fliplyricist1

So I was bored and thought I was going to paint my interior a new color. So I completely disassembled my dash and basically made a mess of the interior before reading up on how unreliable spray paint was on leather and ditching the project.


Now my A/C doesn't work. Just warm air. Here's the thing: I don't drive the car often, so I'm not entirely sure when the last time I used my a/c successfully, but I'd always kind of remembered that it was good when there was a hot day outside.

I'm kind of leaning towards I messed something up while disassembling everything.

Info:

- checked the clip-on mechanism that controls the opening and closing of the motor when the cold air is activated (near the passenger footwell). It's on and the mechanism is moving as it should with temperature changes.
- checked the drivers side footwell for any weird looking things or disconnected terminals. Couldn't find anything, but I'm pretty sure there's something down there that has to do with the a/c as well
- I do hear a 'click' when I turn on the a/c...which leads me to believe it is engaging...or trying to
- fuses radiator fans 'appear' to be all good (?)

I tried using one of those diy 1234a refrigerant recharging things. But when I plug it into the a/c line with the car running and a/c on full blast..it registers 0 psi. Nothing. So I can't even get any refrigerant into the system.

Is there anything I can check/troubleshoot? This is kinda driving me crazy, especially with the summertime weather.

I've heard of some people manually engaging the a/c compressor at the fuse or something in order to manually inject refrigerant, but wasn't sure if this would cause potential damage.

I know this forum is basically dead, but hopefully someone may have some insight. Thanks!

97BlackAckCL

iTrader: (6)

Sounds like you have a leak in a line or compressor. Did you reconnect all your switches in the interior?

fliplyricist1

Thanks buddy. It certainly does. I 'thought' I did, but I could have overlooked something as I was rushing to put everything back out of haste and frustration.

Two things I forgot to mention:

1) I accidentally crushed one of the outlets on the heater core during the installation. This was a secondary goal of mine in this whole interior painting ordeal: to replace the heater core since I was smelling coolant in the interior some days when I had the a/c on. I tried to 'round out' the inlet back to a perfect circle with a few sockets and ingenuity since the metal is very soft and pliable...I was 99% sure I did it correctly because the hose and clamp went back on super tight and I never saw a coolant leak under the car. Maybe I was wrong?

2) I also feel no air coming from the vents up near the windshield when I engage the defroster (which automatically engages the a/c, to my knowledge). Could be related? Maybe not.

This kind of leads me to the control module on the drivers side near the footwell. Not sure exactly what it's called though.

I do hear a click in the cabin when I click the a/c button in the cabin. : /

Acura_CL3.0

@fliplyricist1 have you by chance thrown a set of manifold gauges on the system to see what it is doing? I recently had an issue where I was getting warm air out of the vents. Long story short the expansion valve has quit doing its job. when you run the a/c is the system cycling correctly? I think @97BlackAckCL is onto something with a leak, you simply need more information before being able to tell what the state of health the system is in. I know everyone hates on Harbor Freight Manifold gauges but I have had great success with them as long as you buy the 1 year warranty. They are cheap enough to still save you some coin and if you hate them you could always return them after testing them on your a/c system. I tend to just exchange them before the warranty expires then re-buy the warranty again for like $14 IIRC. it works for me since I do repair work on the side and only use a set of gauges 8-10 times a year.

I personally would have went ahead and replaced the heater core while I had it apart. RockAuto sells decent parts and if you aren't in a huge rush you can rebuild the ac system for fairly cheap (depending on what has failed in the system). The heater core usually won't affect the a/c working correctly unless the vehicle is overheating or its leaking onto electrical components in the dash which I have seen. I would double check all your plugs and make sure everything is connected. from there either borrow or buy a set of gauges to rule out any guessing games. You can tell what the system is doing in 15 minutes or less. Youtube has some great info on diagnosing a/c systems. They all generally work under the same principles so make/model really plays no affect on any of it. I personally have used ScannerDanner in the past he seems to really get right down to it quick in his videos.

I totally feel your pain driving with no ac in summer time heat! Hope this helps!

fliplyricist1

Thanks for the information bud!


To address your questions, I don't have those particular set of gauges. I only have the included gauge that came with the 1234a recharge kit....and that gauge will not record a reading and stay at 0 at all times regardless what I do (ac on/off...engine on/off). Thus I can't even force refrigerant into the refill port.

I do not believe my heater core is the issue, as I'm getting warm air in the cabin just fine (which is great during cool evenings).

I notice that when I do turn on the ac from the cabin, I hear no audible noises or engine surge from inside the car or engine bay. When I do turn it on the cooling fans will spin up temporarily (like 2 seconds) then immediately power down.

So I tried to manually engage the ac clutch via a wire jumped to the 2 power pins on the AC motor relay. I noticed that we don't have AC clutch relays on our vehicles...or at least not ones that are located in the typical place under the hood in the fuse box? Just a 7.5a blade fuse near the footwell area in the cabin, which is confirmed good.

I checked all the other fuses in the small black a/c box in the engine compartment and they were all good.

Anywho, jumping the pins on the ac motor relay did absolutely nothing.


Then I read that our vehicles are also equipped with an a/c pressure switch, which will go open circuit if it detects there's too little or too much refrigerant in the system in order to protect the compressor.

This leads me to believe this may be the culprit of the issue. Either it's faulty and shutting the system down incorrectly, or I really do have a leak and zero refrigerant in the system and it's doing its job.

In any case, I'd really like to locate this switch, as I'd like to jump the pins on that as well as I can at least try to get the compressor going to force refrigerant in the system to see how things go.

Any tips/suggestions on how to locate it are very much appreciated! Thanks again.

Acura_CL3.0

I would suggest at least having someone turn the a/c on in the cabin while you visually look at the a/c compressor clutch and be sure its turning on or off. You will be able to see it on the pulley of the a/c compressor. I would never trust any of those little gauge doo dads you have. So many people have brought me vehicles over charging their system and causing more problems than its worth. pressure switches are common failures on honda / acura a/c systems.

Try to verify that the compressor clutch it turning on and off correctly. I will try and get you the info needed for diagnosing this a/c issue. Let me see if i can get some Fsm goodness going on here.

Acura_CL3.0

Here you are sir, If you need anything else just let me know. It appears to me that if everything was working fine you may have missed plugging something back in the a/c system. This system is fairly complex being an automatic climate control.




I have highlighted the sections you were interested about. looks to me like something could have not been plugged back in on the dash. I'm not ruling out a leak entirely but if everything was good before you took it apart it is possible.


I went ahead and zoomed in on the sections the best i could for you.




As you can see there are quite a few areas where it looks like plugs are present.

Acura_CL3.0

@fliplyricist1 any luck as of yet?