AC troubleshoot - HALLLPPPP!!!!

so, i have this prob with my AC for a while now, but i found out something new today..... last summer, my AC was blowing air all day long.. i thought i was low on freon, so i went to a shop to have them check the level....

well, they tested it and the freon was still almost full guy said my condensor is prob toast, but i didn't have tme or money at the time to go further into it..

today, it was hot in socal... i used the accord with the AC on.. this time tho, i realized somehing different.... when the car is at idle (not moving), the AC blows air only... HOWEVER, when the car starts moving, the AC gets cold the AC was taking in recycled air, so i dun see how the temp could vary so much..... every looks fine when i looked at the engine bay, so any advice would help

sounds like the condenser is shot. fridges are the same way...theyll be "cool" inside while the motor is on, but not cold.

my old car did this as well...the air was never really cold because the condenser was done.

This isn't making sense to meh.... the condenser is basically an all aluminum radiator.

In the condenser, the heat the refrigerant picked up in the evaporator is expelled to the air flowing across it from outside the car. When the refrigerant is cooled to its saturation temperature, it will change phase from a gas back into a liquid (this gives off a bundle of heat known as the "latent heat of vaporization"). The liquid then passes through the expansion valve to the evaporator, the coils inside of your car, where it loses pressure that was added to it in the compressor. This causes some of the liquid to change to a low-pressure gas as it cools the remaining liquid. This two-phase mixture enters the evaporator, and the liquid portion of the refrigerant absorbs the heat from the air across the coil and evaporates. Your car's blower circulates air across the cold evaporator and into the interior. The refrigerant goes back through the cycle again and again.

You could have a few different things go wrong, normally the only time you would need to replace a condenser is if you hit a deer, car, or brick mailbox... (I know quite a few people that can't drive) or if it is leaking. In my 5th gen I ended up having to replace the expansion valve, which was a pain in the *** tearing everything out of the lower side of the dash.

expansion valve... crap... tht means freon is leaking tho, correct? but my freon is still full...... after 4 years since last recharge

so... not condensor... maybe expansion valve.. maybe compressor?

if its the expansion valve it doesnt mean its leaking freon it could just be that its not doing its job correctly. the compressor does turn on and off correct?

reciever/dryer/accumulator/expansion block. Its hard for me to remember which cars use what.

i think it's called teh dryer here


i'm assuming tht's just one part rite? just change tht and it's all good?

DarkSideAccord said:

i think it's called teh dryer here


i'm assuming tht's just one part rite? just change tht and it's all good?

Click to expand...

Yes, the "Receiver Dryer" is one part, but I doubt you'd be all good if you just changed that. They might leak, but they typically don't go bad. Since you say your freon level is good after four years you have no leaks. Whenever you open your a/c system, which you're probably going to have to do, you should change the dryer (bad or not). You say you get no cold air at idle. Look under the hood with the a/c button off. The a/c compressor has a clutch on the front. Have someone turn on the a/c control. You should see and hear the clutch engage and the front of the compressor should start turning. If it starts turning (and doesn't cut off quickly), you probably need to look elsewhere for the problem - either the expansion valve or the condenser.

If you can turn a wrench A/C work isn't that hard and you can save a bundle. Otherwise prepare to kick out some big cash to get it repaired.

Just food for thought, my 2002 4cyl and my 1998 4 cyl both have failing evaporators and/or expansion valves. Replaced them on the 2002, problem resolved. ($300 in OEM parts from Majestic Honda), and I have yet to do it with my 98, but I have the same symptoms.

The 2002 it would feel cool, but not cold. But sometimes it would get VERY cold. Sometimes it would straight blow warm air. It just depended on several variables.

The 98 it would be super cold in the morning, "cool" but not cold during most of the way, and sometimes it would blow warm.

both cars the compressor turns on and off as it should. Both had a leak-free system fully charged and have never been opened prior to this.

My friend that's a SAE mechanic at a local Nissan dealer (formerly a Honda mechanic) has replaced over a dozen of the evaporators and expansion valves on the 98-02 accords. He says he saw it quite often. His parents have a 1998 and had to do the same thing to it to get the A/C working. Granted, here in Texas, the A/C is used about 10 months out of the year in our cars, so it gets a lot of use, but my 98 has 240k miles on it, and the 2002 has 180k on it.

i actual solved this problem lol

it was an ecu issue actually haha