A/C~Window Tinting :)

Hi all you sexy Honda lover's. I have a question about my 1997 Honda Accord.
Now I live in Arizona and it's about 112 degrees here and my A/C seems to
"try" to work but it's not ice cold like it should be? I figured I need Freon?
Any suggestions on if I should buy some and give it to the dealer to put in
or can I put it in? Is there any Freon that is "better" then the others in
other words I want the a/c ICE COLD because it is SO hot here and when the
sun is beaming through the windshield it seems like the a/c isn't working at
all I also see that ALOT of cars have thier windshields totally tinted
and I went to a few places and they said "No,it's illegal to tint the whole
windshield"? Do you guys think thats totally true or do you think if I keep
looking I will find someone to do the WHOLE windshield. All my other windows
are 2% yes VERY(illegally) dark but I just want the windshield tinted maybe
10% just to keep the car a little cooler is this just not going to happen?
Please any suggestions will help
Thanx~~~Wendi

 

"97HondaGurlll via CarKB.com" wrote

Lovers, not lover's. There's your grammar lesson for tonight.

Solutions: get the a/c tested to find out whether or not it's working
properly. If it is working properly, then keep your car parked in a garage.
Even at 112, if it's in a garage (including a public parking garage), the
a/c will be nice and cool because it got a head start. Both my former car, a
97 Civic and my current car, an 04 Accord, behave well under those
conditions. Parked outside in the ungodly heat, even for 10 minutes, it
can take quite a while to cool down from an interior of 130-150? degrees
down to the desired 80 or less. And, you have to be moving along, not
idling, to keep the car cool.

Don't tint your windshield; you won't be able to see out at night. Granted,
in the daytime you just about need welder's goggles, but.... at night you're
on equal footing with anywhere else in the world. If you want to tint the
other windows, go ahead. However, none of my 04 windows are tinted, and I
don't notice any "added" heating. Despite the fact that both my previous two
Civics were tinted, they still heated up to ridiculous temperatures while
sitting in the summer sun. That could be because they were Civics, not
Accords... maybe their a/c systems weren't as good, I don't know.

 

No windshield tinting. I was a Phoenician for 27 years (now a Flagstaffer)
and never even saw a tinted windshield. I'm sure that would get you cited
immediately. However, windshield shades for when you are parked are a huge
help.

As for the A/C, ask around for recommendations and take the car to a pro.
Dunno where in the valley you are, but that RV place south of Bethany Home
on 19th Ave (some guy's name) should treat you right. In the days of R-12 I
did all my own, but have found I can only make R-134a systems worse. The
good news is that in a '97 it is a system designed for R-134a, so you won't
have the loss in efficiency a conversion gives.

Mike (my wife used to keep oven mitts in the car so she wouldn't burn her
hands on the wheel)

 

If theft isn't a concern you can crack your window slightly when parked in
the sun.

I let the heat out for a couple of minutes by leaving the windows down and
the sunroof open while I drive off.

 

First, your A/C doesn't take Freon, it uses R-134a refigerant. You
could try to put Freon in it, but you'll destroy it for all time. If
it's not cooling properly, it's likely that the refrigerant is only low,
but the question then becomes, WHY is it low? Is it leaking? A proper
service by a qualified shop is the best route to make sure it cools to
the best of its capabilities.

I don't know what the laws are in Phoenix, but here in BC, NO tint is
allowed AT ALL on the front windows- tint may only be from the driver's
position and back. If you're caught with illegal tint, you can be given
an inspection notice, which effectively pulls your car off the road
until it's back to spec, meaning the illegal tint is removed (if the cop
is really in a mood, he can even have it towed to an inspection shop,
where they won't release it until it's passed). That's ON TOP OF a
ticket of well over $100.

I might suggest you find out just what your local laws are about window
tint, and go to the trouble of making your car comply NOW. The
alternative is being forced to make it comply later, probably at a very
inconvenient time to deal with it, and almost certainly with a lot of
extra cost involved (tickets, towing, etc.)

Same applies for everyone else here.

 

The price for that ticket in Nova Scotia is $215.00.

 

I agree with you, although the vehicle safety enforcement in Arizona is
spotty at best. When I moved here in 1974, a friend went to register a VW. I
was sure he couldn't register it, because there was a masive hole where one
of the headlights should have mounted... there wasn't even a place to mount
the holder! He registered it with no trouble at all. Our state motto is
"Yeehaw!"

I believe enforcement of vehicle requirements in the Valley is done on the
basis of officer convenience. Amazing numbers of cars drive around with
headlights, taillights and brake lights out until an officer wants a reason
to stop the car. If a windshield is tinted they would probably do a
double-take and pull it over right away, though. Allowing that to get
started would be over the top.

Mike

 

I have a 96 Accord LX4 door. It is black and sucks up the heat as well
though now where near the 112 that your dealing with. However, I have found
that the AC over the past year began to go as well. So after doing some
searching I finally recharged the system my self.
I went to Target and got a R124a recharge kit for $25. You can get this at
any automotive store as well. I would suggest getting one that has the guage
on it so that you can see how full your system is. You will also need some
sort of Thrermometer. I used one that you would put into meat to see f it is
done cooking in the center. The reason I used this one is that you will
stick it into the center air vent. Accordcing to most things that I read you
should get about a 30-40 degree difference from the outside air temp to the
AC. I measured mine and was getting a 20 degree difference.

Follow the directions on the bottle but it was pretty simple. Turn AC on
full Blast and drop the windows so that the AC compressor keeps running.
(doing this during the day helps keep that compressor going) then look under
the hood. as you face the car, over the left fender you will see two blue
caps on different aluminum tubes. The bottom one is the low pressure side of
the AC system. (it makes it easy because if you get the wrong one then the
Recharge kit will not fit it anyway. So hook that up and then pull the
trigger and charge it while saking the can. It took me about 15 minutes or
so to fill it up into the green area on the gauge. Also the kit I had you
had to press down on the part that fit onto the tube as well as pull the
trigger. (tricky tricky)

Anyway if this doesn't work long for me then I will know that I have a leak
and will take it to someone to fix. (I have read that you can get a recharge
bottle that has a dye in it that will show you where your leak is if you have
one.) However, since you have a 97 then I think that you will lose a little
over time and if you are the first owner then you know whether or not you
have had it done in the past onthat car.

 

It can be kinda hit-and-miss here as well, but when they DO nail ya,
it's not usually pretty. Sometimes it'll just a written notice to fix
the problem, and you have 30 days to bring the car back and show the cop
that it's fixed, and the warning gets cancelled. But the option is
always there, if they think there's something else wrong, to write up an
inspection notice, pull the car off the road, and/or have it towed.
Stuff like tint, cops won't usually go out of their way for... but if
you ever get busted for something else, there's a better-than-fair
chance it's gonna get noticed, especially if the cop is having a bad day
- they are only human, after all.

I've known some people that have driven around for years with glaring
safety problems (busted brake lights, etc.) with never even a sniff from
a cop... but really, is it REALLY worth taking the chance? Especially
for something that's easily fixed, when getting written up on it means
you'll have to deal with it anyway, PLUS pay whatever extra fines?

Cost of a new bulb NOW: $2.50.
Cost of a new bulb AFTER getting a ticket for having a brake light out:
$2.50 + $75.

It's not rocket science

 

Well thanx man I do appreciate it I will write all this down so I can go
to Target tomorrow. The a/c like I said works when its not so hot outside or
when it rains I guess because the car is cooler. I did find a place that
tints the windshield with a "special" tint they say to keep the heat out but
it is sort of dark looking when you look at it but when you sit in the car
and look out of the windshield you cant even tell it's tinted except for the
heat from the windshield seems more relaxed and not so hot so ???? I might
look into that? Thanx alot and I will let you know how my recharging went
I am good with cars my daddy taught me well so I do know quite a bit for a
girl. Wendi

 

I live in S. Fl., where it also gets very hot. Before I get in the hot
car to drive away, I open both doors (2 door car) and just wait a couple
minutes before I get in the car and drive away.........makes a big
difference. Also my windows are tinted (but not the windshield), and I
always use a sun shade. The only other thing to do is get a garage !

 

Or a good cover!