I have a 1991 Accord wagon that just lost its air conditioning. Took it to a friends shop and his tech said that the compressor seal is bad, and considering that it has 230,000 miles on it, am not surprised.

They said to go get a new compressor, dryer and expansion valve, which I have done and they are going to replace everything, clean out the system and recharge.

My question is, how do you tell if the expansion valve is bad? The compressor and dryer are not that difficult to change out but it seems that the expansion valve is a bear, being hidden somewhere under the dash. They are saying $350 in labor and I do not doubt that it would take a lot of time to do, just wondering if the expansion valve is really needing replacement.

Car has been working fine until the freon leaked out. I have very little in past history on the car but I have owned it for 4 years and 20k miles and the A/C system has not been worked on in this time.

Suggestions? Ideas? Lost my job a couple of years ago and doing part time work to stay alive until something full time comes along, so do not have a lot of money to throw at this problem. On the other hand Arizona in the summer is brutal without A/C and it was 104 here today so it needs to work.

TIA,

Joe

 

If you are hard on cash, you could return the compressor, buy the seals for the compressor and rebuild it yourself.

I'm not sure how to check if the expansion valve is bad, but I just finshed replacing mine. The expansion vavle was only $23. Its not that bad of a DIY job.

You have to take out the glove box, the remove horizontal metal bracket, and the evaporator. The evaportator is held in by 6 bolts. You have to disconnect the two lines that come in from the engine firewall to pull the evaporator. Taking apart the evaporator is pretty simple, then you will have to unhook three connections of the expansion valve. I would atleast replace the o-rings, because those can be prone to go bad and leak freon too.

Download your 91 manual from http://www.hondahookup.com/manuals/. Read the section to remove evaporator/expansion valve (it is around 15-19) and see if you want to attempt it yourself.

 

Thanks for the help.

Anyone else have any ideas on the expansion valve?

Does this car have an orfice tube? I keep reading that this needs to be cleaned or replaced or it can damage a new compressor but cannot find any listing for this on anyone's parts or maintenance manual.

 

Expansion valves do fail, but rarely. If car was cooling OK, exp. valve is probably Ok. However, the orings on the expansion valve and other connections in the evaporator box begin to leak after a few years. So even though your expansion valve is probably OK, I would still remove and replace all orings w/ new using oring conditioner (Nylog). This will insure years of trouble-free cool air.

I agree w/ PAHonda's suggestions on replacing valve seal.

good luck