My sister has a '96 Accord value edition with AC. The temps here have been ridiculously hot. Excessive heat warnings for the next week. She has been shuttling around two infants and needs the AC to work. So here's the issue.
On the highway it is fine, blows cold air, car runs fine etc. In town in stop and go traffic the compressor will try to come on for just a second or two and the engine will bog and then the compressor will shut off. No cold air. So, she bought a can of freon and asked me to put it in to see if that was the trouble. I hooked up my gauge and the low side had over 100 psi. Way in the red. Both fans were running and the pressure would lower just a bit when the compressor came on, maybe to 80 psi or so. I removed some of the fluid in the system and it worked a tiny bit better, but as we talked for about 1/2 hour the pressure slowly went up again. Where is the most likely place for a blockage in these systems, or any other ideas that would be helpful. Thanks

 

Well thing is the blockage could be anywhere in the system. You should really bring it to a shop to find the blockage. Or at least discharge the ac properly, if you are going to look for it yourself.

 

To diagnose the system, you need to read both the high and low side pressure on the a/c system, the outside air temperature, and the temperature of the air coming out of the center vent.

 

I just went through this same thing recently with my 02 accord. I charged it with the canned 134r to "improve" the ac. After this my car would act bogged down taking off the air would go from cold to not very cold. I decided to take it and have the ac evacuated and then properly charged at a shop. Now my AC is ICE cold all the time and the car runs perfectly.... I will never buy a can of coolant again.

 

I don't have a gauge that will fit on the high side fitting unfortunately. My sister does not have the money to take it to a shop. I guess I was hoping for one of those "Oh yeah, Honda had a known issue with the ________." Thanks for your thoughts on this.

 

Ok I'll bite. Been in that position way too many times.

A couple of things to check.

When you/she turns on the AC....do BOTH cooling fans come on?

At idle does the compressor cycle on and off pretty quick?