Chapter Two: So, this Friday I was running errands in the Accord and the A/C started to act up again. It was in the low 90's with high relative humidity. On a lark, I decided to swing by the Honda dealership, and luckily they weren't super busy. The service manager rode with me, and he got to see the problem for himself. He told me it hadn't done this when he had the car, and I believe him. It really is an intermittent problem. We went back to the dealership and he immediately swapped out a relay and was fiddling with various things under the hood. He wanted to keep the car, and I also wanted him to, so the service driver brought me home and they have the car again. I'm really impressed that they seem to be so interested in fixing the problem. It seems like it was more than just low refrigerant but that did seem to help some. I'm really curious to see what they come up with now. I hope they can identify the defect and fix it, but this is a tricky one. I'm hopeful; at least they have seen the issue now.

 

Glad to see you are making progress.....they have "seen" the issue first hand.

It is really nice to hear that you have found a dealer that "cares". I read too many posts where people seem to be dealing with a dealership that does not care.

 

Chapter Three. So, the car acted up for the service manager and the service writer. They sent me home via the free van, and they kept the car for another two or three days, driving it all over, during which the little camera on the trunk lid somehow became dislodged. I haven't even started to address that as this has already taken waaaaaaaaaaay more time than you'd hope on a new car. After many phone calls and much discussion, they are not able to get an error code or a bad reading that will allow Honda Corp to pay them to do anything else to the car. Not to worry, you have a 36 month warranty, and you can just swing it by when it acts up and we'll put someone right on it and one day we'll catch the gremlin. They seem nice and they seem interested, but I still have a car with 1600 miles on it that I don't really want to take on the highway when it is ultra hot outside because the A/C might just decide to take a rest. Oh boy!! Anyhow, I have a question for anyone who might know about Honda auto A/C. They seem to have checked relays and electrical and that was all good. It got better but didn't get fixed when they added freon. So I've been reading about auto A/C on the internet, and it sounds like there is some sort of what I can only call "high end limit" on the compressor that will prevent it from starting if the pressure has gotten into scary high heights. If that is what is happening, would that throw some sort of error code to some computer chip somewhere, and if it does, how long does that stay stored? Since this thing is running fine under low to moderately high loads, it seems logical to think that the extremely high loads are causing the pressure to get too high and lock out. I did speak to an A/C guy who is a friend, and he postulated that there is a contaminant in the coolant and oil and that this is blocking the orifice under mega high loads. He's seen this on another Honda and says the only way to fix it is to clean out the whole system and start over with good coolant and oil. He says that is more involved than it sounds. I'm wondering if I'll ever get a code that will allow them to do anything under the warranty. My A/C guy did not say it would necessarily make the pressure get sky high, he just said it would clog the orifice until the pressure blew the clog through. I'm the one wondering about the "high end limit" situation. Something is causing the compressor to have much longer than normal "off" cycles. If the clog theory is right, that can't be good for the machine. I'm starting to think that I need to get a second or third opinion. If the compressor wouldn't be throwing a code or it doesn't store for very long, I may have to wait a year to address this as it is finally starting to cool off just a little and the A/C can freeze you out right now. Anyone??? Thanks in advance for your suggestions.

 

Sorry the last post is so long. I hope no one is falling asleep reading this...

 

I'd make sure that you have this documented with Honda that the a/c cuts out. You may want to call Honda corporate to see if they can do something or atleast document the a/c problem in case it comes back after the warranty.

I don't know if the newer accords can set a code for the high pressure a/c switch. I don't have a shop manual for accords after 07. I'll look to see if there is a diy procedure. The Honda dealership should be able to check for these codes.

Without reading live data, you may have to backprobe some test lights to see why the compressor clutch is not engaging under high heat. Verifying that you have or are missing power to the compressor at the connector is the first place I'd start. The next step depends on what you find.

 

I do need to contact Honda Corp. to let them know I have an intermittent gremlin. It really is a shame as I really like most of this car. I had really hoped the local service department would fix it and it would be all over with no need to involve Honda Corp.

I've been reading online that the computer (I think Ford calls it the DCM??) on new cars does a check on lots of systems when they first start, so I'm wondering if I have the gremlin appear and I can shut it off and quickly restart it if it would throw a code and catch the beast. The service manager had me keep the car running so he could hook a laptop up to it and see, but it ended up resolving itself before they could get it hooked up. It seems to resolve under lower load as in being under the awning outside the dealership or under the garage roof out of the sun. I'm wondering if the onboard computer would catch it if it happened at (re)startup.

The SM was looking at the electrical connections to the compressor and I'm not sure what he came up with. He had a relay that he swapped out and that didn't fix it.

I'm not sure what "backprobe test lights" means. Do you mean with a voltmeter?

Thanks for the suggestions. This forum has been very helpful.

 

Back-probing is when you slide a thin piece of metal into the back of a wire on an electrical connector, so you can keep the connector plugged in. You can use a volt meter or a 12V light to see if that wire has power or ground.

 

That is a new one on me. Great idea! Thanks!

 

I've bought RadioShack Mini Test Clip Adapters where I bent the copper hook straight and used them to back-probe. See people use a t-pin as well. Be careful not to have the back-probe touch ground, as that can cause you more problems like shorting out the engine computer, etc...

There are also back-probe kits you can buy for your voltmeter.

 

Yes, I'm not planning on doing anything like this under the hood of this car as I don't want to give them any reason to argue that I voided the warranty. This technique is useful for all sorts of other things though. I've never heard of it being done like this. My voltmeter has sharp points on the leads and you can usually poke those into some bare wire, but this is better in some circumstances. This is a great tip! Thanks!