I leave mine on always.

 

Always

 

+1

I'm sure a read somewhere that having the air con off for long periods of time is bad for the ac system. Anyone know if this is true ?

 

+1 Always on unless I have the windows open which is not often.

 

well yeah the gas just dries up / dissapears so needs re gassing

 

Leave on auto... If not used then the compressor shaft seal will dry and weep refrigerant...

 

Always on

 

I pretty much have either the heater or the A/C on all year round as it's generally either too cold or too hot!

 

Yep, always.

 

Just leave mine on auto so the car cycles the AC as and when needed.

Sent from my Sony Xperia S using Tapatalk 2

 

Never......

 

Always on , set to auto

 

It is meant to be on all the time.

Set to 20 on auto and forget about it.

 

just been to get mine re gassed tested and no leaks but doesn't work still, they suggest it could be either the pump or a sensor? any ideas?

 

I'm not sure if the refrigerant pump drive can be seen easily on this model, it'd be a good idea to check whether the pump is engaging when you select AC.

Stupid question, but have you checked the compressor fuse, and the relay for the compressor? Whoever checked the charge might have ruled them out, but then again they might have no clue what the problem is and suggested the most expensive fixes first... :worms:

 

checked the fuse, ok. checked the relay, no rattling after removal but after refitting and starting the engine I tapped the relay and the fan in the engine bay burst into life, but hard to tell if the aircon was working fully as the outside temp was only 5deg so was it just pulling in outside cool air, I'm not sure?
Do I risk buying a relay when it might be the pump? how can I test the pump?

 

Relays don't necessarily rattle when they fail, that's only a mechanical failure of the relay arm. If its an electrical failure of it such as the coil breaking down, it won't be physically obvious.

Normally at this point I'd say see if there's one of identical rating in that fuse box, and swap then over then check the function of whatever that relay controlled?

Thing is, it's the condenser fan that kicked in, then you might be on the right track - as long as that relay controls both the fan and the compressor. You might be getting led astray if its the engine radiator fan operating.

You don't really want to try and test the pump, by wiring it directly or otherwise, this system is operated by relay so it can be stopped by the protection circuits, remove those from the loop and you risk damaging the compressor.

If you can't tell whether that relay is dodgy, I'd suggest waiting til a warmer day. also, replacing it might only be a couple of quid from Halfords, compared to a couple of hundred from a garage for the compressor. Your call though mate, good luck!

 

My relay recently went 23 quid from Honda and works perfect

 

See, it's a common issue. The refrigerant system will cut in and out even on a warm day to prevent over chilling the cooling matrix for the cabin. This in turn stresses the relay and will eventually lead to its failure, as its a big current draw through it for the motor.

There's a couple of threads on here where relays on older cars have been found to be the culprit.

 

Just been for a drive after tapping the relay, seemed to be blowing cold air on 'lo' setting, outside temp was 12deg but the return trip was just blowing coolish air so therefore problem is intermittent, will buy a new relay tomorrow just to rule it out I think.

 

That is Definately the relay.

Mine was blowing coolish then hot etc


New relay (and recharge) and penguins would feel at home

 

Sorted!!!! £23 Relay from main dealer and now ice cold air!

 

Awesome! Just don't trust a mechanic that suggests it might be the most costly parts of a system to have failed first!! Keep it simple.

 

Seconded! I once had a blocked cat (car spluttered limpt home at 20 rpm couldnt go above 2000rpm and got lower and lower)

Everywhere said engine, pistons etc etc

Changed everything cheap, plugs, air filter, oil filter, coolant, oil etc etc

then a trust mechanic said take your manifold off (mani cat) and drive it up the road and that it was!#


I had quote for engines, boxes etc!



OP glad your sorted! i was worried too!

 

Sorry to crash the thread but I'm having the same issues with my air on.

I always have it on auto and a week or so ago I noticed it wasn't blowing in cold air, so have today had it regassed with my mot and the garage (Halfords) said they regassed it but they think because I let it run out of gas completely, the pump may have gone.

When I click the air con button to on/off, I can hear the engine changing in tone, indicating the engine is powering the air con system I guess. But still no cold air when on low.

How do I check the relay to see if it is that? Rather not take it back to a garage as its a costly job.

 

Firstly don't take your car to halfords.

Secondly if your pump is broken halfords probably did it over gassing air con

Thirdly it's 99% gunna be relay and just replace it to check

Fourthly get your air con checked of the level by a qualified car air con technician

 

Cheers, but when it goes in for an mot ill take it to the nearest place. And how qualified do you need to be to regas the air con?!

How can you tell if the relay is knackered?

 

Your kidding me?

Like saying how qualified do you have to be to service a car? It varies massively!

Halfords air con regassing I dare you to google it and see how many pumps have gone from over gassing!

Relay is knackerwd if you have the symptoms that have been stated.

Oh and halfords mechanics are monkeys I wouldn't trust them to wipe my ass (oh and I'm a qualified mechanic so I know what I'm talking about with them)

 

Cheers for the replies.

Just hoping the halfords reprobate hasn't broken the whole thing. I'll go down the relay route and hope that solves it. I don't suppose there is a way of knowing its the relay until I put a new one in is there?

Also, where is the compressor in the engine? Can I check that myself to see if its working or not? Like I say, something definitely clicks in when I press the ac button.

 

It is possible either the condenser fan or the compressor is cutting in, which is what you're hearing, but both need to work together to make the refrigerant operate at the correct temp/pressures. I'm not going to explain all the theory behind it, but suffice to say the compressor alone will not cool your cabin.

There's no real sound way to check the relay, sometimes they rattle if the contact arm inside them fails but mostly they fail on electrical open circuit, which isn't identifiable unless you're good with a multimeter.

I suggested to another thread trying to swap the relay for an identically rated one in the car, but only do this if you're happy you know how to read the ID markings on the relay body. Then obviously test both the AC function and whatever function the swapped relay controlled.

If the AC works and the other thing doesn't (wipers/washer bottle/whatever matches the AC relay) then you have positively identified your culprit.

If you're not comfortable to do this, just take it along to a reputable garage, they should be able to bench test the relay for you as we'll as checking your gas charge, for which I wouldn't expect to pay more than £30ish (plus a new relay!)

 

Just replace the relay there's not really a way of telling.

It's the relay for sure you have me telling you who's just done it and a air con refrigeration engineer telling you why wait?

Also have a specialist check refrigerant level

 

Good point, thought it was open drive scroll compressors used in car HVAC though? I'm commercial offshore HVAC by trade, haven't played with car systems since I did the 2079 course a few years ago.

I've seen systems fitted with hermetic scroll compressors overcharged before - some tw*t overfilled the system by leaving it charging then wandering off for an extended tea break. But that ran and ran for weeks until the bursting disc finally went, the pump was pretty robust and pumped fine.

If you have more experience with these systems please feel free to share, I'm interested to learn more about them myself!

 

Good point, thought it was open drive scroll compressors used in car HVAC though? I'm commercial offshore HVAC by trade, haven't played with car systems since I did the 2079 course a few years ago.

I've seen systems fitted with hermetic scroll compressors overcharged before - some tw*t overfilled the system by leaving it charging then wandering off for an extended tea break. But that ran and ran for weeks until the bursting disc finally went, the pump was pretty robust and pumped fine.

If you have more experience with these systems please feel free to share, I'm interested to learn more about them myself!

There have been a variety fitted to cars, not sure what's on the Civic but whatever compressor it won't like liquid flood back... Take you point about overcharge, or when say a TEV has been incorrectly set, the compressor gets covered in frost and sounds like a bag of "C" spanners!