Rep Power: 0

Hi all...new here. Have a 2007 Civic EX. Ac will be working fine when I get in it but when I'm driving in traffic with many stops on very hot days, it will stop blowing cool air. It never comes back to blowing cool until after the car sits for a very long time, sometimes over night.

I did do one check: Turned car on, turned fan on only, then clicked ac button. I do hear the compressor kick in and try to cool but, it just never does. Fan is working fine and blowing fine, just blowing hot air. I've noticed that on cooler summer days ac will work ok even in traffic.

I made an appt at the dealer to have it diagnosed but it is $102. Of course they apply that towards the repair cost if I do the repair within 30 days. If the cost is beyond $500, I won't be able to so looking for anything else I can try before taking it in to diagnose so that I know whether to take it in or wait.

thanks in advance

 
Rep Power: 518

Need a few more observations, a little more than just listening:

If the compressor clutch is still engaged when it's not cooling well, AND both radiator fans are running....I'd guess it may be low on freon.
That's a whole set of possible issues in and of itself, figuring out where the lost freon went and correcting that issue.

If the compressor clutch is DISengaged at the times it does not cool, then that's a different problem.
Several more possibilities.
At that point I'd want to know if the radiator fans are still running or not, and I'd want to know what the engine coolant temperature is .....as seen by the PCM, read on a scanner data list. I'd also see the AC request data and the AC clutch relay control data in the same scanner data. (If the engine is running too hot, the AC system will be disabled by the PCM).

Once I have this data then I'd be able to make my next diagnostic decision (if this was in my bay in the shop).