Air Conditioner Troubleshooting

Howdy,

I have a 96 Accord LX-V6 with 140k miles on it. Recently the air
conditioner started working erratically. The observations:

1. Every 10 minutes or so while the AC is on, the air from the vents stops
blowing cold for about 30 sec. It also feels like the air is not being
dehumidified, although I haven't confirmed that statement. This behavior
seems to be getting more frequent, and for longer periods of time.
2. I noticed today that periodically (say for 5 secs. about every 2
minutes) that a small amount of "vapor" is expelled from the center dash
vents. This doesn't seem to happen all the time - I noticed it just today
while driving on the highway for an extended period of time (45 min).
3. In general, the air coming from the vents isn't too cold. I've never
recharged the R-134a, so that might be part of the problem.
4. A few months ago I had a problem where the defroster wasn't defrosting,
due to a dirty idle air control (IAC) valve. The car basically couldn't
maintain idle control, so it would shut off the compressor. Once the valve
was cleaned the defroster worked fine.

Any thoughts? The first things I can think of doing are to check/recharge
the refrigerant, using a can of refrigerent with dye to check for leaks in
the system. But I was wondering if there were any other good ideas or
things to check.

Thanks!
Ron

 

it may be your expansion valve, might be. a 134a manifold gauge set would
have to be connected to the system in order to help diagnose your a/c
system.

 

Check for the drain tube being blocked. Your evap compartment may be full of
water...

 

Hi Ron,

I am having similar symptoms with my '92 Civic that has 175K miles.
Have you been able to figure out what the problem was?

Thanks.

-jeff

 

I have a 96 Accord LX-V6 with 140k miles on it. > >1. Every 10 minutes or so while the AC is on, the air from the vents stops

low charge due to a leaking evaporator. common for the age on that one.
put the guages on it first and let us know what you find.
Chip