UPDATE: '95 Civic with intermittent A/C failure

Hi all,
A while back, I asked for advice about a pesky intermittent A/C problem
I was having with my '95 Civic (80,000 miles on it). Namely, the A/C
just doesn't work much of the time; occasionally it favors me with some
cold air, but most of the time it doesn't. My regular mechanic failed
to fix it.

Folks here suggested I take the car to a Honda dealership. Which I did.
Last Thursday. Today, they told me they think they finally figured it
out--a bad Heater Control Unit in the dash. Evidently it's badly
grounded and is overheating or something.

I never heard of this before. What does this Heater Control Unit do? Is
that the entire climate control assembly on the dash or something?
Anyone else experience a similar problem?

 

www.honda-tech.com has several reports of this being
replaced/needed for Hondas around 1995, at least one with
photos. Do a search of the archives there using the words
"heater control unit." Appears to be, like you say, the
entire climate control assembly on the dash. Ebay shows
photos of same. I expect it's something very specific within
the unit that failed, but replacement of the entire assembly
may be worthwhile, given the labor to get the thing out and
completely diagnosed.

 

www.honda-tech.com has several reports of this being
replaced/needed for Hondas around 1995, at least one with
photos. Do a search of the archives there using the words
"heater control unit." Appears to be, like you say, the
entire climate control assembly on the dash. Ebay shows
photos of same. I expect it's something very specific within
the unit that failed, but replacement of the entire assembly
may be worthwhile, given the labor to get the thing out and
completely diagnosed.