huskerfoos

Yesterday, my wife and oldest son took our car into the Honda dealership for them to fix the airbag recall issue. On the way home, my wife let me know she thought the air wasn't working properly. So, used the car this morning to go to work, ad sure enough, hardly any cool air.

I checked here, and found a couple of things to check. Made sure the fans were coming on, compressor was coming on and the clutch was engaging. So, I went and rented a manifold set. Hooked it up and showed 175-180 on the high side, but the dial didn't even move on the low side. So, I unhooked it again and checked, same thing.

What are my options from here? Is there anything else I can check?

Surely there was nothing done yesterday to cause this, right?

thanks
JJ

ezone

What pressure is that?

Does the gauge set actually work at all? Try it on a different car with working AC?

huskerfoos

I did not have another vehicle at the time to check it on. But, I may try that again tomorrow, it was a rental from oreilly and I have already returned it.
But, I did swap the line over to the high side on the gauge, and it still did not register anything.

EDIT The needle was at 2lbs of pressure. I noticed it never moving after I unhooked it the 1st time to check and make sure I had it seated on the valve.

ezone

Gauge or valve was broken. At rest and cool the system should have shown equal pressure (roughly equal to ambient) on both sides.
Abort, retry?

huskerfoos

Thanks ezone. I tried 2 stores today that didn't offer the gauge set to be rented out. I have a friend that sells at Acura and is supposed to get me with their tech there and get it on the machine. He was off today.

Is there any reason they would have damaged something inside changing out that airbag? Just curious because it is just too coincidental. That, and whoever took my car back, scratched it on one of their lifts(?) I know this because we have already set up times for it to be repainted.

thanks
JJ

ezone

Absolutely not, had everything gone smoothly. None of us know what really happened though.

I can't picture a good reason to touch the AC system other than seeing if it worked ----maybe while driving the car across the parking lot......or I might run the AC while working inside it doing the airbag recall because it's 475*F inside after sitting in the blazing sun for an hour.
Well, **** happens sometimes.

If their service employee(s) did cause this damage and (the service manager, perhaps?) stepped up to take care of it (that's a good thing).....but what or who actually caused it? What really happened?
Could the person responsible for this have also done something to the AC? Talk to the service manager (or whomever decided to take care of the scratches) about it?

huskerfoos

I agree, and what little I could find didn't seem to show where they would have either. But, I am, bar far, not an expert.

Yes, as soon as it happened, they let my wife know, and then called me. And I told him I appreciated everything. I am not someone looking for something free. My car is 8 years old, and has seen its fair share of dings, but, it did leave a hefty scratch on the rocker panel, and the mirror has a big gouge that I do need to ask about. I didn't notice it until I was on the phone with the body shop.

thank you for your time replying. Hope to have some cheap news tomorrow.

JJ

huskerfoos

OK, the image below is from today. What I had previously must have been a faulty gauge. It showed 32 LOW and 145 HIGH.

One thing I noticed tho, is my compressor never kicked off. That's a first for me to realize, and I was out there for a good 10 minutes after the 15 or so I let the gauge read its pressures. After I unhooked my gauge, I tapped the relay thinking, maybe if it can engage, maybe it will disengage, it didn't. BUT, I noticed that my low side jumped to 60. Sp, I am confused about that, and it may very well not have a thing to do with any of it.

The tech that is supposed to hook up to his machine is out on vacation, so will be early next week before I get it on.
PIC for PROOF I may have done it right this time

ezone

High side looks low but there are many variables to take into account before saying that. What's ambient temp at that time? Humidity? RPM? Fan speed?

Lost freon, low charge? Add some?

Did someone take a little freon out while the car was in the shop ---trying to generate some easy work for themselves? Hmmm. [drums fingers on toolbox drawer] You just said you unhooked the gauge. You UNHOOKED the gauge. As in, it is not connected to the AC system anymore.

If it's not getting cold enough, it will not cycle. It's only supposed to cycle once the evaporator core gets down to the mid 30s or thereabouts so the core doesn't freeze up. Kicks on again a few degrees higher than turn off point.

huskerfoos

OK, Sorry, I had not unhooked it yet. I have no idea why I put that.

After I posted my last post, I took the car for a drive. Mainly to see if it was cycling I guess? Well, the air ran cold the entire time I was in the car. Probably 20 minutes or so. I did hear it cycle off 2 times. I even put my thermometer in the vent to left of radio, and it read high at 58, and fluctuated down to as low as 48. Staying steady a good bit at 57ish.

Temp here is saying 78. Was just at a regular idle.

thanks
JJ

ezone

78 isn't hot, system shouldn't have to work hard to cool.....145psi is still low though. Probably needs freon.



When it works right I'd probably expect to see mid 40s or lower from the dash vents while driving steady highway speed (system on recirculate) with about a 5 deg variation as the system cycles the compressor off and on (fast reacting digital thermometer or thermocouple)

huskerfoos

had my trusty meat thermometer in there.

anyways, I will see how it goes for a little while. I hope to not have to come back and ask for more help.

thank you for your time
JJ