Recharging 2002 Civic AC Q's

Hi all!

I've got a 2002 Civic EX and the AC isn't quite working right. When I
turn it on, it will blow cold air for several minutes before blowing
outside temperature air. If I cycle the AC on several minutes later, I
may get cold air again.

Does it sound like I need to charge the system to get the R134 into the
correct pressure range? Does anyone have any experience with the kits
you can buy at the auto stores? How are they? I'd take it to the
dealer, but they want $150 just to charge it with refrigerant/dye and
then have me come back if it fails again. I figure if I can get the
R134 level back to where it's supposed to be, I can at least see how
much of a leak there may be.

I haven't checked out the kits yet, but are there specs for the low
pressure side included for Hondas? I understand that too much
refrigerant can be worse than too little as far as the system goes.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated! The quicker, the better!
We're supposed to be approaching 100 deg. the next couple of days here
in the Northeast.

Thanks!
decoy

 

Do you have a refrigerant sight-glass (on the receiver) - the last uk model
I did had one - you should see bubbles when the system starts, but should go
clear once the pressures stabilise (you may need to increase revs slightly
from idle). If you see continuous bubbles / foam, it's low.

Are the fans working correctly?

www.poolecool.co.uk

 

Honda H Emblem Badge Shop and Store Civic Accord Integra Acura Jazz
Type-R S2000

Where can I buy Honda H Emblem Badge Red, Blue, Black, White, Yellow ?

Who buy these badge in www.autoxpat.com ?

http://www.autoxpat.com/shop/

Please comment and address about this shop of price and services ..

Regards,

RC Man

 

Honda H Emblem Badge Shop and Store Civic Accord Integra Acura Jazz
Type-R S2000

Where can I buy Honda H Emblem Badge Red, Blue, Black, White, Yellow ?

Who buy these badge in www.autoxpat.com ?

http://www.autoxpat.com/shop/

Please comment and address about this shop of price and services ..

Regards,

RC Man

 

GO **** YOURSELF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

For the older Civics 96 to 99, the low side readings should be 23 to 36, hi
side 240 to 300. Don't know about your 2002, though? Good luck.

 

My $0.02, supported by lots of AC repair manuals. The only reliable way to
recharge an R134a system, is to evacuate it and recharge with the exact
amount of refrigerant required. That is why the repair shops with the
$1,500 recovery stations, the EPA certification and the high school dropout
"technicians" have you over a barrel. Many of them will fix one leak,
recharge your system and tell you that you are "good to go" even though
there may be six more leaks that they "don't know about". Who can blame
people for wanting to do this job themselves? My advice is to at least do a
soap bubble test, to make sure that there are no really bad leaks, before
putting the car back on the road.

Earle

 

What country are you in? US go to Wal-Mart or parts store and get a kit that
has a charge hose with a guage on it. Check the pressure on the low side per
the instructions on the card. It should be in the blue area around 40 pounds
with the system running at full on and engine about 1500 rpm. Just follow
instructions on the package..

 

Don't mind the rearranging, above....

I'm in the US. I went to Wal-Mart yesterday and picked up one of those
kits. It sounds really simple. I tested the pressure with the AC
running full/recirculate yesterday afternoon and it showed right in the
middle of the blue region. I was expecting a lower reading than that,
but thought it might've been because it was 95-ish degrees yesterday.
This morning I tested the pressure again and it read about 25 psi or on
the low end of the blue region.

I thought everything looked ok, but I figured I'd add a little
refrigerant to get it to the higher end of "normal". It took maybe 1
second of recharging (with everything running) before the needle was at
40 psi. That didn't seem right, but I unhooked it and left it alone.
It worked for awhile earlier today, but now seems to be back to where
it was. I also noticed some surging when I'm guessing the compressor
kicks in. I noticed similar surging earlier in the week prior to me
"charging" it.

Help! It's still hot here in the Northeast!
decoy