What is wrong with my a/c?

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My a/c works intermittently. It will all of a sudden start blowing HOT air. It has been behaving like this for almost a year. I have had several body shops look at it to determine the problem. My trusted auto shop does not feel confident they know exactly what is going on. I have seen many other complaints about the same issue with Honda Civic models 2008-2012 online with no apparent solution. Seems Honda may have a problem on their hands. What should I do?

barbjpt in St. Louis MO

Jun 28, 2016

1 Reply

Popular Answer

ziptie12on Jun 29, 2016

Most common on other models (Odyssey , Accord , Pilot ) is the A/C clutch relay sticking and causing dead battery and over-pressurization of system causing a release of refrigerant , then poor A/C cooling. Civics have NOT had as many issues in the more recent model years you mention. What specific DIAGNOSTICS has your 'trusted' auto shop actually done? IF they have a scanner (up-to-date software) , they can scan the body controls and climate control systems to monitor commands and sensor feedback. Also monitoring system pressures with gauges is still the primary method used to diagnose system functionality and possible areas of concern. BASIC A/C diagnostics , nothing special.When you say it works intermittently are you describing the clutch operation or is that based solely on air temp at vents?

barbjpton Jun 29, 2016

Thanks ziptie! My appraisal is based solely on air coming out of vents. It will be cold, then blazing hot air. I can't figure out a pattern...just sometime it works and sometimes not. It does seem the hot air comes more often when it is 95 degrees or above outside. I am not sure what diagnostics they performed, but put some dye in the a/c and told me to bring it back in a week. Also they told me there is no code coming up on their system.

ziptie12on Jun 30, 2016

Have they seen it in the 'failed' state , when it goes from cold to hot? That is, of course , the ideal condition for troubleshooting that symptom.

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