Hello Honda Accord Forum;

Question 1). If an air conditioning compressor leaks could the air stay semi-cold and the temperature not change or get any warmer for two or three summers?

Question 2). If a mechanic puts dye in an a/c system and the compressor leaks can you see dye on the compressor one or two hours later?

The air conditioner for my Honda Accord has not been very cold for about the past two or three summers. It's not gotten any warmer. It has stayed about the same - moderately cold.

I never noticed until I got a loaner car (a new Honda from the dealership) late last August. The air conditioner on the loaner was really cold. I then knew my car was not getting cold enough.

About three months ago a neighborhood mechanic put a thermometer in one of the air conditioner vents. He said that the chilled air was 39 degrees.

Last summer the air conditioner would cut off for a few minutes. Then it would again become cold. It's my understanding that an a/c with low freon will do that.

I thought that a previous mechanic may have not put enough freon in the air conditioner.

So far this summer it has not yet cut off.

Yesterday, I took the car to the same mechanic who said the chilled air was 39 degrees. He was to evacuate and then re-charge the freon.

I just picked the car up. The mechanic said that the air compressor was leaking. He said that he put dye in the freon and that the dye was visible on the front. He said that he did a partial charge on the invoice/receipt.

I got the car home. The air conditioning is semi-cold to cold. I can't tell if it is colder than it was but it may be.

I opened the hood and looked at the compressor. I did not see any dye on the compressor.

Recapping my questions above 1). Would the air conditioning be semi-cold to cold and stay about the same for two or three summers if the compressor was leaking; and 2). Would I be able to see dye on or near the air compressor if it were leaking about one or two hours after it was charged or checked?

I am thinking that the dye, once it drys, might not be visible.

I live in East Tennessee. It gets pretty warm here in the summer time.

 

39 degrees at the vent is a VERY good reading...how cold do you want to be? do you have any pressures readings from the high and low side? if UV dye was used, you may not be able to see it without a blacklight...most dye system use this type. you may also have a vent control problem, meaning the doors that cut off the heater core may not be fully closing all the time so you are getting "blended" air through the vents.

 

Dr. Driveability;

Thanks for responding to my question.

I'm getting a second opinion from a local mechanic. I have an appointment Friday morning at 8:00 am.

It never dawned on me that the dye might be the UV type dye.

I thought 39 degrees sounded pretty good. It sure didn't feel like it was that cold. The mechanic said that most of the time he could get them down to 30 degrees. That's below freezing!

I will make a note to touch bases back and report my findings after Friday.

 

Good news! There are no leaks in the a/c system. The mechanic this morning evacuated and charged the system.

After charging he put a thermometer into one of the vents. It read about 57 degrees to 60 degrees. The temperature this morning was in the low 70's.

He said that the system had about 1/2 pound too much Freon. I think he said that the proper amount of Freon was something like 1.1 pounds. (I know that if an a/c system has too much Freon it won't get as cold as it should.) The first mechanic earlier this week evidently had put too much Freon back into the system.

The mechanic earlier this week had tested the temperature about last March. That's the mechanic who said the chilled air was 39 degrees. It was about 60 degrees last March when he did the test. That same mechanic, who has been dependable in the past, said that he could usually get the chilled air down to about 30 degrees [that's below freezing!].

The mechanic that worked on my air conditioning this morning had a machine that looked something like this:



Picture from: Automotive Service Equipment

I got one question: 1). The engine was not running when the mechanic this morning did the evacuation and leak/suction test. If the compressor were leaking, like the first mechanic said, would it show on the suction test when the engine was off?

The temperature this morning [after evacuation and re-charge] is about the same as it has been for the past few years. I have had this car since 2009. I don't think the a/c was any colder when I first got the car. The temperature has been steady for the past few years - kind of moderately cool/cold.

It may be that this air conditioner unit is just not going to get any colder.