Car a/c intermittent failure

[tvguy]

44 years in the business, it's probably low on gas.

So did you give a warranty with your work? I may be misunderstanding but it seems some here don't expect a mechanic to offer some sort of guarantee on their work. So if you charged a customer for a diagnosis, and 30 days later like poster the problem was still there, would you charge another diagnostic fee or do the diagnostic at no charge?

 

[leebee]

On a vehicle that doesn't have 18 years of Buffalo winters I would assume (?) it would be easier to find and fix wiring connection issues. Maybe it's just that. I'm not sure if a bad compressor works sometimes until it fails or if it just fails once and that's it, I don't know enough about it.

Maybe it's just a bad thermostat too.

Hope you get it straightened out and it's not an arm and a leg.

Twenty-one years of Cleveland, Ohio and Bangor, Maine winters. Pretty much the same! Fortunately, my MIL (original owner) didn't drive it much and kept it garaged for much of its life. We've had it 5 years now and DH gets it rust-proofed every summer, but there is some rust starting in the rear driver's-side wheel well. Rust is what kills cars up here, not age. They just get too rusty to pass inspection, even if they are running fine. It's very discouraging.

Fortunately, our heat wave is over; it's no longer 95F, so we can drive comfortably with the windows open until Wednesday, when they'll take another look at the system and see what's up.

 

[Rex1993]

This sounds just like what happened in my wife’s 2007 RDX. I believe the ‘03 CRV and ‘07 RDX have essentially the same ac system. The problem was a known issue with the a/c compressor clutch not engaging at high temps after about 100k miles. I believe there was a recall or at least a TSB.

The factory fix was to replace the whole compressor and that means you replace the drier and a few other things too. That repair would easily cost thousands. The thing I did which worked perfectly was to replace the compressor clutch assembly. It doesn’t require removing the compressor or discharging the system.

One way I found to test this was when the compressor wouldn’t engage you knock the front of the clutch with wrench or something and it would then engage. If it engaged and cools, you most likely have a bad clutch.

 

[jalapeno_pretzel]

Fortunately, our heat wave is over; it's no longer 95F, so we can drive comfortably with the windows open until Wednesday, when they'll take another look at the system and see what'

Did they figure out the issue?

 

[OneOftheB's]

I had a Honda Civic years ago that had a similar problem to what you have described. The ac worked great until it stopped then if would work great again for a period of time. I finally realized the on/off happened when I hit a bump or pothole. I took it to a friend who was a mechanic and he determined it was a relay that wasn’t working properly. You could tap the relay cover and the ac would start/stop functioning. I took it to the dealership (he couldn’t fix it immediately for me and the dealer could). The Honda dealer actually gave me a ton of pushback because they didn’t think that was the issue. I insisted they replace just that part and never had another issue with the ac in that car. It was under $50, but this was years ago.

 

[hertamaniac]

Last summer, my 13-year-old car's A/C stopped blowing cold air. I fretted that day would come where I would need a compressor/clutch. I purchased one of those seal and re-charge canisters, connected it.

I then took a pressure reading which was clearly zero or non-existent. The guy on YT said it is critical to start the car, set the A/C to max. and then attach the canister. I did exactly that, dispensed a few shots of refrigerant into the port, rotated the bottle 90 degrees to get liquid/air mixed properly, and repeated the shots into the valve while watching the pressure gauge.

I went back into the car, it was blowing warm and then the compressor kicked on and voila........I had new car-like freezing cold A/C. It worked perfectly fine and then traded the car in this past winter. Total cost was about $45 for the canister.

 

[kdonnel]

I bled all the refrigerant I could from that port.

That was not kind to the atmosphere.

In the future it is much more friendly to the environment to have the refrigerant captured during the removal.

 

[hertamaniac]

That was not kind to the atmosphere.

In the future it is much more friendly to the environment to have the refrigerant captured during the removal.

It was kind to my wallet. But, in the future I would gladly accept a professional recapture unit should one be provided free.

 

[Moliphino]

It was kind to my wallet. But, in the future I would gladly accept a professional recapture unit should one be provided free.

Isn't it illegal to discharge refrigerant to the air?

 

[Dan Murphy]

Isn't it illegal to discharge refrigerant to the air?

Yes, for over 30 years now.

 

[Forevermarypoppins]

The a/c in our car doesn't work all the time. Today it was fine from here to store A, then on to store B, but didn't work on the way home. It also didn't work when we went out to lunch. It's beastly hot- real-feel this afternoon was 105F- and it's impossible to drive much with this heat and no a/c. We had it into the shop about a month ago and they checked for leaks and recharged it. Anyone have any guesses of what might be wrong?

I had the same issue. My Chevy Equinox needed a new compressor.