2006 Accord climate control failed

Hi,

Two days ago I was driving on the freeway and I heard a hissing noise. I
turned down the radio and after a few seconds the noise was gone. The
climate control (AC - air conditioner) was on. It continued to run but it
didn't cool the air anymore.

Has anyone heard of such an issue?


I am taking it to the dealer but I don't want them to rip me off.

Thanks for any suggestions or help.

Joe.

 

It's a 2006. Unless you have driven an obscene amount of miles or they can
show physical damage (big dent where a rock hit something under the hood),
it's going to be a warranty repair. How can they rip you off?

 

It could be that road debris flipped up and punctured the condensor, which
is not terribly unusual. In that case the warranty won't cover it but the OP
can evaluate whether to file a claim under the comprehensive insurance
coverage.

Mike

 

If it hit the condenser I would bitch because it is well known that the
Accord condenser is too low to be unprotected as designed.

 

Thanks for all the feedback!!

The car has 6000 miles. If something hit the car hard enough to damage the
condenser, then I should have heard it, right? I haven't heard anything.

How can they put the condenser in a location that is so susceptible to
damage? I think I will complain to Honda if that is the case. If I claim
it on my comprehensive insurance, I will have to pay $500 deductible. I
don't know how much replacing a condenser will cost.

I'm going to ask the dealership to keep the parts, because if it is damaged,
I want to see where it damaged. Call me paranoid, but I just don't want
them to claim it is damaged when it's not. It's happened to me before.

Thanks again,
Joe.

 

Update: the dealer has said that the AC condenser has "road damage" and that
has caused the freon to leak.

The dealer charged me $570 for this "road damage" to the AC Condenser. I
believe it is a design defect or part defect. How come other cars don't have
this problem. Their condensers must be in a location that is NOT susceptible
to damage like Honda's cars OR their AC codensers must be made from a better
(stronger material).

I search the web for Honda AC condenser road damage and found that the Honda
Odyssey has the same issue. On this web site you can see posts from many
people who had the exact same problem and they are forced to pay up to a
$1000 to fix the condenser.
http://www.topix.net/forum/autos/honda-odyssey/TJBOPFUR3SVARKHCJ

Given the number of cases reported by everyone on this site - which is
probably the tip of the iceberg - this should be reported to the
NHTSA:http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/ AND the Bureau of Automotive Report
(BAR) of your state. The following web site is the BAR for
California:<http://smogcheck.ca.gov/stdhome.asp> ;. If Honda does not pay
for this thing, I will report it. If enough people complain maybe Honda
will replace the AC condensers.

I will complain to both the BAR and the NHTSA.

Joe.

 

The AC condeser failure may be attributed to road debris or "road damage".