Air conditioning problem... must be a valve

[john23]

Hi guys,

It's been a while since I've posted or even been to the forum.
I'm the happy (well not recently!) owner of a 2008 euro CL9. Just had the 80,000km service, which will absolutely be my last visit to the dealership... Despite costing me $950 in total, they've no idea what my air con problem is. The way they explained it to me makes me understand that they are genuinely clueless; which ordinarily I'd excuse, if I hadn't been explaining the air con problem to them for the last 2-3 years whilst going to service.
What it is is a sound that comes from the air con unit (it can be nothing else!) on a hot day, when the air con is working to cool. I have everything on auto and the temp on medium (25) <b> more details below </b>.
They repeated exactly what I told them (that it sounds like a valve or some sort blowing off), which pissed me off, then said that they didn't know exactly what it could be. What they were saying is that they could measure the amount of gas in the air con - costing around $200 - and if low, re gas (i guess) which would then cost - well they've supposedly never had a problem like this, so they didn't know...

What should I do. It a sexy car, drives great, but imagine rolling up at the lights for your car to "pass gas"!! It's so loud you can hear it over the engine and from outside...
I'm really not making any of this shit up. I need help.
What should I do? Who/where should I take it to? Like I mention below, the air con system is practically brand new now.

I'll try and keep this as short as i can...
As soon as I purchased the car from them (2nd hand), I noticed there was a rattling coming from the left passenger side fan (similar to the old school fans not being screwed on right and whacking the cover). 1st service - car under extended warranty - they tell me there were a lot of leaves, which they removed and charged me $30 for! Fine! 2nd service, still under warranty, still nothing fixed, but since it's the warmer months, I notice there's also a (high pitched flatulence) sound as if a valve is releasing air. There's no other way of explaining it. They didn't find it, and I let it slide. After the 3/4 service, me still complaining about the rattling and valve noise, they finally find that there's a big thing wrong with the air con, the heating unit (?? not sure of the terminology - but it's the main part of the air con that sits just below/behind the passenger dash). I kick up a stink saying that it's a documented issue whilst under warranty (which had obviously run out by then). They get Honda to cover the part, but I still pay the manual fee.
So, my understanding is that everything is fine, I drive happily, until it gets hot again, and the valve release/flatulence noise comes back. My last service, I told them to "find it, fix it, or lose me". They finally sat in the car long enough to hear what I was talking about - I'd also played them a recording - but they said they'd only be guessing what it could be.

So much for it being short. Thanks for reading!!!

[B18cEG]

Sorry but you post was too much to read for me lol but i can tell you that there is a known fault with a certain valve for the aircon in your car that is mouted high up under the dash somewhere, apparently the dash has to be removed to access it.

Good luck and hope this helps, btw i think its more of a whooooooooooop going up in pitch. is this it? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAO0k_3oN-E

[john23]

Sorry but you post was too much to read for me lol
Good luck and hope this helps, btw i think its more of a whooooooooooop going up in pitch. is this it? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAO0k_3oN-E

Sorry! LOL. I's still a bit frustrated I guess :P

That's it exactly... Thanks for posting the vid! The comments say it's the "ac compression valve".

Anyone know what can/should be done?!

[levstar1]

Hi
i have had a similar problem with my 2004 euro, first time the air compressor blew at about 65k -80k cant remember and it was fixed under warranty, a year and a bit later funny noises would come from the engin compartment and i knew it was the air cond again as it was the same noise before it died. took it too the dealer ship they said nothings wrong all good. a while later once the whether started to heat up again same prblem again but more frequent and took it to the dealership and they said it was the idler tensioner as my car would vibrate on idle when the air con kicked in, it cost me $100 for them to tell me that, so i got after market parts and got another mechanic to install the new parts and he said to me there was nothing wrong with the old part and guess what i still had the same problem as before.

So i took my car into the auto electrictian and finally got some answers.
# my air cond is stuffed. Apperntly a very common problem with honda cars, and what happens is that metal shavings/fillings is produced from the air compressor over time and the small metal bits get into the system (condenser and TX valve), and when it makes its way into the tx valve it starts to cause a blockage so the compressor has to work harder and so the car starts to vibrate a bit on idle as the air cond is sucking all the power and hence my fuel econmy is shite, and i get the funny noises like a squealing noise.

To fix this is to replace the tx vlave condenser and the air cond compresser and the whole system needs to be flushed so there is no metal bits left anywhere other same thing will happen again. the job is to cost $1800, $1200 of that is on parts but i am getting the parts aftermarket so it will cost me less then half for parts but labour is still going to kill.

currently the air cond once it hits 25degress outside stops working and starts blowing hot air instead and then it will start working again, so its stuffed.

hope this info helps as i had a hard time trying to find information this problem and the dealership were hopeless had no idea all they could say to me was "never heard of that before" and i say pigs arse.

cheers
lev

[john23]

Hi
i have had a similar problem with my 2004 euro... my air cond is stuffed. Apparently a very common problem with Honda cars, and what happens is that metal shavings/fillings is produced from the air compressor over time and the small metal bits get into the system (condenser and TX valve), and when it makes its way into the tx valve it starts to cause a blockage so the compressor has to work harder ... the air cond is sucking all the power and hence my fuel econmy is shite, and i get the funny noises like a squealing noise.

To fix this is to replace the tx vlave condenser and the air cond compresser and the whole system needs to be flushed so there is no metal bits left anywhere other same thing will happen again. the job is to cost $1800, $1200 of that is on parts but i am getting the parts aftermarket so it will cost me less then half for parts but labour is still going to kill.

currently the air cond once it hits 25degress outside stops working and starts blowing hot air instead and then it will start working again, so its stuffed.

hope this info helps as i had a hard time trying to find information this problem and the dealership were hopeless had no idea all they could say to me was "never heard of that before" and i say pigs arse.

cheers
lev

So after reading this, I get the distinct impression that it would be in your best interest to sell/trade in the car... Have you done so?
Being honest, it's kinda scary reading this, and thinking mine might be on its way to becoming something like you had.

Need help guys! I'm unsure of who/where to take it to get diagnosed AND FIXED!
Any ideas as to what shops are specializing in (Honda) air cons, and wouldn't charge me the moon?!?!

[androo]

Why are you paying for all if this if it's under extended warranty? :S

[john23]

Why are you paying for all if this if it's under extended warranty? :S

No longer under warranty... Finished a while back (1.5 years ago).
Got them to fix the air con unit once, arguing that the fault was there when under warranty. But they will not fix this. They say it's "wear and tear" and not covered.

[aaronng]

Just replace the expansion valve and regas. The compressor has some shavings when new due to tolerances, but once run in, there shouldn't be anymore new shavings generated. I don't see the need to flush as well, since the act of the compressor compressing and circulating the AC gas around the system means most of the shavings would be at the expansion valve area anyway. If they had free passage past the expansion valve, then you wouldn't get the whoop sound.