This Wednesday I had my 03 accord in to have recall work done on the windshield wiper motors. They ended up replacing both motors. When I got the car back the driver side air conditioner vents blew hot air. The passenger side vents will blow cold air though. My questions is, are the air conditioner vents near the wiper motors so that they could have damaged one the vents? I find it hard to imagine they could have done anything to cause this considering the AC system is in the cabin, but on the other hand it is a huge coincidence. Can anyone offer some advice to me so I can try and diagnose?

Thanks Jared

 

Warm air on one side and cold on the other is usually a symptom of low charge. Look under the hood for any evidence of damage to hoses or tubing under the hood that would allow refrigerant to escape. A technician could have droppeda tool or put some weight in wrong place.

good luck

 

I checked under the hood and did not notice any damaged hoses or tubes. I took the car back to the dealership. After a morning of diagnosing they came back saying that my compressor was failing and that was the reason I was seeing hot air on the driver side and cold are on the passenger side. I do not think this could be the problem though. They supposedly checked the charge and said it was fine. Would a failing compressor cause the driver side vents to blow hot and the passenger side to blow cold?

 

If the compressor does need to be replaced can you suggest a good online supplier? I just ordered a factory service manual, is this a repair I can do myself?

 

If you swap thecompressor yourself, you still need a shop to evacuate the system & recover the refrigerant, then evacuate it again to remove ALL air & moisture before charging.

 

JimBlake,
Does a failing compressor sound like the culprit? Making the replacement necessary? It still feels like i am being duped here since the ac was in good working order before the car was brought in. Would they have purposely caused this? If so what can I do?

 

I havent messed with the HVAC in my 2003, but it seems unlikely.
Bad compressor = both sides warm.
Marginal compressor = both sides same.

Maybe a broken air-direction door somewhere? Exercise the different directions for air to blow - watch & listen for anything not normal.

 

There has been a slight noise as you change the temp dial in the blue range. This has been ongoing for a year or so.

 

Well, does it sound like a broken mechanism for moving the air-directions doors?

Im really hoping someone who has actually worked on their AC system will post something in here...

We just had the wiper-motor recall done too, but nothing strange happened. I dont think they ever needed to mess around inside the dashboard. Only under the hood.

 

The air direction doors are in good working order. I just spoke with the service manager and he gave me a better description of what they found. The manager said that the system tested 11g of refrigerant instead of 55g, which is what you are supposed to have. He also said that there was a lot of refrigerant residue around the condenser and he believes it has been leaking for some time, thus the 44 gram difference. He charged the system again and the AC should work for the time being, but over time he feels the leak will continue and the ac will fail again. Being a chemical engineer who has taken a good bit of heat transfer, I am having a hard time understanding that the air in the vents will loose enough heat on its way from the passenger side ducts to the driver side ducts that would allow such a temperature difference in the air entering the cabin from the two sides. It was not a small difference.