[dooper]

I visually inspected the condenser via the lower front grille,,obviously cant see any leaks as such but its got plenty of bugs in it and the bottom rail has a gentle departure from the horizontal,,chances are it is this as its the most vulnerable component, I may just bite the bullet and have it done,,i may then look to getting some kind of mesh to mesh off the lower grille so that there is air flow but more protection. Has anyone done this? The condenser is in a very low,vulnerable position and the existing bumper grille has such huge gaps in it..wide open really..

 

[dooper]

Well its that time of year again and of course the aircon isnt working.
As a follow on from my previous posts, i had a specialist replace the condenser unit, leak test it and recharge the system. It all looked good. This was in mid 2019 . Back end of 2020 the aircon stopped again and so im pondering my options.

Im pretty certain it has depressurised yet again as the compressor isnt kicking in.

It had a new relay about two years back even though there was nothing wrong with the old one.

Are there any fuses to check?

Should i just give up and admit depeat? Are honda civic mk8s known for having crap unreliable aircon?

 

[dooper]

Anyone please?? im convinced its depressurised again but dont have a gauge to measure pressure. A/C compressor doesnt kick in. Are there any fuses to check ? The relay was changed about two years back although there was nothing wrong with the old one.

 

[Negativvv]

As mentioned before, you need to find a good local AC specialist. Not just a garage with a regas machine.

I've used two, one was better than the other but both were in the South East of England.

Don't bother with the AC mobile repair services, they won't do as good a job on your driveway than a proper workshop.

 

[nturnb]

Remember if you don't use your AC all year around the seals will dry up and the refrigerant will escape. I leave mine on auto all year around on 21c and when it's cold it heats me up and when it's too hot it cools me down. Don't use it you lose it. Some people are afraid to use it because they think it will hammer their MPG, when up at cruising speed the knock on MPG is negligible.

 

[dooper]

OK so further investigation of my AC problems now reveals a possible leak. It was tested at around 10Mb N2 and with a bourdon gauge didnt reveal any leakage though of course this may be too coarse a measurement and leakage is likely to be tiny over time.Maybe a low pressure manometer would have revealed a tiny leak? The system was found to be depressurised so that the pressure switch was deactivating the compressor.


The only access available was that the top front black trim which covers the radiator was removed. UV examination was performed and it appears that there is dye staining. The staining occurs on the bottom of the section of pipe that contains the pressure switch. Is this the LP side? It is right at the bottom left hand side of the engine bay at the front where the pipe bends and joins the bottom left of the condenser.

Unfortunately as the bumper cover was still in position there are two possibilities;

a) the micro leakage is from the flange/o ring connector to the bottom left of the condenser and the dye pattern on the pipe is spray back caused by the forward motion of the car
b) the dye marking is as a result of the pipe at this position being micro porous due to corrosion.

Which is more likely? Im thinking (a).

The only solution, bumper cover off for further examination. If the bumper comes off it would be useful to have a new pipe to hand just in case there is no leakage revealed on the flange union but it is indeed micro porosity of the lower section of the metallic tubing.

Does the new pipe include the pressure sensor or would i have to detach the sensor from the old pipe and refit to the new?


What are these tubes made of and can they suffer from corrosion or micro porosity?

Maybe i could order a pipe and return it if not needed /used?

Have you had 8th gen aircon woes and just given up on it and did without?

Thanks all..

 

[Negativvv]

Have you tried to diagnose the leak yourself?

It'll be far more likely a leak is on the high pressure side of the AC as it's under that much more strain.

 

[dooper]

I can ive been onto Cox's and the pipe that goes from the engine bay down to the lower connection on the condenser is a non returnable item.

My plan is to buy a UV torch off ebay and flip the bumper off and see if the leakage is from the flange connection to the condenser. I think this is more likely and that the staining on the lower pipe as viewed from the engine bay is sprayback caused my leakage at the flange as the car travels forward.

My guess is that the condenser was changed and the old O rings were used.

I'm on the lookout for a new O ring for the bottom flange. Anyone know the part number ?

Thanks

 

[Negativvv]

You can get assorted packs of AC O-rings off eBay which I've used before.

Depending on if the system is totally empty then you could just remove the pipe and inspect it visually, it'll soon tell you whether it's leaking or not. I had AC issues in a Daihatsu ages ago, found out it was one of the pipes which had sprung a hole. Got someone to weld it and after gassing it up the system worked a charm.

AC systems are not all that complicated, it's basically what a household fridge is except its moving and vibrating so has a higher chance of developing random faults.

The below is my other car, notice the rubber pipe on the left side of the engine. Some AC places will fabricate you a hose instead of the original metal piping and they claim it's as strong if not better. As the AC pipes for that car got rare a number of years ago, plus there's no guarantee a used pipe will have any sort of integrity (I found this out the hard way).

Hope you get it sorted anyway, AC issues are a pain and likely made harder by garages as some sort of dark art.

 

[dooper]

Been onto Cox for O ring part numbers. Apparently there is some debate as to which of these two it is and it could be either depending on what is the existing part. Amazingly the genuine honda o ring is just over £4 each hahahaha. I think i will take my chances,get a multi purpose pack,wait for a fine day, strip the front, have a look,do what i can then regas via the ATS groupon special offer and see how it goes. I did think that there might be better ways of testing. For example ,if i could get an aircon top up vavle adaptor and just rig up a large U guage to it and air test it over a period of time, this would give a far better guide than an automatic machine in a garage and a bourdon guage where realistically, unless its a decent size leak, you wouldnt be able to discern it on the guage scale. I was just wondering about the effects of blowing air into the system but then this would be evacuated when its repressurised ?

hondo part nos for O rings, hose to condenser flanges

80873ST7000
80872ST7000

 

[Foxalive]

Have you had trouble keeping your air conditioning running in the summer? You are not alone. It is becoming less common to have problems keeping our air cool as the warmer weather moves in.