compressor. Put gages on the system and see if you have a charge. If you don't then fix leak and service system.

 

Is there pressure in the system? You have to start there since a bit more than half of A/C problems are leakout related. That does leave slightly less than half that are something else.

I don't know much about the 2006, but the trend on later models was for the control panel to be a computer (which at least the early ones had a self-test feature) and the evaporator temperature sensor is a thermistor not a switch. You can't just jump stuff like on older models.