AC is really weak. Do I just need a recharge?
 

My AC is really weak, still a bit cold but pretty weak. Should it need a recharge this early? Its a 2010 and thought I'd just need a recharge but after thinking over a bit it should not need a recharge this soon? Though it does have 180k kms on it. But if there is an AC leak then it would not be cold at all right?

With a slow leak, you will see increasingly degraded performance until it stops making cold completely. You may have caught it on the way down. Either wait for it to stop working altogether or take it somewhere now and have the state of the charge checked. If it's low, have it leak checked.

A common problem with the 2nd gen Fits is that the resistor pack will blow. I bought a new resistor pack on Amazon for $9. It's located underneath the glove compartment next to the fan.
My AC/Heat didn't work on settings 1-3, only on high. The purpose of the resistor pack is to decrease the voltage going to the fan in order to have lower speed settings. When the resistor pack goes, only the full voltage can go through. Is that your issue or is it weak on every setting? This was a cheap and easy fix for me.

The fan blows fine through settings 1-4 but it is not ice cold like new cars are.

My wife's 2011 is having the same issue currently. The fan works fine at all its speeds but no cold air comes out. Sometimes we get lucky and you can hear the compressor kick in which then cools down the air coming out of the vents. I think I am going to see if I can recharge it and will report back with the results.

Most likely have a slow leak. If you do recharge it buy the R134a at walmart, here in oklahoma its $14.99 a 12oz can at autozone but same can is $4.88 at walmart.

Recharging will probably only be a temp fix, and only put in at max a 12 oz can.

So I took the car to the honda dealer to get a recharge and diagnoses. They couldn't find any leaks but they said there could possibly be a pinhole leak somewhere and they did mention something about checking relays and stuff, also they said the AC clutch is rusty. They refilled the AC and it works pretty good for now, hopefully it holds. They gave me a quote on a AC compressor for some reason, probably because the clutch is rusty but its going to be $2000 OEM or a reman one for $800.

Dealers are crazy.


1 year warranty reman AC compressor can be had for $200 fairly easy, even cheaper if you get a used salvage one.

You might have come across my post from last year already. I recharged my AC to great effect. We'll see, as the weather gets warmer this year, if it needs it again :P

Good looking out! I was able to get the can for about $6 and the valve/hose for about $15. The problem I was having is that I couldn't get the AC compressor to kick in so the gauge was indicating that the pressure was maxed out. While I was driving the car on the freeway the compressor just happened to kick in, so when I pulled into my garage I grabbed the refrigerant and put it in the system. Based on the gauge, the pressure seemed a bit low. I got most of the can in and the needle moved a bit, but didn't put it in the range it was (supposedly) supposed to be in.

When I took the car back out, the compressor had a tough time kicking in. It would click loudly, engage for a few seconds, then click loudly again and disengage. When it would engage the engine would get super bogged down making it feel like I'd tossed an anchor out the back.

Seems like the AC clutch might be malfunctioning?

Edit: Actually, on second thought...maybe I should check the AC relay?

The fit uses less refrigerant than most other vehicles, a little less than 12oz I believe should be in the entire system. What was your low pressure psi while the compressor running?

From my experience with both my old 09 and my current 13 should be around 27psi with around 70 degree ambient temp in a fit.

Get your freon level checked
 

My 2009 was having similar issues, but was icing the condenser up on hot days. Be sure your cabin filter is clean, squeeze to lower the glove box and pull it out, tap the leaves/dirt out of it, then vacuum well DO NOT BLOW COMP AIR. Had my AC checked by the dealer, evacuated/recharged. Charge was low but no leaks detected. Factory fill is sometimes not totally up to capacity, then over years minor escaping losses it gets low. Refrigerant was topped off, now it does not ice up any more and chills into the 30-35 F range at the vents anytime. No more problems.

It was about 80º yesterday and I ended up around 38-39psi.

I drove the car again today and it was doing the same thing where the compressor was engaging and disengaging constantly. The fact that it is such a draw on the engine is interesting...I don't know enough about how automotive AC compressors work to diagnose it correctly unfortunately. I think I will drop the car off at a shop and see what they think is going on with the compressor.

I wonder if I can just replace the clutch with part number 4? 2011 Honda Fit 5 Door FIT (VSA SUZUKA) KA 5MT A/C Compressor

Possibly could be overcharged, if overcharged the compressor would be getting liquid instead of gas in from the low pressure line, as you know you can't compress a liquid and it's probably going to ruin the compressor, that would also explain the extreme draw on the engine.

I would let some refrigerant out, and see if it clears up.

The compressor on mine normally cycles about every 10 - 20 seconds. Doesn't pull a lot of power off the engine. Only time it doesn't is during acceleration, but comes back on as soon as you are at speed. Doesn't seem to affect cooling

Also your clutch is obviously fine as long as it engages. The system is either overcharged or you have a bad compressor. If the compressor won't engage at proper refrigerant levels it maybe a bad pressure switch.

I am going to follow this thread closely cause I think my A/C need to be recharged too...

My 09 was recharged about a year ago. It had 130K miles. Works great now. I'm in the Northeast, so I only use the AC in the Summers.

My 13 suffered from freeze up, ac would work fine about 20 min, then stop, of course local dealer couldn't reproduce it so they said it was fine, I finally got them to empty and recharged it to factory specs, it was better but problem continued on long hwy drives and you could occasionally hear a distinct AC hissing sound under the dash when accelerating. I threw on some AC manifold gauges and compared pressures on my 13 with my 09 which had always had perfect AC, 09 low pressure line was 27 psi at 70 degree ambient where the 13 was around 18 psi, I added about 3/4 of a 12 oz can of R134a(estimate 8 or 9 oz) to bring low pressure to 27 psi and A/C has been perfect ever since.

On the new R134 systems it critical to get the pressure right and your not likely to get it right with the can gauges, the compressor has to be running when you put the charge in, the Harbor Freight gauges are fairly good, I use them and my AC works great on all my cars..

Just 1 or 2 ounces overfill is enough to ruin your compressor.