2011 Fit Sport - In late summer 2021, AC stopped being cold when exterior temps are particularly high. It works well - air is perceptibly cold - when exterior temps are under 75/80F or so. I don't have a garage so when exterior temps are high, the interior of the car is even hotter and the AC is completely inefficient. My guess is that the refrigerant needs to be recharged since the car is 12 years old and the refrigerant has never been recharged. Is this something that I can do myself? If not, can any mechanic do it or is refrigerant a "specialty" thing for cars like it is for houses? I read a number of tutorials and they range from "this is an easy 10 minute DIY, empty the can in the slot" to "if you get the pressure wrong you'll cause an apocalypse."

 

Have you changed the cabin filter recently? We had never changed ours & once we did, HUGE difference with the air conditioning.

 

I have! I've changed it two or three times since this started happening, including in May or early June. Interesting that it made such a big difference!

 

@eponymous I was in this situation in September '19. I decided to let a local garage to recharge my AC. They have the equipment with the necessary gauges. They are equipped with deal with the hazardous gases. They did it quickly while I waited. All told, my money was well-spent.

 

2010 Honda Fit.

My AC was doing the same thing two summers ago. I bought a can of Freon (or whatever it is called now) and did it myself. Very easy, no problems. AC is still working good this summer. Still have some left in the can.

 

Just be sure to use a reputable shop. In 2015, my 2012 was not blowing very cold. The shop I went to told me I needed a new dryer, etc. for a total of $1,300. I told him to just recharge it & put new seals in. It’s worked fine. Then last year we changed the original cabin filter & OMG what a difference.

 

Did it myself on a 2009 Sport a couple years ago that was showing unsatisfactory cooling on really hot days... The results were very good. Was careful to clear the supply line (from the can) of air, and slowly ran in around an ounce at a time (using digital kitchen scale to weigh can), then checked the temp from the center vent on 'max' using an A/C temp probe. When I began the process, the min vent temp was around 50F, when I completed it, it was cooling consistently to around 38F with a 92F outside air temp. I think I ended up adding around 4-5 ounces... since then, it's continued to work great and in fact I measured it a couple of weeks ago during a hot stretch, and it's still cooling to 38F as measured in center vent.

Not saying do it/don't do it, just giving you my results.

 

While I have not needed to do it on my Fit, I did do my own recharge on a previous vehicle.
It was easy, and worked well.