Honda Car Forum

Douglas Anderson <doug@douglasanderson.net> wrote:
> Ok, 4 dr Civic LX, only 6000 miles. We have had the car for 7 months
> and with the latest heat waves have observed the Air Conditioning
> acting weird. I know Honda's are not known for cranking out the
> coldest air, but that is not my complaint. Here is the situation, has

The air coming out of the vents on my 2003 Civic Hybrid is very cold.
Sometimes it is so cold I adjust the temperature to just a little cooler
than the cabin temperature. The old spec used to be 20 degrees cooler
coming out of the vent than ambient cabin temp. I haven't measured the new
one.

> Drive car (doesn't matter how long/fast)
> A/C on, coldest temp, max fan speed, recirc mode

There's that recirc mode again... different thread going on in the last
week or so. You might search Google.
Subject: Re: 2003 Accord Air Conditioning (A/C) stops working
(blows hot) intermittently

< http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=e...s.makers.honda >


> accelerate to drive off from stop

> -- Air begins to get warmer (not hot) and more humid (probably due to
> warmer air hitting wet evaporator) --

How hard are you accelerating? There is a full throttle cutout for the
A/C, to allow better acceleration. Maybe your are hitting that.

> This will repeat at every semi-long stop. I also have an 02 Accord

Short stops don't do it? Sounds like it might be a vacuum leak.
What about a long acceleration? Can you feel the effects of the cutout?
I rarely do in my Civic, but I have felt it.

> I think this is unacceptable, on a 90+ degree day outside this temp
> rise is significant enough to be uncomfortable.

--
---
Clarence A Dold - Hidden Valley (Lake County) CA USA 38.8-122.5

Interesting. I've got an 03 Accord 4 cyl and the AC seems very good.
It was 90+ and humid over the fourth and we drove to a friend's house
about 250 miles away. We were very comfortable, the air coming out was
quite cold when the compressor cycled on.

I always assumed that there was a specific temp standard. I didn't
realize that it was relative standard, ie, 20 or 40 degrees below
ambient. I can't quite imagine why it would be that way. I would
assume the compressor cycles more frequently when it is cooler out,
but that it cycles at a specific condenser temperature regardless.
Apparently I'm wrong about that?


On Tue, 15 Jul 2003 01:08:45 +0000 (UTC),
dold@03XCivicXA.usenet.us.com wrote:

>Douglas Anderson <doug@douglasanderson.net> wrote:
>> Ok, 4 dr Civic LX, only 6000 miles. We have had the car for 7 months
>> and with the latest heat waves have observed the Air Conditioning
>> acting weird. I know Honda's are not known for cranking out the
>> coldest air, but that is not my complaint. Here is the situation, has
>
>The air coming out of the vents on my 2003 Civic Hybrid is very cold.
>Sometimes it is so cold I adjust the temperature to just a little cooler
>than the cabin temperature. The old spec used to be 20 degrees cooler
>coming out of the vent than ambient cabin temp. I haven't measured the new
>one.
>
>> Drive car (doesn't matter how long/fast)
>> A/C on, coldest temp, max fan speed, recirc mode
>
>There's that recirc mode again... different thread going on in the last
>week or so. You might search Google.
> Subject: Re: 2003 Accord Air Conditioning (A/C) stops working
> (blows hot) intermittently
>
>< http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=e...s.makers.honda >
>
>
>> accelerate to drive off from stop
>
>> -- Air begins to get warmer (not hot) and more humid (probably due to
>> warmer air hitting wet evaporator) --
>
>How hard are you accelerating? There is a full throttle cutout for the
>A/C, to allow better acceleration. Maybe your are hitting that.
>
>> This will repeat at every semi-long stop. I also have an 02 Accord
>
>Short stops don't do it? Sounds like it might be a vacuum leak.
>What about a long acceleration? Can you feel the effects of the cutout?
>I rarely do in my Civic, but I have felt it.
>
>> I think this is unacceptable, on a 90+ degree day outside this temp
>> rise is significant enough to be uncomfortable.

dold@03XCivicXA.usenet.us.com wrote in message news:<bevk6t$a6d$3@blue.rahul.net>...
> Douglas Anderson <doug@douglasanderson.net> wrote:
> > Ok, 4 dr Civic LX, only 6000 miles. We have had the car for 7 months
> > and with the latest heat waves have observed the Air Conditioning
> > acting weird. I know Honda's are not known for cranking out the
> > coldest air, but that is not my complaint. Here is the situation, has
>
> The air coming out of the vents on my 2003 Civic Hybrid is very cold.
> Sometimes it is so cold I adjust the temperature to just a little cooler
> than the cabin temperature. The old spec used to be 20 degrees cooler
> coming out of the vent than ambient cabin temp. I haven't measured the new
> one.
>
> > Drive car (doesn't matter how long/fast)
> > A/C on, coldest temp, max fan speed, recirc mode
>
> There's that recirc mode again... different thread going on in the last
> week or so. You might search Google.
> Subject: Re: 2003 Accord Air Conditioning (A/C) stops working
> (blows hot) intermittently
>
> < http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=e...s.makers.honda >
>
>
> > accelerate to drive off from stop
>
> > -- Air begins to get warmer (not hot) and more humid (probably due to
> > warmer air hitting wet evaporator) --
>
> How hard are you accelerating? There is a full throttle cutout for the
> A/C, to allow better acceleration. Maybe your are hitting that.
>
> > This will repeat at every semi-long stop. I also have an 02 Accord
>
> Short stops don't do it? Sounds like it might be a vacuum leak.
> What about a long acceleration? Can you feel the effects of the cutout?
> I rarely do in my Civic, but I have felt it.
>
> > I think this is unacceptable, on a 90+ degree day outside this temp
> > rise is significant enough to be uncomfortable.


In repsonse to recirc mode, it happens wether this is on or not, just
most people say see if it still happens in recirc, which it does.

I have never heard of the cutout of the compressor and this would seem
to explain the what is occuring. I would say this occurs under medium
acceleration, during low acceleration I do not observe the problem.

As for short stops, say you come up to a stop sign, all clear stop for
1-2 seconds and go, then no problem. I have not felt the cutout per
say, but the engine is so whimpy hard to say if I could notice any
additional power.

One additional observation, when at the dealer I was unsatisfied with
their lack of interest in the problem, so I request to drive another
03 Civic LX and see if it occurs in the other vehicle. During the
drive we were able to reproduce the same issue my Civic was having,
just on a smaller scale. In the demo Civic the air did get warmer,
but not as warm as in my vehicle. That got them off the hook for now.

I guess this is just the case in newer Civic's A/C is not the best,
still better than nothing.