2004 Civic EX air conditioner probl. in 2nd grear

Almost brand new Civic with automatic trans. When car is accelerating in
second gear, the air conditioner blows non-cool air. When it hits 3rd,the air
gets much cooler. Also ok in 1st and idle. Also, I think the air could be
colder when it IS cold... but that's another issue.

Is this "2nd gear, 'warm' air" a known issue with the 2004 Civic EX?

Thanks,

Al

 

What is the relationship of the accelerator pedal to the floor when your car
is going through the gears?

Captainkrunch

 

I'm NOT doing jack-rabbit acceleration. I'm talking normal "from a stop light"
acceleration in traffic. I'm not flooring it out if that's what you mean. I
guess I should look at the tach and see at what rpm the air turns warm. I
know it's in second because it gets colder when it hits 3rd.

What's goin' on?

Al

 

That is an odd thing to have happen. I would call the dealer and tell them
about it. Perhaps they have a good explanation.

CaptainKrunch

 

It isn't really. Most cars will drop the compressor at high rpm. If he is in
second long enough to feel the air to warm up he is dogging it too long.

 

I called the service dept. at the dealer I bought the vehicle from (car only
has 2500 miles!) He says this is normal for the Civic... that there is a
sensor that will turn off the compressor if the engine needs the power.

Do you think they are blowing smoke at me? I had a 1990 4 cyl. Honda Accord EX
for 14 years before this new Civic and never noticed the AC change from cold
to "regular" air and than back again while driving. Comments?

Al

 

it's called compressor cut, and is commanded by the ECU. it happens
at lower rpm than the older model. it's very noticable on the new
civics . It's also normal.
Chip

 

If I had known about this in advance I would not have purchased the car. Do
all new cars have compressor cut?

Al

 

Hi,
Old cars too. compressor cut off and rpm increase when ideling with a/c
on. It's one way of increasing CAFE as well.
Tony

 

If I had known about this in advance I would not have purchased the car. Do

It's not necessarily a bad thing. I have a 2004 Toyota Tacoma, and as
far as I know the AC compressor doesn't turn off automatically.
Merging on a freeway is hell, and is only slightly better when I
manually turn the AC off.

 

My wife has a 2003 Toyota Rav and I think it has about the same size engine.
It does not cut off the AC.

A friend has the small Acura built on the Civic platform and has a similar
engine (but a manual trans.) and he says there is not this problem.

The air blows cold but not as cold as my wife's Rav.

I called the dealer and he said that if I bring it in they will charge me 50
dollars to do a test on it. Car is 4 months old with only 2k miles on it. I
guess the AC is not part of the warrenty.

Maybe I should have bought a Toyota.... or waited for a hot summer day to test
drive a car I was considering buying.

Al

 

You need to find a different dealer.

 

Service writer: "This customer keeps complaining about his A/C, but
there is nothing wrong with it!"
Service manager: "Tell him we'll charge 50 buck just to look at it. Then
maybe he'll just go away."

 

I think there IS something wrong with it. I've talked to a ton of folks and no
one can relate their car to this problem. I going to try to find some 2004
Civic owners in this area and see if I can get to the bottom of this. Anyone
out there with a new Civic EX in a hot climate?

Al

 

Perhaps you could ask the dealer if you can test drive another 2004 EX
from their lot.

A friend of mine, who has at best minimal mechanical insight, found a
strong smell of burned oil in his car after a service. The dealer was
not very cooperative, but finally agreed to check it out with the
agreement that if they found nothing wrong, my friend would pay 1/2
labor charge. If they found that they had made a mistake, they would fix
it for free. Turned out they had simply forgotten to put on the oil
filler cap. You could try to make a similar deal with your service guys.
They may not be very motivated to find a problem if it means they have
to work for free, though.

 

I have finally found someone else who shares my dissapointment with their
2004 civic's air conditioning! Al, I live in Arizona, and let me tell you,
it is no picnic with this car's air conditioning when its 110 degrees out.
I have taken my car into the Honda shop 3 times now, and every time they
tell me that the air is "normal" and they have also informed me that this
model was built to blow warm air when accelerating while getting onto the
freeway. Aside from that, there are times when it takes 15-20 minutes for
my car to cool down. That doesnt help me out when I have a short drive to
the grocery store. Their solution to the problem? They tinted my windows
for free. While that is a nice gesture, and it does keep some of the heat
out, it doesn't help the actual air conditioner cooling off the car. I
have already called the Honda customer service center, to complain. That
is when they contacted my local dealership to have them tint my windows.
During a follow up phone call from the dealer, I went off on him telling
him I will never purchase another Honda again, nor will I keep this
vehicle to the end of the lease term which is 2.5 years away. I am
assuming he passed this message along to the customer service department
because they have not returned any of my phone calls. My next step is to
complain to the BBB about this. I refuse to pay $ for a car that I dont
even want to drive. The makers of this car should try driving it in the
middle of an Arizona summer, then maybe they will build a better air
conditioner...

 

I have finally found someone else who shares my dissapointment with their
2004 civic's air conditioning! Al, I live in Arizona, and let me tell you,
it is no picnic with this car's air conditioning when its 110 degrees out.
I have taken my car into the Honda shop 3 times now, and every time they
tell me that the air is "normal" and they have also informed me that this
model was built to blow warm air when accelerating while getting onto the
freeway. Aside from that, there are times when it takes 15-20 minutes for
my car to cool down. That doesnt help me out when I have a short drive to
the grocery store. Their solution to the problem? They tinted my windows
for free. While that is a nice gesture, and it does keep some of the heat
out, it doesn't help the actual air conditioner cooling off the car. I
have already called the Honda customer service center, to complain. That
is when they contacted my local dealership to have them tint my windows.
During a follow up phone call from the dealer, I went off on him telling
him I will never purchase another Honda again, nor will I keep this
vehicle to the end of the lease term which is 2.5 years away. I am
assuming he passed this message along to the customer service department
because they have not returned any of my phone calls. My next step is to
complain to the BBB about this. I refuse to pay $ for a car that I dont
even want to drive. The makers of this car should try driving it in the
middle of an Arizona summer, then maybe they will build a better air
conditioner...