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Hi all,

My a/c was working intermittently for the past year and I decided to get her done and fix it. I debugged the problem by looking at the a/c schematic; measured continuity on the A/C pressure sensor (the two leads right on top of the a/c drier once you remove the connector).

It was then obvious that the problem was the thermal protector right on top of the a/c compressor. To confirm that it really was the problem, I undid the wire harness that splits and leads to the thermal switch and then using an alligator clip and two small hairpins, punched tiny minuscule holes in the wire red & smaller blue/white wires to short them and effectively bypass the sensor. I did this while the car was turned on and a/c button pushed in and bang it started -- problem found.

It's quite a b*tch to get to that sensor. As described in most of the diy's, I had to:

1. undo the p/s pump and set it aside (remove a nut at the bottom, slack the wingnut, remove another nut at the top)

2. remove the driver's side wheel and undo 2 plastic clips to get access to the alternator nuts

3. remove the alternator nuts & bolts (look at the diy's)

Some of the bolts were seized right in and ended up making a loud bang when slacking off. The adjuster wingnut of the alternator was literally seized/rusted in the mechanism (a wingnut really? stupid honda engineers...); I couldn't turn it while it was in the car. Once the alternator was out, I took the mechanism out and heated it up with a torch to be able to unseize it.

Also, the stupid *ss thermal protector connector was a pain to disconnect; you're supposed to push on the clamp and push it down. I ended up prying it out with a flat screw driver (prying between the male/female parts of the connector) from the fender wheel opening. Lame.

Pried out the old & rusted out thermal sensor out of its hole, used a bit of permatex black gasket silicon (high temp resistance) and put the new one in (remove the black plastic cap on the new one obviously). Put everything back together and works like a charm.

Thanks to everyone for all the diy's, saved me a couple $ and learnt a few tricks in the process. Ask away if you need more info.

Cheers

 
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So I have been pondering the problem of removing the thermal protector for a few days while waiting for Majestic Honda to ship me the part. I came across your post and decided that there was no need to be dainty with the old protector since it wasn't functioning properly anyway soooo...I took a slightly different approach...I removed the exhaust pipe heat shield from the front of the engine and the air intake to provide a little more access to the protector. Then I used a little bit of judicious tapping and prying to allow me to rotate the protector (to break the silicone seal which was holding it) and eventually I was able to get a needle nose vise grip to grab hold of the copper edge of the protector. I had to crack the top of the protector in the process to get some clearance but it is out and the hole is nicely cleaned out and ready for the new protector which arrived today...Thanks for the input. BTW My vehicle is a 1991 Honda Civic LX...love it...