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I haven't had a problem with my A/C and hope I don't jinx myself. But I received this email today about a lawsuit that some people may be interested in checking out.
Hope this is not redundant info but here is the link.
'05, 46K miles. It just started blowing hot air while creeping along in heavy traffic yesterday. A few minutes later, MID gives warnings on both ABS and VSA systems. I pulled off the freeway at the next exit and turned engine off, waited a couple of minutes, and then re-started. The warnings went away, but the a/c still blows hot in both auto and manual modes. Made appt at dealer for tomorrow morning and I am taking the info you all posted about clutches and coils along. Warranty is expired, but hoping for some help. Any other advice before my visit? Will report results.
It was the stator(field coil). Compressor and serpentine belt checked out ok. Acura of Peabody charged 454 labor, 129 part, and 22 for "customer pay materials for repair order." A/C works great now. Just in time for winter.
OK, so I asked about this back in August of 2010. I still have no A/C. Obviously I didn't need the A/C fixed during the winter months so I set aside some money over the winter to get this fixed. Well, tech at Acura Dealer performed EVAC and recharged the a/c. They say the compressor is not coming on. They said that the a/c compressor is faulty. They want to replace the A/C compressor, clutch and stator for $1800.00. $1500. for parts alone, which is twice as much as what drolds72 guesstimated. Obviously I didn't get it done. Are they trying to replace everything in the hopes of fixing my issue at my expense?
Leftcorner, can you chime in and let me know your experience on this? I do have the mechanical ability to do it myself but parts alone for $1500. I'm willing to try replacing the stator assy...or a/c clutch.....
I've been working for the same dealer for 10 years and I've never replaced a complete compressor ass'y on any 2G RL. Honestly all your dealer had to do was verify the refrig. charge and then use the HDS to monitor the compressor command (energizing of the stator basically). Once the command is sent and there's no mechanical response you pretty much have your answer right there. Let me know if you have any questions/concerns and I can walk you through.
i think ur dealership is jerking u around. cause i just had the same problems and i got my a/c fixed for about 500 dollars. my service advisor told me they didn't know what the problem was at first he said it could be the clutch, strator, or something, so he told me to replace the a/c clutch first, and bingo it works!!! i also brought in the coupon for the free a/c check. i don't know if that helped my price.
just my 2 cents! hope it helps
Well, I'm willing to go with any suggestions. Should I start by replacing the stator first and go from there? I am looking at acurapartswarehouse.com and it is showing a diagram of the a/c compressor. The stator looks like it is in front of the compressor? It is $86 but it says that it doesn't come with a wire harness. Do I need one or can I reuse the existing one? I also see that the clutch set is in front of the stator (behind the pulley) but at $225, I'd rather not replace it, if I don't need too. I don't mind doing process of elimination.
Or
Should I bring my car to another Acura dealer and ask them to use the HDS to monitor the compressor command to check the stator?
This is exactly what they wrote (obviously without itemizing or pricing any parts) and charged me $120 for the diagnosis:
"Tech inspected and duplicated customer complaint. Inspected and found no visible leaks present at this time. Tech hooked up A/C machine. Found pressure is low. Tech performed EVAC and Recharge of A/C System. A/C Compressor is not comming on. Tech tested A/C Compressor. A/C Compressor is faulty. Quoted 1868.39+tax installed for new A/C compressor, clutch and stator. Customer declines further repair at this time."
My A/C stopped working on the way home. Warm air for the rest of the eveneing. Called the dealer and was told that it was a known problem and that it was covered under my $0 deductible Acura extended warranty. Clutch was replaced. Not compressor or stator. Works great now.
The A/C was cold the next day on my way to get it fixed and was told by the dealer that it would go out again and form them just to do the work under the warranty!
Can't beat that!.....Maybe I should tell them I think I heard my propeller shaft whining.....
This happened to my 05 RL back in august 2009 when I purchase with 58k miles in July of 2009, CPO. Dealership diagnosed as my Stator not engaging, dealership replaced under warranty, AC worked great ever since...its a known issue maybe the dealership can replace under goodwill...who knows...
Add me to the list. Same AC issue that many others here have already experienced. Wonder if this will get covered since I bought the car used less than 2 weeks ago.
Wish I had stumbled upon a thread like this sooner. We have had minor issues with the AC in our 05 RL for some time, even while it was still under warranty. Sometimes it would blow cold; sometimes not-so-cold. I chalked it up the the system needing a refrigerant recharge. Well, today it stopped blowing even the slightest bit cool so I picked up some refrigerant to charge the system.
When I hooked up to the low pressure side to add R134, the pressure gauge read @ zero. Anyone able to post the diagnostic steps for determining whether it's the stator or clutch?
Hi everyone ..... My 05 RL also started blowing only hot air from the a/c back in August 2010 .
I live in the Mohave Desert and it was 114 deg when this started happening ! At first it was intermittent then it just would not blow cold air at all .
I only had 43,000 miles on the car but owned it just over 5 years , so basically i had no warranty .
I took the car in to an Acura dealer back in September 2010 to have the problem diagnosed and they said the Coil / Stator was dead . It just didn't have enough magnetic power to pull the Compressor Clutch Plates together to kick-in the a/c and blow cold air .
The Acura dealer replaced the Coil / Stator , Switch , Clutch Ass'y and Recharged the a/c system . The original Compressor Clutch Plates probably could have been reused but they were showing some wear on them from not engaging properly .
I initially had to pay for this repair but after several phone conversations with an Acura Rep , they wrote me a check for the full cost of the repair .
Thanks to everyone at AcuraZine for your posts on this topic , and to Acura for repairing the faulty a/c on my 05 RL .
Took in my wife's 2006 RL with failing A/C (no cold air) today. The vehicle has about 56K miles on the odometer. Sure enough, it was the stator. They quoted $1831 and I asked them to check with the zone manager (or whatever the proper title is) for assistance with the repair, since this is a well-known weakness of the car. They came back and offered to do the job and just charge me $500. That seemed a lot better than $1831, but was the entire $1831 necessary to do the job? I particularly questioned why $500--seems like a contrived number. How did they arrive at that figure? I got no real answer, but it became very clear from the service manager's questions about where I bought the car, how much service business that I brought into the dealership, how many times I had the oil changed there, etc. and came in twice a year for spring and fall servicings, then they would consider me a good customer [and I might not have had to pay the $500?]. It was then that I thought perhaps I was into the new game of "if you're a good boy and give us lots of business, then we'll treat you better."
With the reliability of Acuras, it's a kind of freaky thing to have to think that the the amount of business you do with them--whether convenient or not for the customer--determines how you're treated. I thought dealers were trying to convey a "we treat all our customers well" atmosphere.
After I got home I called Acura of America in Torrance, CA and got the story that each dealer is an independent businessman and that it's up to him to decide how to handle each case. Suspicions beginning to be confirmed. The Acura HQ guy said "I see the last time you were at the dealer was 1-1/2 years ago."
Is service "assistance now a function of how loyal one is to the dealer rather than how good the Acura brand's reputation is? I'm beginning to think that this may be the way dealers are incented. I asked the HQ rep if they weren't concerned that they would get the reputation for uneven service across America.
Can anyone comment on this situation? A friend of mine who's owned a dealership suggested that customer "loyalty" was a big influence on how he treated customers. Maybe dealers are in the ascendancy these days.
Think of it from the dealership's standpoint. If you, as the customer, are not willing to consistently maintain (and spend money) on your own vehicle, why should you expect the dealer to spend the other $1331 (in your case) on your vehicle by offering some type of goodwill assistance?
My AC in my 2006 went out last week. Needless to say, I wasn't pleased as it was rather hot outside when it happened.
Took it to Neillo Acura and they were very helpful. I'm the original owner, purchased the car from them and always had it serviced there and they were able to help me get it partially paid for, even though my car has almost 75k miles on it.
Here's what my service receipt said:
Compressor clutch field coil - replace.
They said that this would normally run $1,000 retail to replace. Considering my poor financial situation right now, I was grateful they only charged me a little over $300 for the replacement.
Anyways, I noticed a strange smell in the garage after I drove it home? Hard to describe, but it smelled very foreign to me. The AC works great, but should this smell worry me? I have no idea if freon has an odor, but I've never smelled that before. Left over freon?
Just to clarify, the smell is coming from outside the car and only after the AC has been on.
It's a chemical type smell, strange odor to say the least. I felt dumb sticking my nose around every crevice of the hood and front wheel wells, but it's strongest from the very front grill.
Again, I just had my AC serviced, and while it works fine, this odor has me a little worried. If I'm leaking freon, how long will it take before it empties out and my AC stops working again? A, I leaking freon? This odor wasn't there prior to the service.
Yeah, called the nice folks at Niello and scheduled an appointment for next Friday.
Someone told me freon is odorless, while I've read online that it has a distinct odor.
Eh, who knows, maybe you're right, but considering the repair that was done: compressor clutch field coil replacement, and the fact the smell only occurs after driving with the AC on, who knows, but it's strong enough to fill the entire garage and that has me worried.
Can't smell a thing inside the car with the AC on.
Our cars (and modern A/C systems in general) do not use freon. The refrigerant R-134 and R-12 is odorless.
I could be a lube oil or some other cause from the repair, but not likely the refrigerant. Further at the rate you state, the system would have bled out by now and your A/C would not be cooling.
Our cars (and modern A/C systems in general) do not use freon. The refrigerant R-134 and R-12 is odorless.
I could be a lube oil or some other cause from the repair, but not likely the refrigerant. Further at the rate you state, the system would have bled out by now and your A/C would not be cooling.
Figured as much, thanks.
Yeah, it's a strange smell. It's "heavy" and it lingers for a while as well. I wish I could describe it better, but it's completely foreign to me.
Too bad there's no such thing as "smell-o-web" as I would love to be able to bottle it up, send it over the internet and get some people's opinion on it, lol, as it's bothering and worrying me.
I think I found out what the smell was, as it had since disappeared. Apparently, during or after the AC service, the dealership "cleaned" my engine, and I mean really well. There must have been some loose grease stuck somewhere near the AC components that "burned away" while under operation. Regardless, the aroma was strong enough to alarm the heck out of me.
Never really noticed at first (as I rarely ever pop the hood...yeah I know...), but after closer inspection, my engine looks brand, spanking new, not a speck of grease or dust anywhere! So I guess kudos to the dealership for doing this as I've never cleaned my engine since I purchased the car new in 2006.
Getting better gas mileage since the AC service as well, for some strange reason. It's up 1 mile per gallon and the engine is smoother than ever at 75k.
My AC on my 2005 went out as described a couple of weeks ago. For the first time I tried an independent auto shop instead of the dealer (will not go into why, another story). They said that it's the coil with a very, very, very slow leak that might take place over time. I was low only by a 1/3.
For those who are interested. Here's their quote (from the Chicagoland area):
Coil - $131
3 hours of labor
Grand total with tax and everything ~$600
The $600 include the evac & recharge or else it would have been $397 to replace just the coil.
It is labor intensive because they have to remove the entire compressor to do it. They tried pricing the compressor to see if they can save me money on labor. The compressor is $879.
I asked them why the evac & recharge cost $203 higher than the original $150 quoted on the initial phone conversation. At the time I thought that it was a evac and recharge. They said that had the problem stopped just there, it would have been the cost. However, since they had to do extra work to figure out the exact problem.
Based on reading all the threads on this forum. Their answers (and their costs) seem honest and fair.
I'm still going to try to go back to the dealer to see if they can goodwill the problem due to my "loyal" for the past 6 years and pay the auto shop for their diagnostic time. After all, it was the auto shop who clued me into this forum and the technical bulletin.
I've haven't look at your car, but I doubt it's the CCM. When they break, the relays usually open which means everything runs full blast... you have no speed control.
Again with a simple voltage meter, I'd test the relays, voltage coming out of the fuse box, voltage to the blower motor, etc.
You've obviously spent alot of money for this system not to work.
I'm paying $750 at a local trusted community shop for the compressor and clutch. Is this a relatively good deal? From what or researched it is (dealers quoting $1839)
the AC in my 2006 is not working. I have read many posts on this forum that it is probably the clutch/stator/field coil that has gone bad.
I checked the system diagnostics today and have attached what I have found (see pix). Did your system dianostics show the same thing before you had the clutch/stator/field coil replaced? or is mine a different problem? when i checked the "aircon" section of the diagnostic screen, it shows "aircon disconnected". so maybe its not the stator?
I assume it is on its way out. Is it possible to rebuild them nowadays? If I decided to replace it should I go aftermarket ~$450-$500 or OEM ~$700? I had to replace the compressor on my Pilot last fall and I went with aftermarket. It has been working fine but I don't know the long term durability.
You sure it's the compressor and not the cooling fan? I had a "rattling" type sound that came and went with ac on/off that sounded like compressor clutch bearing, but ended up being the electric cooling fan that also goes on/off with ac. Still not a cheap part, but cheaper than compressor.
Hard to pinpoint a noise source in engine bay sometimes
I recently started noticing a rattling coming from my a/c system. When I would turn off the cold air, the noise goes away. Then today the car decides to over heat while sitting at a light. Puff of smoke from the right front fender well, and now no cold air.
09-12-2010, 11:45 PM
. $1500. for parts alone, which is twice as much as what drolds72 guesstimated. Obviously I didn't get it done. Are they trying to replace everything in the hopes of fixing my issue at my expense?
. I'm willing to try replacing the stator assy...or a/c clutch.....
