Honda Car Forum

The A/C to my 2001 Honda Civic slowly began to stop cooling over the period of a month, but the air was still somewhat cool. One day i ran over some debris on the road. 10 minutes later while at the gas station pumping gas, i noticed a very strong bad odor, but thought nothing of it. 1 hour later, my A/C was blowing hot air (Miami weather). The A/C was recharged by a private mechanic. It worked for 2 days, and I noticed the same bad odor while pumping gas at the gas station again.

you sir, need a new compressor

The debris you ran over must have punctured an A/C line or at least bent it & distorted a joint (which might be the one with the slow leak). You need to have a competent A/C specialist examine and repair the system & guarantee the work.Good luck.

That bad odor is compressor oil (it absolutely stinks) which has leaked from the sealed air conditioning system. I'm willing to say the damage has been to the condenser which is right in front of the engine's radiator (easiest explanation as to the debris causing damage). You will have to replace the damaged component, replace the dessicant container, have the system flushed, have the system under a strong vacuum for a few hours to boil out any water, and refilled with refrigerant and compressor oil. You're looking at approximately $300 to $500 from an independant garage. Forget about the Honda dealer; they're notorious for their parts and labor rates.