Hello to everyone. I am hoping I can find an Acura guru on here. I have a 97 Acura 3.0 CL and the ac is driving me crazy. Long time ago the ac was perfect up until my garage informed me I had a restriction. The expansion valve and receiver/drier was replaced and ac topped off. I tolerated poor performance for years until I decided to replace the same components again years later only to end up with the same results. The last time I replaced the components and my Honda dealer recharged the system. They indicated that pressures were within specs with no leaks. I am wondering what else it could be. I have to run the system on 60 and it never really gets cold. Cooling fans working, correct amount of Freon, and good pressures. Any help would be appreciated

 

Block air flow at condenser and/ or radiator. Try cleaning the fins for better heat transfer.

 

Hey 01acls, I can attest to your condenser cleaning recommendation. Bought my car four years ago, at 196K. One issue, was A/C output temp, maximum 44 Deg. at the center vent, on recirculate, fan at lowest setting, new cabin filters, with a 90 Deg. ambient. All system pressures with-in spec. Had condenser professionally cleaned, $50.00. Result, out-put air temp, under the exact same conditions, went from 44 Deg. down to 33 Deg. Now, four years later, the A/C system, continues to put out 33-37 Deg.air, consistently, depending on the ambient! NOTE: One ritual, I follow, is to activate the A/C system, at least once or twice a week, during the winter months, to insure that all A/C components stay lubricated. That 11 Degree improvement may not seem like much, but it makes a big difference, in overall driving comfort!

 

don't know if the dates correlate but is it possible they took out r134a and replaced it with r123uyf instead? the refrigerants have gotten progressively worse as time has gone by.

 

I'm no refrigerant expert, but it's difficult to argue, with the R134 performance, my a/c system produces! The Dealer, that re-charged OP system, should be able to advise, exactly which refrigerant was used. From an A/C novice's standpoint, I don't understand, why, any specific (grade) freon, would fail to produce satisfactory results, when used in a ( properly) operating system. In the past, when Manufacturers switched over to R134, from R12, friends suggested, R134 was no where near as efficient, as R12! WRONG.