gulzarh

i would like to repair ac system by my self with your helps guys. ask me whatever you wand to know to help me i will answer you all.
i just know little bit about mechanic and how ac system work by watching videos on YouTube.
i have order online low and high pressures hoses with gauge and one temperature gun. to Watch pressure and temperature.
when i turn ON the ac it cool for one or two min around after that no cool air at all. i can see the compressor pully is running. what can be the problem?

ezone

Obtain and connect low and high side gauge set,

with the system operating, set system to
high fan speed
max cold
engine at about 2000 RPM

obtain pressure readings
Note what the pressures are when you first turn the system on and it cools, and note again what the pressures are doing when the system stops cooling.
Note ambient temperature and humidity during the tests.

Report your findings

gulzarh

this is what i want someone ask me.
i have order everthing online as soon as i receive them i will check/note and share with you guys here.
thanks

in case there is leak, what uv dye and light should i buy? i have seen many on eBay amazon but not sure which to buy

ezone

More than half of the AC problems I deal with at work are strictly electrical, not lost freon.

I know you said the pulley is still spinning, but it will spin because the belt drives the pulley as long as the engine runs......Can you discern if the compressor clutch stays engaged when the system quits cooling? Or is it disengaged at the time it stops cooling?

gulzarh

yeah the compressor clutch is spinning also and i check the freon is not lost. every piece is working mechanically but i am still getting regular air. but i will give all the detail very soon as soon i receive my items. i am very excited to repair it by my self.
do you know which uv dye and light i should buy for this vehicle?

ezone

Too many options available, and what we use in the shop may not be what's available to a consumer.
We use a fluorescent yellow colored dye
A consumer might have to buy R134 with dye already in it.

DO NOT use sealant of any kind....because if a pro ever needs to service the system the sealant can and will ruin the expensive recovery machine, if it gets inside it.

Any blacklight will 'illuminate' fluorescent dye. Sometimes you just about need to use it in the dark though, and that can make it a little tough.

Dye is not an immediate leak finder either. It has to leak out before it can be found, and since it is carried in the system oil the system has to run in order to circulate the oil and dye.
If it took your car 16 years to leak enough refrigerant to become a performance problem, it might be a dang long time (years!) before dye could show up on the outside of the system.

Some lights are more directional than others. That helps IMO

LED units aren't true blacklight spectrum (or they weren't just a few years ago, maybe they have reached that point now), but close enough to work and many kits come with yellow glasses that really help you see the dye if it's there and the blacklight is shining on it.

gulzarh

i am still waiting to receive my equippement to give you all detail i can.

i went to see a mechanic, he use the pump to take out all the refrigernt/air/moisture etc.. about 15min, then he put refrigerant AND dye also. on the spot i have check the leak with his uv lamp but didn't see anything. he said to wait around one week. i have order my own light so i will check with this when i will receive it.

one week after adding r134a to system, i see with gauge on low pressure side and it is still there the pressure is around 25psi in the blue area, between green and Brown area on the gauge.
ac clutch engage and disengage. i get the cold air also but unly for 5 min around, after that the air is almost like regular outside air or lets say little cold than outside air.

i also noticed today, when i am in city driving at 40km then i get LESS cold air or almost no cold air but when i am on highway driving around 80km i get really cold air like 2 degree celcius.

this morning on the first start of car, i turned ac on, i took the temperature of hose between compressor and condesor and it was 50 degree celcius and between condensor and drier receiver it was around 38 celcius. of course with

ezone

So...was the original charge low? Seems like the recharge did not help the problem at all? Maybe you should find one who can actually diagnose AC problems.
Seems too many out there only recharge the freon and guess at parts to replace.



Well, let's see if this is really an AC problem?
Could be the heater is not completely shut off?


With the AC running, are BOTH radiator fans operating?
Both MUST run whenever the compressor is engaged.

How about....while parked, does the vent temperature get nice and cold if you just rev the engine up to 2000-2500 RPM and hold it there?

18*C (22*F?) drop across the condenser core?......but really you need to state the ambient temperature when you did that check.



Next, check the temp of the larger pipe (low side) at the firewall.

gulzarh

There was no charge at all when i went to see him, there was only pressure so i myself at home before going to see the mechance, i plug the gauge hose on low side and remove all the pressure until non pressure by my self. and when the air was comming out from the system i didn't see any green refrigerant it was just air. so i conclude there was no refrigerant at all inside.

i turned the little **** to blue side at full from red hot side.

yes the both fan work as soon as i put ac on.

yes it give nice temperature but only for few min. actually i never hold at 2500 rmp for five min.
bye the way why hold the rmp to 2000?

by firewall you mean near to heater core?

there is only heater core for heating and for ac or both have their own heater core?

ezone

What was the pressure?


That wasn't air.
Refrigerant is never green. There are leak detection dyes that may be green, but that would have to have been added by a tech at some point in the cars life. The factory didn't install anything like that.

Refrigerant is a gas at atmospheric pressure.

I think you probably wasted all the refrigerant that was in the system.


I did not write 5 min.
What is your engine RPM at 80kmh highway speed?

The firewall is the steel panel (wall) that separates the engine compartment from the passengers compartment (cabin).

Find the AC line that routed from the passengers compartment to the compressor. Feel the temperature of that line nearest the firewall. This can give a clue as to the temperature in the evaporator core.


Air passes through the evaporator core first where it is chilled, then in the next part of the HVAC system that cooled air passes through or around the heater core. If engine antifreeze flow through the heater core is not shut off completely by the water valve, the cold air can pick up a lot of unwanted heat.

gulzarh

i dont remeber the correct pressure i think it should be around 80 100 psi.

i dont think it was r134a because i already in past years loose the refrigerant by my own way and i can see it by puttin my hand and i see it is little little green. but this time i did samething and it was 95% air only.

in my civic dx 01 dashboard, there is no engine rmp panel, it show only output speed.

in other words ac and antifreeze use the same heater core, with different passage in the same heater core. ?
if antifreeze valve is open and ac on, the water will still pass througe the heater core same time refrigerant will passe also by his passge. the both will passes by their passge at sametime right? if so, it mean the half of heater core is cold and half is hot hot.

my Dashboard look like this.

gulzarh

i was driving today about 30min in town using ac at full, my car start heatup and i turn the selector from blue to hot thinking it will circulate the water to cool down engine but it didn't and the needle was touching the redline, than i stop the car for 5min and restart it, there was steam comming outside from bonnet but i was still driving to reach home in 5min, just before reaching home, i hear little explosion the hose broke from th joint of radiator. i mean the metal part broke where the hose is connected with a clamp. reaching at i open the bonnet and green water was everywhere on engine with disconnect hose. now i am ****edup.

i have touched all the hoses everwhere, before / after water closing valve, between engine and radiator to see if the water is circulating or not and all of them were really hot hot hot mean the water is circulating to cool down engine but still in less than 30min it explode. this car should not heatup so easly. i dont know what to do.
today temperature is 30*c.

ezone

Ok so elevate the engine RPM above idle to approximate what it would be at 80kmh road speed.

It's 2 separate cores contained within in the same case assembly.


If you want to visualize what goes on inside the heater housing, you can probably find good diagrams on google image search.

This looks close....



Pic from this thread: https://www.civicforums.com/forums/3...ines-cold.html

ezone

Oh damn.

You're going to have to fix the radiator/hose whatever broke, and refill the system with antifreeze, then determine if there was serious engine damage as a result of overheating (blown head gasket, or worse)

Or a blown head gasket (very common failure) could have led to the current problem as the liquid level in the radiator became too low.

===

Consider this, the engine computer can halt AC operation in the event of engine overheating. Could this have been causing your AC complaint?

gulzarh

i dont know what is wrong i have just headach. i will go to see the mechanic to fix the radiator issue than i will think about ac. i think if i remember correctly, the radiator fan didn't come on when car start overheating. but they alway com on when ac engage.
it is now puzzle for me now. let s see what happen next. thanks

the reason why i accelerate the car in neutral postion two three time when there was red light, that the engine will run faster and ac compressor will spin faster also, so i will get cold air. because when i was on highway yesterday i was getting cold air maybe because i was driving highspeed. so i thought i should accelerate until the light become green and voiila it heatup. even it heatup the radiator should cool it.
anyways thanks to all i will let you know what happen after seeing mechanic.

gulzarh

the radiator is repaird.
there was a check engine light, the code was P0118 Engine Coolant Temperature Sensor Circuit High Input.

it mean i need to change the sensor and thermostat?
if so, where it is located exactly?
thanks

ezone

The mechanic SHOULD have evaluated the sensor operation while the scanner was connected.

Erase fault code. See if the same code returns.

Inspect the coolant temp sensor and its wiring (on top of the housing where the top radiator hose connects to the engine)...maybe someone bumped or unplugged the connector while doing the radiator and hose work

Now that it's been overheated, I'd be surprised if the head gasket isn't blown and the head is warped.
Watch out for the plastic overflow bottle filling, while the radiator level drops.

gulzarh

i am pretty sure it is sensor and radiator fan switch problem. i will buy them online the both with hope it will solve problem forever. i have multi meter, i check the continuty in wiring (radiator fan switch and coolant temperatur sensor) and they both show the continuty very good. i use paper clip on on radiator fan switch and the both fan run correctly. thats why i am saying it should be radiator fan switch problem and sensor, sensor because i have code p0118 witch is for sensor. so i will change the both. maybe thermostat also if i get cheap from somewhere.

i am going to buy this one, it will be ok or i am better to leave the oem and not to change?
14-4042-4 328-170 MotoRad thermostat

ezone

ECT construction is a thermister. That's a temperature controlled variable resistor. It should never have continuity, it should have a certain resistance depending on exact coolant temperature.

ECT high code occurs when the sensor circuit voltage is 4.9 or above (OPEN CIRCUIT).
You should get the same fault code if you have the key on or engine running and unplug the ECT sensor.

Guess what's the most likely way the code set.....

The check engine light may stay on until the code is manually erased....so manually erase the code.
Now see if the code returns.
If it returns, then you definitely have a problem you can chase.
If the code does not return, then it could have been set by accident.


P0118 code has nothing to do with the radiator fan switch nor thermostat.
It is strictly related to the ECT sensor for the computer.
That's not saying the fan switch and/or thermostat can't have problems of their own, I'm only saying the P0118 code is not caused by or related to either of those items.

gulzarh

i check with his wire and there was continuty, when i checked the sensor on ohms position, it was showing Something 0.355, my engine was hot at this time

gulzarh

what it does mean, i didnt catch at all. please explain like you are talking to child. thaks

ezone

It means you might not need a sensor at all.

I'm trying to get you to figure out if it really has a problem before just throwing money at it needlessly.

gulzarh

i saw many videos on YouTube about that code and everybody has changed the sensor.
you think there is too much voltage in the sensor?
ps. i also have this code.
p1457 unknown diagnostic trouble code

ezone

P1457 is an EVAP system code. Should be unrelated to the overheat problem. Was the check engine light on before the radiator exploded?

The P0118 could have been set if someone turned the key on while the sensor was unplugged.

How many times has the car been driven since the codes were discovered?




Instructions:
1-Erase all codes from the computer.
2-Start the engine and watch the check engine light.
3- If it stays on, read the fault codes again and see what code it has stored.
4-If the light stays off, drive the car for a while.
5-If the P0118 code returns (CEL turns on while driving and has the P0118 code again), THEN you may need to replace the sensor.




If the evap code is going to return it may take a couple days of driving to get it to set.

gulzarh

Honestly i always have check engine light since we bought it more than 4 years now.

yes i remember to start the car while the sensor was unplugged it is now 3 months i think.

i just discoverd the code today.

the overheating problem is more than 2 years. it already happen few time with me in the town, highway.

ezone

That's not good.


Are you ready to spend $1000-1500 to fix the blown head gasket/warped cylinder head?

The cost of installing a new sensor will be tiny compared to the big job that's most likely needed immediately.

gulzarh

the total value of my car is 1500$, why i should pay for headgasket, no way,
so you think i should by the sensor ?

gulzarh

if so i am confused which of these should i buy?

eBay item number: 322114218143
eBay item number: 322550540758
eBay item number: 262968171406

ezone

If you blow up the engine, the car is nearly worthless.

gulzarh

the car working fine. no sound, just want to solve overheating sh**