Another quirk that has had me chasing it for a good while.

When it is real hot like 92+ you can get in and drive somewhere. A/C is fine. Get out, go in store, get back in and it just blows hot air. Works great any other time.

I thought it was a lot of possible things over time. But turns out it is just when it gets over 91 degrees out.

Also thought a lot of possible things got it back going over time. But turns out that it's just turning it all off, driving up the road like a mile, hit the button and it works again.

Anyone want to take a shot at what is causing this??? LOL

I have a theory that is being tested right now. Probably wrong, but hey I will find out.

 

It's normal for the a/c to take a while to get cold if the car has been sitting in the sun for a while - normally it won't get ice cold until you have some real air flow over the radiator (driving 40-50+ mph). Also, if you live somewhere humid it'll take even longer to cool down. But if it's not cooling down at all when idle, I'd check to make sure both fans are working.

 

It's not like what you are thinking. It is fine when I crank up at home. Compressor kicks on and it starts cooling, gets comfortable in a while.

I get somewhere after driving, go in a store for example, get back in and it literally does not work at all. Compressor not kicking on at all.

I can leave it all on and drive all I want and it will not kick in and start cooling. I can turn it all off, drive like a mile, turn it back on and it is back to working.

I thought for a while it was the auto mode on the climate control. But it got back hot again and proved me wrong. All it was is I turned it off and drove a ways and turned it back on not using auto and it came on. But auto had nothing to do with it. I have searched and searched and the only other mention I can find of the same issue was someone with a PT Cruiser on one of those pro repair things. The pro thought it was one of the temperature sensors or a bad control module not switching the compressor on.

I didn't want to muddy the waters with that right out of the gate. I still had a different hunch and tried something else. That seems to be working so far. But it needs some high temperature testing to be certain. It has fooled me before already lol. It may get hot enough to test it again tomorrow.

 

When the compressor kicks off, then you have to hit the A/C button to kick it back on again it's probably the A/C relay...

 

A/C relay check, then get a Freon can kit with the gauge and measure the pressure. If that’s not the fix save up some money your compressor might be getting ready to fail soon.

 

OK I will hunt down this relay. I know electrical things like to go on the fritz when they are old and problematic when the temperature gets high. That would make sense also.

Since someone else broght up pressure now I'm going to say that is what I went for after this happened a few times. A friend had some old gauges off some old cans and I also went and bought one. I at first figured I had a leak and might have to add some when it was running. But I never felt comfortable adding any.

I did not add any because I had some experience due to replacing an entire system on my Jeep and recharging it. I didn't have Acura specs on hand and didn't believe it seemed low enough for that to be the issue. So I decided to monitor it.

Glad I decided to monitor. If you have ever done this or ever used a Guage with a current temp adjuster you will figure out these pressures rise a lot with temperatures. You will see a lot of people quote PSI a system should be but if they don't say at what temperature I wouldn't take that info as accurate.

I finally resorted to carrying gauges with me. When it went out I hooked up. I expected pressures to be high with the compressor not running. But the pressure pegged out my guage.

I had a friend come over who does structural HVAC. He was quick to say he didn't know much on car A/C. He called his tire store which also does AC work and said could pull some out for me into a catch tank if that was what I wanted to try. So he pulled some out and took the tank over to the tire store. Different type of refrigerant than he works with as far as collecting/disposing/etc.

I haven't found any Acura specs on psI in a temperature chart, and I don't have manifold gauges to read low and high side pressures at the same time either. So this has kind of been a shade tree experiment. But it has not seemed to have any negative effects so far. Knock wood. I have tested it in the temp's that cause an issue once so far and it hasn't given any problems. It's not kicking off under normal use for low pressure and so far it has not failed to work after using and shutting off to run in a store when it's 95 degrees either.

It has fooled me before so I am not convinced, especially since I don't know what all sensors there are on this thing, and it does not have a new relay either. Sometimes relays will work correctly a few times and get you tripped up.

Right now I think someone overcharged the system, or it has some air contamination. There is supposed to be a machine that can vacuum down a system, remove all the air and crap and refill. I am going to call around on that to find some places and prices. I will also see about that relay too because I have certainly had other troubles with intermittent relays in the past on other vehicles that had me chasing my tail and made a fool of me.

 

I think thats called an evap evacuation or something...

A/C relays are frequent culprits of A/C issues on Hondas, and also, the easiest fix! that's your problem...

Overfilled A/C system? Yikes!

 

My system went off & on then it eventually died.

 

So far, KNOCK WOOD, it has not been a problem since he evacuated a little of the charge.

If it was overcharged, it was not by much, but enough to make it trip out when the temp got high because the pressures climb at higher outside temps. I guess it is also possible there was a little air. No way for me to know since Im the second owner.

I could swear I hear a little escape when I remove the caps. I'm thinking maybe it has a tiny leak and the previous owner topped it off a little high.

I was tempted to change that relay but decided to leave it alone, one thing at a time. That would be my next thing, but it hasnt tripped out since so I will keep rolling and see what happens. I would try that next, and then if it continued I would maybe suspect the clutch after that.

Hope it's just fixed.

 

Yeah:

Check the fuses with a fuse tester.

Check the clutch.

Check the A/C condenser.

Check the A/C clutch.

Check the fans.

Check the A/C heat exchanger.

Check the mix Door blenders.

 

I wanted to updated this thread and just say that I think the A/C clutch relay maybe sometimes randomly goes on the fritz? I say that because we had some weird wet weather here this winter and the humidity buildup was really high inside the car.... and I was noticing I could not get my windshield to defog quickly with cold air. Why? Because the A/C clutch wasn't engaged. I fiddled around with the hood up and hit just the A/C button on off a couple times and sure enough heard the clutch finally engage. I really don't think it is the clutch because that was the only way I could even hear it engage.

I will find and replace the A/C clutch relay one day when I have time.

 

Make sure you get the updated ones. I bought them from Acura to be sure; there are plenty on Amazon that are cheap because they're the old style.