So my AC only works when it wants. I have had the compressor tested and it's fine. There is power to it, if you jump the relay the clutch kicks in. Yesterday I drove 20-25 miles and it kicked on and blew ice cold. I shut off the AC at the button inside and turned it back on multiple times and it never hesitated to turn back on. I shut off the car and let it sit a few minutes and it still worked fine. I took my wife to eat and when we came back outside I could not get it working again.

I am at a loss, my mechanic is at a loss, I'm starting to think my car just doesn't like me. Any thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

 

Can we know the year, trim level and engine size of the car?

 

Sorry it's a 2001 accord ex with 2.3L

 

Thanks....that help narrow down things, still a ton of ideas but at least we are down to a chapter in the book and not the entire book

There are two types of HVAC control units in these, a dual zone one and a single control one....will need to know which you have? The dual zone has a digital read out where you can set the drivers and pass side temps different. The single has the one regular "****" where you can turn it from hot to cold.

Anyway, when the AC stops, is there anything else working? mode settings (like floor to face, defrost), blower motor and blower speed.

 

I have the single zone. When it stops blowing cold, everything works as it should. All the lights on my control panel work as they should.

 

Well this is going to get fun.

So the AC light on the dash will stay on, just no cold air. Do the cooling fans come on/stay on when the AC stops working?

Where I'm at right now is that power to the compressor is missing (relay going bad) or something with the ac compressor clutch is going out (compressor coil, compressor clutch gap too wide.


Testing will only work when the car decides not to work

 

Another quick visual test you can try when looking at the fans is to look at compressor clutch plate. Verify the clutch is spinning with the compressor pulley when the a/c works. Let us know if the clutch is not spinning when the a/c is not working.

Depending on what you find, you will need a volt meter to do some testing. You will need to test for voltage on certain wires and to test for continuity to ground on other wires.

 

The clutch engages and fans run when the AC is working. When it's not working nothing is spinning. I was wondering what to check. I changed all the relays yesterday. It's almost like it's just not getting a signal to turn on.

 

When you say nothing is spinning, do you mean that both fans and the compressor clutch are not spinning? Just wanted to clear it up before I give some suggestions.

 

It's likely the expansion valve is bad and after some use it sticks closed, turning off the compressor until it unfreezes and allow the compressor to turn back on. Other than a leak, this is the second most common problem with ac systems.