I've been reading all of the broken AC threads on the forum. They were very helpful a few weeks ago when my AC went out on my '04...so thanks to all who have posted info about their AC problems!

Mine stopped blowing cold air the first time a few weeks ago, when I had about 50,700 miles. So I read all the problems/fixes posted here, and it sounded like a lot of people had problems with their AC relay. I went to the dealer suspecting the relay was the problem, but I didn't tell the dealership what I was guessing (so they could make their own diagnosis and not be blinded by what I suggested). They indeed said the AC relay was the problem and they replaced it for $120. I had cold air again, and I was simply planning to submit the $120 expense for reimbursement once the Honda/Acura class action odometer settlement is finalized.

But only about two weeks later, my AC isn't working again. Now my odometer reads 51,400, so I'm still within the 5% warranty extension from the odometer settlement, since the extension will take the warranty up to 52,500 miles. But after I get it fixed again this time, I don't want the AC to fail a third time, after the 52,500 has passed and I'm officially out of warranty.

(One additional piece of info: When I took the car in the first time, the tech said the AC relay was bad, but he also thought the compressor might be going bad. After replacing the relay, he said the compressor was probably OK, and it was probably just the bad AC relay that was causing it to act strange.)

Any opinions on how I should play this? Should I go into my dealership and say "Do whatever it takes to fix the AC so that I'm 100% sure it doesn't happen again, even if it means ripping out the entire system"? Then even if it costs me $1,500+ out of pocket now, I should be able to get reimbursed under the class action settlement. Or is that a bad idea, and I should just take the car in again, tell the dealership to diagnose the problem again, and see what they say is wrong? I just don't want them to make a small repair now, thinking the small repair will fix the problem...then a few months from now, after I'm out of the warranty extension, it turns out that the whole system is bad.

 

Bring it to your dealer and let them know your A/C failed again. Best case is they'll replace your major A/C components or replace your compressor. I've read about the condenser cracking and all, so they could just replace this. Hope you get this resolved to your satisfaction. But a highlight is Honda was very generous to me when mine failed AND I was out of warranty.

 

Yeah, try to get the dealer to cover it under warranty. They can do this under good faith even if you're out of warranty. You just have to get a cool service manager. Is there another one in the area that you could go to?

 

OK, so now the AC is working again. I have no idea why that might happen. I'd rather have it broken constantly, so it's an easier problem for the dealer to diagnose/fix.

Now what? Take it to the dealer even when the AC is working, and say it doesn't work sometimes? Sounds like it could take them days or weeks to pinpoint the problem.

 

I don't understand something. If work on an original problem was covered under warranty and then you had to bring your car back for the same work when you're out of warranty, then shouldn't you be able to argue that this was work done while you had your car IN warranty and you're merely bringing it back due to 'poor workmanship' or 'poor diagnosis' such that you had to bring the car back for the same problem when it was out of warranty, but in fact was work emanating from IN Warranty in the first place. Follow me?