Hi,
I have a 2012 fit. The base automatic version and the AC freezes up on "long trips".
It's happened twice now, first time dealer could not reproduce problem. I figured it might be the ac just can't keep up on really hot days with all the glass the car has. But this time it wasn't really hot. 95ish and it froze after about and hour and a half.
I shut it off and opened the windows for 15 or twenty min. Turned it back on and GTG for about 30 or 40 min then froze again. by this time i was up in the mountians and it wasn't that hot, but it still froze.
Any suggestions to tell the dealer so I don't get we cant reproduce the problem again? I have read some threads and it seems to be either; low 134 Dealer said no. A bad thermistor, or one thread mentioned a bad evap valve.
Car is just a daily driver, so almost all trips are 30 min or less and it never happens then, even when its 105.
Thanks for any help

 

I suffered the heartbreak of evaporator freezing this summer on the way from GA to FL. sucked to be me. It sucked enough to drop the car off for a day in Largo FL to have fixed. The fine folks at Largo Honda diagnosed a faulty high pressure sensor. They also replaced the clutch relay and recharged it (probably necessary to replace the sensor). I am glad they didn't fool around; the trip back I kept my cool. There is a comprehensive diagnostic for the A/C (link) it's not guesswork. I've also heard a major cause is moisture in the lines, freezing the expansion valve causing the evaporator to freeze: evacuation and charge fixes this. Maybe that's all mine needed...

Here's the work they did for me.

 

I've posted about this issue in the past. The dealer told me they'd have to run the car for a couple of hours and I said that wasn't happening. In the end they evacuated and refilled the system and said the refrigerant was low. I suppose you could arm yourself with all of these threads and just ask them to evacuate and recharge and see what happens. Cost me about $90; it also cost $65 when I had it done with our (departed) Mazda5 at an independent mechanic. Then again, you're under warranty...

 

For future reference, dont always have the AC on full blast. I go full cold, then back one or 2 clicks.


When the trip is done, shut off the AC for at least 10 seconds prior to shutting engine off. lets the system nuetralize in a manner of speaking

 

Thanks for the replies.
I'll make an appnt. tomorrow. Hopefully it won't be "can't dup again".
I have never heard of turning AC off before shutting the engine off before. Is it hard on it or something if you don't?

 

If the AC freezes up, it is caused because the compressor is not cycling. The cycling is normally controller by a thermister that senses when it is too cold and shuts off the compressor for a short period of time until the evaporator temp rises. This normally happens with the vent temperature in the 40 to 45 degree range. So if a relay is sticking or the thermistor is bad either would cause the compressor not to shut off.

If the thing freezes up you do not need to drive it with the windows down. Simply continue to drive it with the AC off and fan still on. When the vent temperature rises substantially air turn the ac on again.

If you want to watch the vent temperature, go to Walmart in the housewares section and get a $10.00 digital meat thermometer. Just stick it in the vent and watch.

This is not a long term fix, but it will help if you run the AC in recirculate when practical to reduce the amount of moisture in the air available for freezing.

 

Turning if off before shutting the engine off will ONLY let any built up water out the drain which it would do even if you shut it right off.

 

Thanks again for the replies.
I was running the AC in recirculate mode. Would that make it freeze faster? Probably didn't need to that day, but when it gets really hot it keeps the car cooler.

 

It's hard to say.

It could go either way; recycling inside air requires less cooling, less dehumidifying so it could freeze faster -or- using outside air brings in more moisture that could freeze.

When mine started freezing, I thawed it by turning off the A/C switch and letting the fan run. It didn't seem to make a difference whether it was on recirc or not, it still continued to freeze up after I switched the A/C back on.