A/C compressor

[Bart Geerts]

I changed the A/C compressor yesterday. It got stuck a couple months ago. I also changed the receiver dryer, an did the R12 - R134a conversion. All this work took about 6 man-hours.
The outside temperature at the moment here is 35 deg Fahrenheit.
I have a question that I didn't find in the manual. Is the compressor supposed to engage when you switch the A/C manually to ON?
We had to manually bridge the A/C clutch relay to make the compressor turn. Is this because of the low Outside Air Temperature or should I expect something wrong here.
I already did the troubleshooting up to the point of checking the relay. all is working.
Next troubleshooting point, I should start checking ECU.
I just want to find out first if the compressor should be turning when OAT is so low!

 

[DutchBlackNsx]

Hi Bart,

Indeed. The outside temp here makes the A/C not to come on. I think the sensor for the outside temp, is behind your front license plate.
You also might wanna check the fuse for the clutch, i remember that my fuse for the clutch was shot, when i had a A/C compressor failure. Can't remeber where it was though.

Just as a side-note; Make sure you have the A/C filled by people who know about A/C systems. This is not the US, where knowledge on A/C systems is much wider. There are a lot of butchers out here.

 

[Bart Geerts]

Hi Bart,

Indeed. The outside temp here makes the A/C not to come on. I think the sensor for the outside temp, is behind your front license plate.
You also might wanna check the fuse for the clutch, i remember that my fuse for the clutch was shot, when i had a A/C compressor failure. Can't remeber where it was though.

Just as a side-note; Make sure you have the A/C filled by people who know about A/C systems. This is not the US, where knowledge on A/C systems is much wider. There are a lot of butchers out here.

When the malfunction occured (compressor gripped) I removed the belt, and made sure I drove with A/C off, but the Clutch fuse was blown anyways.
Thx for the answer, I don't have to open everything up without a reason.

 

[matteni]

FYI - the service manual (including the on-line version on Prime) has some good information and testing techiques that can help you troubleshoot any problems as well.

 

[Bart Geerts]

FYI - the service manual (including the on-line version on Prime) has some good information and testing techiques that can help you troubleshoot any problems as well.

That's the manual I'm using...
thx

 

[Briank]

There are several conditions where the compressor will not run.

Ambient temp cold
Engine to hot
Freon pressure to high
Freon pressure to low
and more ...

The manual has all the specs. and trouble shooting charts.

 

[matteni]

That's the manual I'm using...
thx

That's cool - not meaning to sound preachy.

I was wondering if you knew since (by your post) you were trying to manually activate it but a better way perhaps (per the manual) would be to hold the first and last button while turning the car on it will cycle through all relevant functions and you can test the AC compressor install. Note - this is per my recollection - I am not looking at the manual right now but I am 90% sure that is how you do it...

In any event - good luck - I too have removed and re-installed my compressor a couple times and in and of itself - it is surprisingly easy IMO.

 

[Bart Geerts]

That's cool - not meaning to sound preachy.

I was wondering if you knew since (by your post) you were trying to manually activate it but a better way perhaps (per the manual) would be to hold the first and last button while turning the car on it will cycle through all relevant functions and you can test the AC compressor install. Note - this is per my recollection - I am not looking at the manual right now but I am 90% sure that is how you do it...

In any event - good luck - I too have removed and re-installed my compressor a couple times and in and of itself - it is surprisingly easy IMO.

It will cycle indeed, all functions, also A/C on and off. but than again, what means A/C ON?? system working or compressor turning?
And we had to manually activate the compressor to charge the system.
I didn't mean to sound preachy eather by saying I was using that manual. Hope you didn't think that.
One thing is odd, when A/C is ON, condensor blowers are turning, I would think that they would blow together with the compressor turning. I'm hoping the system isn't malfunctioning, I checked everything but ECU. So if it is malfunctioning it's defenatly the ECU. I've to change a full ECU only for a compressor problem
And indeed the changing is easy. But it's funny, in the manual it says it almost in 2 lines, remove front beam, then remove 4 bolts. It's thru, that's all that's to it, but the front beam can take some time... But Honda is great, bolts that are 13 year old come out easily and look like new.