So, was up around 90 today and the car never got cool inside. Had the recirculation turned on but didn't help at all. My 96 civic coupe that I just gave up was slow to cool but would get cold inside where today my new fit was just not performing.

Anyone else run into issues?

 

I don't have a fit yet but that doesn't matter, if you had your a/c cranking and your car did not get cold you have a problem and need to take it to the dealer. It's pretty simple, either the car gets cold or not, if not then you have a problem.

 

Tint makes all the difference.

 

The A/C system on all Fits are undersized.
I live in Florida, and when I bought my 08, on hot and bright summer days, it never really got cool enough inside to suit me.
Window tinting really helped, as it does cut the thermal load into the passenger cabin.
The Fit does have a very large window area to interior volume ratio.
Since getting the windows tinted, I'm OK with the cooling capacity of the A/C system, but I wish it was a bit larger.
Even after getting the window tinting, it still does take awhile to cool the cabin down, if the car has been sitting out in the sun for any amount of time.
I was hoping that Honda would have gotten the message by now, and placed a bit larger system into its Gen 3 Fit, but that appears not to have happened.
Gregg

 

Got my 2015 yesterday, it was in the 80s and the AC on recirculated was ice cold on fan level 2.

EDIT Car info: Aegean Blue, windows tinted with whatever the dealer put on.

 

Just so everyone knows, OP is from Canada. Assume his "new" Fit is a Canadian 2014 GE Fit. Made in China. Not reflective of what we get on our shores.

Ups my bad OP, Vancouver, Wa. it is!!!
BTW, just saw your pic on another thread. That tint looks great on your Fit!!!

 

It was 90 here in MA yesterday, and my A/C was ice cold! The black interior doesn't seem to get much hotter than the light interior I had in my Accord, either.

 

Black interior with tinting, outside temp is between 91, and 93 and my air is cool to me, but no where near "ICE COLD" as xStitchx says his Fit is. Of course ice cold could have a different meaning to him over what I think ice cold is. Ice Cold to me means I would need a jacket inside the car...

Cool for my car is just that, cool, and needs a bit of time to get to that feeling when sitting outside in the Sun, but not really cool or anywhere near cold.

 

Your fingers on the steering wheel should get QUITE cold with the AC blowing directly on them. If your fingers don't get cold with the AC blowing directly on them, something might be up with your AC.

 

I'm a she , but "ice cold" to me means I've got chill bumps from the cold air blowing on me. At that point, I either have to turn the temp gauge up a bit or shut/redirect a vent.

It's also how my passenger described my hands when I touched his arm after he asked me to turn it down, too. It can be subjective, sure. No worries!

 

I'm in Vancouver, wa so USA. I use to work as a service writer at the Honda I bought my car at so going to take it in and have them check it out.

 

Would be great when everyone is posting if you put the color of your car. Seems it makes a big difference from black to white/silver. Just wondering how much of a difference.

 

96 at Santa Clarita, CA. Fan Level 2. Works GOOD!

 

Is your Civic a sedan or hatch? Remember that the fit probably has more interior volume than your 96 as well as window area, is probably sealed up tighter, and might actually have an undersized HVAC system. If the A/C is working normally then that's probably as good a performance as you're going to get.

Easy remedies are tint, front window shades when parked, opening the windows for a minute or two at the start of your drive WHILE the A/C is on to "push" the hot air out.

 

I live in NYC, it's been hot here and I've been pretty underwhelmed with the AC. It's good enough but definitely not freezing, and a passenger in the back seat was whining that it wasn't cool enough. Don't have a garage so the car is outside in the sun all day.

 

Fit's A/C has always been marginal to poor. The only way to offset it, to a degree, is with high quality ceramic tint and a correct charge of refrigerant. Honda loves to save a few ounzes of 134 because it adds up $, and helps insure they won't have a compressor warranty claim within the warranty period.

I really liked my '09, but the poor A/C, lawn mower battery, and abysmal front tire wear, and non-adjustable rear axle really did detract from the car. I'm sure the Mexican made CVT's are a first class build. Hail Honda.

Maybe with the new NSX they can build a car with soul, once again. Too bad it's not within the reach of most people who could really appreciate the car.

 

You better get it checked out. 94 degrees when I left work today...I actually had to dial the ac back on the way home. I had it on recirculate and had plenty of cold air...no issues here. The dial was set on mid-cool.
FWIW...

 

Awesometown? What dealer did you buy from?

tmasazo:

With the car in the shade between 25C and 35C (77F to 95F) outside air temperature, put thermometers in the inlet grille and outlet vent. Select the fresh air setting, temp knob full cold, blower on high, face outlets selected, door open, engine at idle, system stabilized.

You should see at 20-25C (36-45F) temperature difference between inlet and outlet temperatures at 30% humidity, a 16-21C (29-38F) temp difference at 50% humidity, and a 12-18C (22-32F) difference at 70% humidity. The temperature drop varies because in high humidity the evaporator has to condense water out of the air as it is cooled.

This procedure and numbers are pulled from an AC book. Honda's numbers might be slightly different.

If you're not seeing this level of performance in your car record your inlet and outlet temperatures and take it to the dealer. If they disagree with the specs you used have them show you Honda's specifications in the service manual. It should be at the front of the AC/heating section.

AC problems are hard to deal with because the problem is a matter of degree and dealers are loathe to share the factory specifications unless you press them to do so. They don't want to do warranty work so they are likely to try to say that your AC is "within factory specifications" if it cools the air at all. If they claim this and you've already found otherwise with your own test tell them that you want to actually witness them doing their test. If they refuse then you can tell Honda Corporate that they refused to do so as you escalate your warranty claim. The fact that you are on top of this may prompt the dealer to treat you better.

The Fit is a world car and there is no excuse for weak AC.

 

Best you can do is measure the temp drop. If its not in spec have them reclaim the system and measure what comes out compared to what the spec is.

 

Well lucky for me I worked at the Honda I bought my car from and all have friends in service, I just didn't want to take it in for a null reason. I'm going to test the inlet and outlet this weekend with George's instructions