Hello everyone. Bought my 2013 with 69k on it. Turning on the A/C did nothing. Clutch wouldn't come on at all. Immediately checked the relays and swapped them with the radiator fan one. Nothing changed so ruled that out.

Added some freon to the system and it magically came alive. The clutch would spin for a couple seconds and start short cycling. Made a loud ticking noise as well. Was going to replace the clutch and pulley but kept diagnosing. I believed there was just a leak and it was losing freon.

Hooking up A/C gauges to it showed low side at about 80 psi and high side at 100 psi. So low side too high and high side too low.

Now when I turn on the A/C it stays on and no longer short cycles but just never gets cold. It literally is just lukewarm air. The compressor/clutch also makes a rattling noise. I went ahead and ordered the rock auto kit with a new compressor, condenser, drier, expansion valve, PAG oil, o-rings, and I went ahead and got a new drive belt.

How common is a compressor that just no longer compresses the freon? Any tips to doing this DIY? I ordered A/C flush to try and get as much stuff out of the evap core as I can since that is the only part I am not replacing. This has all been a learning experience for me as I have not done much A/C work. I am planning on taking to a shop to discharge system, DIY all new parts onto car and pull a vacuum, take back to shop for the recharge.

Thanks Fit family. I am in Texas and it is already getting hot. I'm gonna melt in this thing

 

I had a similar issue with my 12 Sport when I bought it, It would just blow lukewarm air and compressor was not kicking on, I had checked relays, fans and fuses and all was good. I then tried to put some freon in and it wouldn't get cold either and gauge on the AC Pro can showed it had freon. Well after all the diag, I decided to hook up my harbor freight AC mani gauges and had similar readings to you. I decided to throw a bit of refrigerant in the system again and the compressor suddenly kicked on and when I checked inside the car, it was blowing ICE COLD air. Moral of the story was that dont trust anything other than a good set of AC mani gauges when refilling as those cans that come with the refill “kit” are not accurate.

As for the DIY and how common it is for a compressor to stop working. In my personal experience, of all the Honda’s I have owned and been over 20, I purchased 10 or so of those cars with NO working AC and the compressor never was replaced as all they needed was a refill. I did have a headache of a time with a 08 odyssey I own and after checking it all and almost biting the bullet on a compressor rebuild kit, it turned out to be a damaged condenser (had a small hole) so wouldn’t hold pressure and once replaced, I vacuumed the system, installed the PAG oil thru the shraeder valve hole and refilled and was working as new.

Some people simply buy the clutch rebuild kit and replace that instead of the whole compressor itself and it has worked. One last thing to check, is for loose pins in the connector to the compressor, they tend to get loose and fray, corrosion will also cause it to not work properly, Just my 2 cents, hope it works out for you, especially after all that you are spending.

 

Honda denso AC compressor are bullet proof.
you say you added gas it came alive. That says compressor is working. but where is the gas?
Those self fill cans are a waste and trash.
Get it hooked up to a proper AC machine, vacuum dye test to rule out any leaks which might be, refill with proper quantity and guranteed your system will be fixed. I rarely if ever see honda denso AC failling

 

It is working in the sense that I can see the clutch spinning. Inside the car I can very briefly feel it get cold for about 3-4 seconds and then it goes hot. Makes me think the compressor is not compressing the freon properly and is dead.

I'm not sure if I should try adding more freon to it with my manifold gauges? I guess it couldn't hurt at this point. It no longer short cycles when I turn the AC on it just doesn't get cold at all despite it having freon in it.

Thanks for the help and insight guys I greatly appreciate it

 

Honda's manual A/C systems are typically extremely simple. The ECM/PCM is involved for idle-control purposes and to watch the evaporator temperature (acting as a thermostat to prevent icing). The MICU/BCM receives the A/C demand signal and passes it on to the ECM via the CAN network. Otherwise, not a lot has changed in A/C system design over the last 3 or 4 decades.

The A/C system logic goes like this: The signal starts with the control panel fan switch being in any position but off. The signal then splits to the defrost switch and A/C button, joining back together afterwards. That means the signal gets passed along if the mode knob is set to one of the windshield/defrost positions OR the A/C button is pressed. Next, the signal hits the A/C pressure switch. This is a dual-switch that blocks the signal if the high-side pressure is below 28.4 psi (196 kPa) or above 455 psi (3.1 MPa) - protecting the system in the event of refrigerant loss, a blocked expansion valve orifice or other extreme pressure event. After the pressure switch, the signal passes through the thermal protector on the compressor, which blocks the signal if the compressor is overheating. Finally the signal reaches the MICU/BCM in the dash fuse box, which turns the simple ground-active signal into a CAN network message. The message passes from the MICU to the gauge cluster (which acts as a network hub) to the ECM. When it receives the A/C demand message, the ECM runs the A/C system (activates the radiator/condensor fan relay and the compressor clutch relay). If the ECM sees the evaporator exit air temp (as measured by the evaporator temperature sensor) drop to around 40°F, it turns off the compressor relay until temperatures rise slightly.

The pressure switch is a good point to start electrical testing. Unplug the connector, start the engine, turn on the fan and A/C at the panel. You should see ground on the blue wire's pin (indicating the fan switch and A/C button are working) and voltage (12V? maybe 5V - it's just a logic signal) on the white wire's pin (indicating the compressor thermal protector is good and the MICU/BCM is connected). Check for continuity across the pressure switch terminals - continuity indicates pressure is okay.

 

Sorry im being blunt, you described the system very well, but this is way way to techincal for what this guy needs.
In simply steps, either check AC gas pressure with diagnostic tool or go to AC servicing place for full diagnosis. Vacuum leak test then regas.
you sound low on gas, adding more r134a can damage the system from overfill plus you arent giving it any oil from the can itself.

diagnostic test willl also reveal of the pressure switch is faulty

 

It sounded to me like he already has a manifold gauge set and vacuum pump. He needs info, a small funnel (to add oil), a can tap (to dispense gas) and a scale (to measure amount of gas dispensed) to finish the job himself. A couple of thermometers to verify system performance would also be good. These are not expensive or especially hard to find items.

As far as refrigerant recovery goes, it's a good idea to require businesses to do it, as R134a is a greenhouse gas roughly 1400 times more potent than CO2, and equipment costs can be spread out over many jobs. Letting businesses routinely vent A/C systems to atmosphere represents industrial levels of discharge which can be reasonably avoided. That said, R-134a (HFC-134a, 1,1,1,2-Tetrafluoroethane) is routinely used as the propellant gas in "canned air" duster products (among others). A home mechanic discharging their GE Fit's system to atmosphere is at most equivalent to one 15 oz air duster (system capacity is 370-420g, 13.1-14.8 oz). Expecting a home mechanic to obtain a thousand+ dollar recovery system to avoid doing something that an easily-obtained consumer product does intentionally is a bit absurd. As long as the home-gamer is responsibly minimizing releases (using tracer dye, promptly repairing/replacing leaking components rather than just adding more refrigerant, doing a vacuum leak check before charging, avoiding opening the system whenever feasible), the costs of recovery outweigh the benefits IMO.

 

Yes I have a vacuum pump, gauges, and all the new AC goodies. I guess this was a last ditch effort to see if the old system might be fixable before DIYing the new compressor, condenser, drier, exchanger. Only thing I am not changing is the evap coil but I plan to flush the ever hell out of it.

That is very interesting about the comparison between the duster can and R-134a. I was planning on having a shop discharge and recharge the system only because I thought I needed to match up how much PAG oil was pulled out of the system with how much I put back in to the system. That part really confuses me I will say. I found a shop local to me that said they would discharge and recharge for $130 for me.

 

Getting the proper oil load is important, but you're replacing the compressor and drier, as well as flushing the remaining system components (don't forget the lines). Any debris in the system will be trapped in the oil residues, so you can be pretty confident the system will have effectively zero oil in it after flushing.
From the specifications section of the service manual:


According to part numbers, the 2013 uses the same compressor as the 2011-'12, so...

Condenser: 25 mL
Evaporator: 35 mL
Lines and Hoses (x4): 40 mL
Compressor: 80-90 mL

Total, 180-190 mL (6.1-6.4 fluid oz) of oil for the whole system.

Check the documentation for your replacement parts to see if any of them (the compressor in particular) come with a partial or full oil charge. If so, subtract that oil content from the above. Add oil to get the compressor to its required level. Add any remaining oil to the receiver/drier, as nothing else in the system needs lubrication - it's just however much oil ends up coating the insides of the lines.

 

Man that helps me out so much thank you! The compressor did come with partial oil in it. I plan on dumping it out into a graduated cylinder. Then will put it all back in with the correct amounts you listed below.

 

our AC machine does a vacuum test, stores the AC gas in a container which can be reused at later stage when refilling so nothing goes to athmosphere.

 

Just wanted to update. Got everything installed this past weekend. Was such a PITA. Took me a solid 9 hours across 2 days. Refilling didn't go as smoothly as I had hoped. Vacuumed everything down and then put in 14 or so lbs of freon. Do these numbers look good? Outside temperature was about 84 when I took the picture. I filled it on a night it was 43 outside though. Probably wasn't the smartest thing but the picture below was from 3/19 when it was 84* out.

The only issue I have noticed is I feel like the compressor short cycles but only when driving. It will idle and won't short cycle but when I drive with the AC on I feel like I can feel it turning on and off. Not sure if that is a thing or normal.

Wanted to say a big thank you to @bobski for the help as well

 

I don't know about your machine but our machine is fully electric. It puts in 450 g of gas as requested and then the procedure is when the vacuum is finished. You put the fresh gas in and then you run the car while the last bit of gas goes in and then the procedure is finished. I just did my car and it's blowing super cold air, Bear in mind only 120 g come out of vacuum and the AC will still working fine

 

Sure, no problem. A/C work is more accessible than most people realize.

Here's the performance test pages:

 

@bobski
Dude, are you kidding me?
Thank you.

 

Those pages are straight out of the service manual pdf. Open, screenshot, post. I'm sure someone has linked to it on the forum - search is your friend. Whoever scanned their manual to make the pdf deserves 95% of the credit.