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A/C quits after 20-30 min

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Old 07-07-2011
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A/C quits after 20-30 min

My A/C blows cold for 20-30 min, but then it will get warm If I turn it off for like 20 min then turn the A/C back on it will work again for another 20 minutes. Wondering what's going on here?
Old 07-07-2011
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Re: A/C quits after 20-30 min

mine is almost doing the same thing...i was told the pressure switch on top of receiver maybe going bad?...does any1 know if i need to evacuate the refrigerant to replace this? 2005 honda civic hybrid
Old 07-08-2011
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Re: A/C quits after 20-30 min

You could try this, I had the same problem with my AC, works fine now, I posted this in another thread:

"I had the same problem with my 01 ex, AC worked for 15 minutes then shut off but would work again after a few minutes if I turned it on again. The issue involves the magnetism with the ac clutch or at least it did for me. The ac clutch doesn't engage/disengage correctly because of it from what I read on another forum. Basically, their is a coil in the ac compressor that engages the ac clutch but over time the gap between the clutch and the coil becomes wider which causes it not to engage the ac clutch correctly. Two shims control the length of the gap and they either need to be filed down or one or both need to be removed as the ac coil gets weaker over time. There is something in the chilton's manual about checking the ac clutch gap.

I think I fixed my problem, my ac stays on now and doesn't start blowing warm air. I've already driven one 1hr trip and to work (40min drive one way) everyday this week so far with it on. It was an easy to fix though, all you have to do is remove one of the shims (washers) when you pull the ac clutch plate off the compressor shaft.

Steps

1) Jack up car, remove the front driver's side wheel. You might have to remove a splash shield if you can't easily see and access the ac compressor.

2) Now you have to remove the ac clutch plate. Its held on by one 14mm bolt onto the ac compressor shaft. You will either have to stick something in one of the holes of the ac compressor clutch to hold it in place (it will spin) or clamp it down. Be gentle with the ac clutch when removing it.

3)Once you have the AC compressor plate removed, you might see two black washers on the shaft, if not, you have to reach down to grab them from resting along the bottom of the shaft. They are like less than 10mm in diameter and very small.

4)All I did was just remove one and put the one back in its place on the shaft. Reinstalled the ac clutch, put the wheel back on, and turned the ac on. It works now which is pretty great since I haven't had a working ac system in a car since 2008 lol. Best thing, Cost to fix $0 and 10 minutes of my time.

If this doesn't fix the issue, it could either be the temperature sensor on the compressor or an evaporator issue (freeze up)."
Old 07-11-2011
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Re: A/C quits after 20-30 min

So the same night that I asked about the A/C, all of a sudden all of my gauges went down to zero and my parking brake light went on (it wasn't) and my driver side power lock doesn't work. This freaked me out but I did some searching on here and I'm hoping that all these problems are being caused by the multiplex. It's going back to the dealer tonight that I just bought it from so they can fix whatever is going wrong.
Old 07-11-2011
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Re: A/C quits after 20-30 min

^^ Yeah, sounds like a bad MCU. It's built into the under-dash fuse/relay box so, it's gonna be expensive to replace.
Old 07-12-2011
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Re: A/C quits after 20-30 min

Dealer that I bought it from is fixing it because it was obviously an intermittent issue before I bought it. The weird thing is that from everything I've read-nobody's seems to be intermittently working. My A/C and power locks are permanent not working, but the gauges happen maybe 3 times per hour of driving and stay down for 5 min. Just got rid of old car so I wouldnt have these problems
Old 07-14-2011
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Re: A/C quits after 20-30 min

My A/C quits after 20-30 min as well. I'll check out the clutch shims though. What if it's not that, what's the next most likely candidate?

Or is the 20-30 minute thing blatantly pointing to the magnetic field on the clutch?
Old 07-14-2011
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Re: A/C quits after 20-30 min

Originally Posted by 01cpe
You could try this, I had the same problem with my AC, works fine now, I posted this in another thread:



1) Jack up car, remove the front driver's side wheel. You might have to remove a splash shield if you can't easily see and access the ac compressor.

2) Now you have to remove the ac clutch plate. Its held on by one 14mm bolt onto the ac compressor shaft. You will either have to stick something in one of the holes of the ac compressor clutch to hold it in place (it will spin) or clamp it down. Be gentle with the ac clutch when removing it.

3)Once you have the AC compressor plate removed, you might see two black washers on the shaft, if not, you have to reach down to grab them from resting along the bottom of the shaft. They are like less than 10mm in diameter and very small.

4)All I did was just remove one and put the one back in its place on the shaft. Reinstalled the ac clutch, put the wheel back on, and turned the ac on. It works now which is pretty great since I haven't had a working ac system in a car since 2008 lol. Best thing, Cost to fix $0 and 10 minutes of my time.

If this doesn't fix the issue, it could either be the temperature sensor on the compressor or an evaporator issue (freeze up)."
I assume this involves removing (or loosening) the belt? That's a key piece of information to have up front.
Does the whole clutch come off? or just the piece on the outer side of it?
Old 07-18-2011
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Re: A/C quits after 20-30 min

nobody? really?
Old 07-18-2011
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Re: A/C quits after 20-30 min

Sorry, just got back to this...
I would've attempted what you said, but the dealer I bought it from fixed it for free. They replaced the condenser, compressor, and the fusebox. I'm pretty sure the problem was the fuse box (this with other multiplex issues) but I guess I'll never know. Thanks though!
Old 06-20-2015
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Re: A/C quits after 20-30 min

Originally Posted by 01cpe
You could try this, I had the same problem with my AC, works fine now, I posted this in another thread:

"I had the same problem with my 01 ex, AC worked for 15 minutes then shut off but would work again after a few minutes if I turned it on again. The issue involves the magnetism with the ac clutch or at least it did for me. The ac clutch doesn't engage/disengage correctly because of it from what I read on another forum. Basically, their is a coil in the ac compressor that engages the ac clutch but over time the gap between the clutch and the coil becomes wider which causes it not to engage the ac clutch correctly. Two shims control the length of the gap and they either need to be filed down or one or both need to be removed as the ac coil gets weaker over time. There is something in the chilton's manual about checking the ac clutch gap.

I think I fixed my problem, my ac stays on now and doesn't start blowing warm air. I've already driven one 1hr trip and to work (40min drive one way) everyday this week so far with it on. It was an easy to fix though, all you have to do is remove one of the shims (washers) when you pull the ac clutch plate off the compressor shaft.

Steps

1) Jack up car, remove the front driver's side wheel. You might have to remove a splash shield if you can't easily see and access the ac compressor.

2) Now you have to remove the ac clutch plate. Its held on by one 14mm bolt onto the ac compressor shaft. You will either have to stick something in one of the holes of the ac compressor clutch to hold it in place (it will spin) or clamp it down. Be gentle with the ac clutch when removing it.

3)Once you have the AC compressor plate removed, you might see two black washers on the shaft, if not, you have to reach down to grab them from resting along the bottom of the shaft. They are like less than 10mm in diameter and very small.

4)All I did was just remove one and put the one back in its place on the shaft. Reinstalled the ac clutch, put the wheel back on, and turned the ac on. It works now which is pretty great since I haven't had a working ac system in a car since 2008 lol. Best thing, Cost to fix $0 and 10 minutes of my time.

If this doesn't fix the issue, it could either be the temperature sensor on the compressor or an evaporator issue (freeze up)."
Old 06-26-2015
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Re: A/C quits after 20-30 min

I did the below...

1. Removed Wheel & Splash Guard to access the clutch.

2. REMOVE Clutch Plate >>> Got a universal AC clutch tool - which was useless to me, as it only wasted time in trying to hold the clutch plate. At last, i used an impact driver & the nut came off very easily - Try the same & save yourself a lot of time.

3. Cleaned thoroughly inside & out (be careful with the tiny washers inside the clutch plate).

4. Put everything back. Been driving it for 2 days now. AC doesn't stop as it used to before. Will check for few more days & let you all know if it dies again (i will change the clutch, if so).

No harm in trying this... Its free of cost rather spending $400-$600 to replace the clutch. Could be temporary too, but worth the savings !

Thanks.
Old 07-16-2016
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Re: A/C quits after 20-30 min

great fix guys. i did as instructed and cleaned up the parts and left the lil black washers out and it works great.

here are my pics.
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Old 07-28-2017
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Re: A/C quits after 20-30 min

Originally Posted by 01cpe
You could try this, I had the same problem with my AC, works fine now, I posted this in another thread:

"I had the same problem with my 01 ex, AC worked for 15 minutes then shut off but would work again after a few minutes if I turned it on again. The issue involves the magnetism with the ac clutch or at least it did for me. The ac clutch doesn't engage/disengage correctly because of it from what I read on another forum. Basically, their is a coil in the ac compressor that engages the ac clutch but over time the gap between the clutch and the coil becomes wider which causes it not to engage the ac clutch correctly. Two shims control the length of the gap and they either need to be filed down or one or both need to be removed as the ac coil gets weaker over time. There is something in the chilton's manual about checking the ac clutch gap.

I think I fixed my problem, my ac stays on now and doesn't start blowing warm air. I've already driven one 1hr trip and to work (40min drive one way) everyday this week so far with it on. It was an easy to fix though, all you have to do is remove one of the shims (washers) when you pull the ac clutch plate off the compressor shaft.

Steps

1) Jack up car, remove the front driver's side wheel. You might have to remove a splash shield if you can't easily see and access the ac compressor.

2) Now you have to remove the ac clutch plate. Its held on by one 14mm bolt onto the ac compressor shaft. You will either have to stick something in one of the holes of the ac compressor clutch to hold it in place (it will spin) or clamp it down. Be gentle with the ac clutch when removing it.

3)Once you have the AC compressor plate removed, you might see two black washers on the shaft, if not, you have to reach down to grab them from resting along the bottom of the shaft. They are like less than 10mm in diameter and very small.

4)All I did was just remove one and put the one back in its place on the shaft. Reinstalled the ac clutch, put the wheel back on, and turned the ac on. It works now which is pretty great since I haven't had a working ac system in a car since 2008 lol. Best thing, Cost to fix $0 and 10 minutes of my time.

If this doesn't fix the issue, it could either be the temperature sensor on the compressor or an evaporator issue (freeze up)."
I really didn't think this would work, but it did. Very easy job. Just slightly harder than getting the wheel off. Thanks!
Old 07-28-2017
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Re: A/C quits after 20-30 min

[QUOTE=idaluz28;4728255]I really didn't think this would work, but it did. Very easy job. Very greatful for this tip. Garage wanted 500 dollars to replace the AC clutch assy.
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