I noticed yesterday when I ran the A/C that it would cycle between very cold and not-so-cold if that makes any sense. I would run cold for about a minute, then cycle to a less-cold temp, then back...this was continuous. I don't recall it doing this last year when I bought it, but it was a lot hotter out here at the time (July).

Can anyone comment on this before I take the time to bring it to the dealer for a check? Perhaps this is normal when it's not broiling out, but it was close to 90º yesterday. It's getting hot now and I'd hate to have to deal with this when it's over 100º which won't be long from now.

TIA,

...bob

 

normal for hondas, happens on my fit and a 2006 Accord EX V6 with dual zone....

 

you know what i did notice that today also, it cycles. It didn't really bother me cuz the "not cold" cycle wasn't very long (like a second) but yeah it did happen 2 me also. i'm not worried cuz i rarely use a/c.

 

Thanks, I'm glad to hear that. I picked up an IR temp probe today to verify that I wasn't going mad (or at least madder) and found that the vent temp would cycle between about 39 and 45 at hightway speeds...still decent temps. It would be fun to know why the Honda ACs do this...I've never noticed it in any other car I'm owned.

...bob

 

The system cycles on and off to prevent freezing. They also cut on and off depending on engine load. You can notice it on hot days especially.

EDIT: This is not just on Hondas.

 

Also does this to save fuel when runnig a/c.

 

On a very recent road trip, we noticed that our fan would almost shut off entirely (just a trickle of air even at 4)... I had to turn it off, wait ten minutes and then turn it back on for the fan to blow at full force. I was using the A/C and it was quite hot out.

I took it to the dealership to have it looked into, and they could not duplicate the problem... just wondering if anyone else has experienced this issue... the Fan seems to work for 20 minutes or so then cuts out again.

It has only happened to me once, and did not happen last year when I took the fit on a road trip to B.C. Is this the cycling off/on that is discussed above to prevent freezing, or does this sound more like a blower motor problem?

I have had my Fit for over a year now, and this is really the first issue I have had with it.

thanks for any input you can provide.

cheers,
newfitland (calgary)

 

YES exact same thing happened to me (near your neighbourhood, was doing Winnipeg -> Calgary -> Edmonton). On the way home I had the same symptoms:
Going at about 140kmph with the A/C on, after a few minutes nothing would be coming out of the vents. If I turned the fan knobs I could hear the fans go faster but nothing was coming out of the vents.


Seeing as I had about 8 hours left (the Saskatoon to Winnipeg portion) I did some experiments. Once I had the A/C off, there were no problems at all.

I couldn't pinpoint a solution, sometimes I'd turn off A/C for a few mins, cycle through the different vent modes (defrost, leg vents only, leg and upper vents, upper only, etc). Didn't find anything conclusive here. After turning off the engine to refuel, the AC would work again.. but only for a few minutes.

The other thing I noticed is at times the A/C seemed REALLY cold, to the point where I was getting some condensation on the dash directly below the vents. My theory is that somehow the A/C is too strong and perhaps freezes the pneumatics that control the fan vents, so the vents end up closed as the AC is just being pumped around under the hood (or wherever exactly the unit is).

I haven't had time to bring it to the dealership, but as I've been driving around the city the problem seems to be gone, so it only happened at high speed when I had been driving for hours.

After I bring it in I'll let you know if the find anything, but might be a few weeks before this happens.

-Xan-

 

Xan... you have described the symptoms to a tea... everything seems to be fine for now (driving around town)... this weekend we are driving out to the Shuswaps, so it will be a good test to see if the problem re-occurs.

When it happened to us, we were driving to Red Deer, and just got past Airdrie (about 1/2 hour into the drive) when the problem started. As you said, we could hear the fan blowing, but there was just no air coming out. Even if we turned off the A/C no air would come out... the way we got around it, was to shut it all off until the heat inside got unbearable (about 10 minutes or so), then turn the AC back on with fan set to 4... it would last about 20 minutes until it stopped working... so we turned it off again, got too hot and restarted it. Of course the dealership was unable to duplicate the problem, because they were probably just running it in the shop, where it is not a +35 degrees, and where the car is not going 120 kph. Anyway after I get back from the Shuswaps in a couple of weeks, I will update this post to let you know if the problem re-occurs.

Thanks for validating that this has happened to more than just myself.

nfl (calgary)

 

If the fans make noise, but no air out, something is blocking the air flow. The only thing that could do this than I can think of is that the evaporator us freezing up. I have seen cars do this before, but not in the past twenty years.

 

Have you checked the cabin filter? I wouldn't know why this would cause intermittent fan speed, but after a year of use, you could possibly need a new filter.

 

I have exactly the same problem. I noticed it last summer, but didn't do much experimentation on it. My warranty is just about up so I spent some time yesterday on a long commute trying to figure out what it is.

As with others, I get plenty of cold air initially. Yesterday I was driving about 70 mph on a bright sunny 85 degree day (a lot of solar gain!). After the first 20 minutes or so I had no cold air coming into the car. I tried moving the selector knob around and it made no difference, I also moved from external air to recycle again, no difference. Moving the fan speed from 4 down to other settings (including 'off') didn't do anything.

I shut off the AC, but left the fan on high - and suddenly I got a lot of air (though eventually it wasn't very cool). After the car got hot again, I switched the AC back on and I got very cold air at high fan speed for another 15 or 20 minutes, then it shut down again.

Does anyone have an update on bringing it to the dealer? I'm going to bring mine down next week, I'll update on what they say, its highly unlikely I'll be able to duplicate this issue, we'll see how trusting the Service Manager is.

John

 

You guys use A/C in Canada????
j/k

 

The Fit's A/C isn't that great. It doesn't really circulate to the passengers in the back. I was in a Honda Odyssey and the A/C in there felt so cold in 95 degree weather.

 

I was thinking the exact same thing.

Back on topic .. When it is hot out you should always run on recycled air. It is much easier to cool the 60-70 cabin air over the 100 outside air.

Most of my Honda's have done this. My old Del Sol was the worst it would stop blowing cool air every time I stopped at a light in the summer.

If you air is working correctly your best method for cooling the car is to set it to outside air until you get a few miles down the road. Once the inside is starting to cool you then should switch to recycled air.

Most time when it is 100+ out I will roll down all windows ( while running the fresh air selected) for about 1 min (while driving) to cool the inside of the car then roll up the front windows only and leave the rears down. after about another min I switch it to recycled and then finally roll the rear windows up and I am good to go.

 

The position and condition of the temperature sensor is critical for the A/C. Lack of air flowing thru the vents likely means the core has frozen over (assuming the fan works in other conditions). Also, excessive cycling can occur.

I have experienced both in other cars (not Fits). One was an excessive cycling '87 CRX Si and the manual gave rather tight tolerances for positioning the sensor. Lucky for me, the problem was still within warranty. The other car was a rental I had for a couple of weeks in hot weather. I could see ice build inside the vents before it choked off the airflow.

I recommend dealer service to correct this problem.

 

I did another longer trip in hot weather the other day. I did like rekcah suggested below and I was perfectly comfortable the whole ride. So I guess the deal is that the AC is not extremely powerful (and fully manual) so you have to manage it a bit.

John

 

We have had the same problem once on a road trip from Louisville KY to Charlotte NC. Could it be a vaccuum system problem as all the a/c - heat controls work on or off of the cars manifold vaccuum. It happened on a hilly 20 mile stretch of the interstate and I have not been able to copy it since. Anyone have any other solutions?

 

The fan stopped in addition to the compressor. The only air flow coming into the car was the air pressure from driving at 70 mph. We were not stopped and moving along at 65 to 70 mph.

 

A/C system on the fit is not well-designed.

On hot, dry days, it's not powerful enough. The evaporator is small and gains heat fast; Honda had to increase the temp range to keep the compressor from cycling more than it already does (the system contrary to popular internet disinformation is controlled by a temperature sensor on the face of the evaporator). When it gets up to a certain temp it turns on, when it cools to another determined temp it shuts off. In the hot dry summer, (incredibly) after the air ducts cool this means it engages at 55F at the vent and turns off at 45F. THIS is the warm air that you feel. Due to the small evap and thus rapid cycling, it never fully cools the ducts, making the problem worse.

On a humid day you see the effects of the small evaporator on the opposite end of the spectrum. Water forms on the fins and given the short cycle doesn't have time to evaporate between cooling periods, and for some reason influences the temp sensor so it can't see the cold, and that water flash freezes thus blocking the airflow. This is a potentially expensive condition because the air through the evaporator is necessary to add heat to the liquid refrigerant to boil it into a gas; if liquid refrigerant reaches the compressor, it could hydrolock and ruin it. Thing to do is turn the AC off for a while, and once it clears up, run it on recirculate with the AC to keep all that water from outside the car ending up on the evaporator. The water you breathe out is nothing compared to the 100% humidity it takes to make it freeze.

I made a current leak mod for the temp sensor (in my sig). That way with a push of a button the system is calibrated for approximately 10F lower than stock and can be reverted to stock instantly on a humid day, although I have found that by using recirc it won't freeze up once the humidity is removed from the interior even when it's cool enough to literally sweat off the outside of the windows.