2000 TL just shy of 200k miles.
A/C intermittently stops cooling, then after a day or two, it's back to blowing ice cold. Compressor keeps running.
Haven't tried to evac & recharge yet.

Thinking maybe the expansion valve sticking open/closed?

How tough is it to get to/replace?
Had to replace the evaporator on my '93 Accord & it wasn't tough, but not easy.

 

You said "compressor keeps running". Does this mean that when you're blowing warm air that the compressor clutch is engaged and the Electric cooling fan is ON (under the hood)?

Also, when the AC does work is it ice cold (like expected)?

Are you sure its not a stuck air mix motor if the above is the case?

 

Yes, the clutch stays engaged when it's not blowing cold.

When everything is working correctly, it blows very cold.
Where is the air mix motor?

 

Here is a shot from the perspective of my LEFT foot looking up at 11 O'Clock if I was sitting in the Front Passenger seat. The box with the green electrical connector is the air mix motor. It controls the mix of air from the heater core and the AC evaporator. If you stick your head where you can see this and reach a hand up to turn the temperature from MIN to MAX and back and forth, you will see and hear the white arms on top of the motor moving the baffles and opening the heater core valve under the hood. If you do NOT see the arms moving, then your motor is STUCK.
The motor can be intermittently stuck which is why sometimes you have air. It might have worked all summer because you never called for heat and it was always stuck on full AC.
If it is stuck, push your finger UP into the little white disc you can see on the bottom; this will dislodge the stepper motor and you should see it move to its correct position.

The part is something like ~$129 and it is a do-it-yourself job.

 

I'll give that a shot tonight. I don't know why it would've moved. It's barely been under 100* here, so I haven't put it on heat since March or so.

 

Update:

Checked the blend motor when I got home from work, moves back & forth when switched from 60* to 80*

A/C was cold when I left work & about 15 minutes later, wasn't cooling anymore.

I'm leaning more toward the expansion valve. If it's sticking open/closed, or sticking partially open, could that cause the problem?

 

Going to have it evac/recharged this weekend & see if that might help, before I start pulling stuff apart.

 

Update:
Had it evac'd & recharged today. No change.
Getting a vacuum reading on the low side after the recharge. Expansion valve?

Also, learned this week that the blend motor was replaced before I got the car.

Where is the expansion valve on the 2000TL? On my 93 Accord it was in the evaporator case. Is that the case here too?

Thanks for the feedback/help.

Edit to add:
Noticed after it was charged, the high side valve was hissing a bit, thinking the needle might be sticking. How is that replaced?

 

Update, after work yesterday, had ice cold air the whole drive (30mins) home.