Hi, My first post but I have read many times.

The A/C on my 2010 Fit has never been great (especially compared to my '08). The car has 55000 miles. We have to use the A/C 9 months of the year.

Recently it started making a grumbling sound and failed to blow cool air periodically and increasingly and quickly got worse.

A friends trusted mechanic tested it and said there was a blockage in the expansion valve and suggested replacing that. (~$450 total). He said the pressure was high coming off the compressor and that it was probably OK. I asked if metal or rubber parts from the compressor could have blocked the valve and he said it was possible. He said once the blockage was fixed a further evaluation could be done and other parts replaced.

I'm concerned about everything working initially but the problem reoccurring if the compressor is producing metal or rubber junk to clog the system and having to replace the expansion valve or related parts (again) in addition to the compressor.

Is there a way to determine if the compressor was clogging the expansion valve?

Is there a method to put a filter in line after the compressor to catch or detect junk?

What are the chances that the expansion valve failing (closed) for a reason unrelated to junk coming off the compressor?


Thanks for any help or ideas to consider.

 

I think you have a pretty good understanding of the system, If there are any residual shards left in the system(that don't get flushed out) then they will cause the new compressor to fail all over again.

My AC compressor went out and the AC specialist shop said they wouldn't be able to tell if the expansion valve needed to be replaced until they opened the system. They also said I would have to replace the condenser.

I know that some vehicles with receiver dryer type systems have in line filters, not sure if they make an aftermarket one for Honda's but it seems like a good idea


Do you know if that shop had a warranty of any type for the AC?

 

Rock Auto has your expansion valve for $17.00. That and a vacuum + recharge ought cost you around $125. We usually tell people that the drier ought to be replaced anytime that the system is opened up. A receiver drier / accumulator is an additional $11.00 from Rock Auto.

Anything over $150 for the entire job is a rip-off.

The expansion valve, or orifice on an orifice equipped car, usually gets clogged when the compressor starts to self destruct and little pieces of it travel from the compressor to the next up stream item (the expansion valve) or they clog when someone sticks leak sealer in the system.

The whole job should take around 1 hour labor and another hour waiting while a vacuum is pulled by a pump or AC machine. No labor is involved during that hour.

 

That wouldn't even get your hood opened here.

 

OK, go to $200 then.

If he was local I would tell him to bring it over and we could do it for that cost of the parts. I'm just worried that he has got a compressor starting to go. Then we are into flushing the system and definitely a drier and replacement oil plus the recharge of r-134. Compressor failures are very common on high mileage GM but I have never had to replace a Honda compressor.

 

Honda compressor failures are quite rare IMO but not unheard of, and most compressor replacements I hear of seem to be because of simple clutch issues that could be easily fixed without replacing the whole compressor.

Everything can go to hell after a cheap reman compressor is installed LOL

If it did have an internal compressor failure, it would probably also get a condensor at the bare minimum (Hondas includes filter/drier), maybe more parts.....to be decided upon opening the system and inspecting how far debris and residue had traveled.

 

I agree with ezone,

and not to start an argument but I don't think a shop could be able to stay in business if they did repairs at that price. Not to mention that getting to the exp. valve is more time consuming than changing it as well

The best quote from 3 shops I visited was around 1100$ with tax to put in a whole new system(compressor, condenser and valve) it also included a 1 year warranty

 

Thanks for the responses.

I also got a quote from firestone. I did not get details about their analysis but they indicated that the compressor and most of the system should be replaced for ~ $1100.

I did ask the other mechanic about the option of adding a filter and he poo pooed it saying there was no space and if it was a good idea, Honda would have included it.

I think the ~$450 quote included 2.5 hrs labor and OEM parts. I'll post details of the quote later when I find it.

I looked at a repair manual on http://www.hondafitjazz.com/ and removing the expansion valve looked pretty involved (including cutting a part of the under dash structure and some pretty hard to reach bolts).

Questions:

1) Some replies here laud Honda's compressors. I've had great results from our other Fit ( 155k mi. '08) and previously a '95 Civic (12 year 225k mi), but perhaps the G2 a/c system is not as good. Are there data or anecdotes on G2 a/c?

2) What is the probability that the expansion valve can fail (closed) without compressor junk?

3) Is there a way to determine if the compressor was clogging the expansion valve? That is, once the expansion valve was removed, could it be examined to determine positively that junk from the compressor caused the problem (and thus go on to replace that and possibly other contaminated parts at the same time)?

Thanks again for all replies.

 

Oh, the cutting and hard to reach bolts were from a youtube vid that may have been for a Civic.

 

Accessing the expansion valve on the Fit is not an easy task. I have never personally removed the valve on my 09 Fit but it involves removing the blower assembly in order to access the evaporator where the expansion valve resides. Seems that I remember some cutting of a section of bracing was involved. So the 2.5 hours of labor seems reasonable given what is involved. If your expansion valve has failed closed you would see very low or vacuum readings on the low side. High side pressures would be very high. If the valve failed open you would see the opposite. High side pressure would be very low and low side would be very high pressure. Hope this helps.

 

Expansion valve from Honda MSRP is 106, plus Alldata says 3.6 hours labor.
No compressor failures in my corner of the planet. (I sure can't speak for any other places or shops though)

Not a common failure IMO, but anything can happen.

Tap the valve on a clean white sheet of paper, see if anything falls out?

Before bothering the TXV, pull the freon out of the system and open up connections to inspect:
Swab the lines at the compressor, swab the line leading to the TXV at the condensor (and replace O rings in all connections taken apart). Judge on the color of the swab samples taken.

You can't see into the system filter. Other models can have a removable filter and drier sock, but this does not.