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I've read some posts on the air conditioning in our Civics not being as cold as we'd all like it to be. When I first got my car it seemed to work very well. Lately though the A/C doesn't seem as cold. I know I should check for leaks. But I am curious, how often do people usually have their A/C recharged?

 
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Logically the system should never have to be recharged because the system shouldn't leak, but as we know in the real world this doesn't hold water. Before you take your car in to have the A/C checked, put a thermometer in the A/C vent with the settings on coldest, fan on high, and the recurclate button on. After a few minutes check the temp, it should be blowing around 60° F out the vents. If not you may need a small amount of R-134a, but there are alot of other things to check for such as:is the condenser fan working? Is the condenser free of a lot of leaves or bugs, is the clutch on the compressor ingaging properly. Also you must take note that a Civics A/C system only holds 1.1 to 1.2 lbs. of R-134a, which is a little more than a can, so if you do need a shot of R-134a I dought you'll need more than a ½ lbs. so make sure who ever services your system knows this.

When I was a A/C mechanic here in Florida we had a lot of complants about A/C systems not getting cold enough. It turns out that 80% of the cars were fine but that the hot weather puts a strain on the systems. If you have a Black car with a dark interior this will also take much longer to cool the interior down.

 
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Thanks for the info! [IMG]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/IMG]

 
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Yep, my wife is always complaining about my a/c not being cold enough. I have a black car and the dark interior. Sometimes it is bad though. I usually have to run it full blast constantly to keep the car cool. I miss my 00 accord with the auto climate control. That baby had a lovely a/c system.

 
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i just test drove the 1.7EL, basically the same thing as the Civic EX.
man...i had to turn on the A/C full blast for like 20 mins just to cool the whole car down. Is this due to the small amount of R-134a in the civic?
Since like corolla cools the car faster in my opinion.

 
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I Always drive with my windows open for the first 5 minutes..with the A/C on..this way stagnant heat radiating from interior will get cooled from the air passing through..then the A/C Gets cold fast... if I keep the windows up and let the a/c do all the work..I get sweatty before the car cools..it;s a civic.. not a bimmer or mercedes..don't expect miracles in temperature control

 
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My sister had a 5th and now a 6th gen civic. The a/c system in both worked(s) much better than mine. They're not bimmers but that is certainly not an excuse for such a poor system.

 
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Living here in TX, I know that even the best of A/C systems can have it tough in the summer. When I saw the Taffeta White LX on the dealer's lot, I said "that's the one!" All in all, my A/C has performed pretty well during the summer so far, although the high-humidity days challenge the system. [IMG]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/IMG]

 
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I agree, I live in the Tampa area and it was extremely humid yesterday and it hit 101° a record, (I think), anyway my car was parked outside with no shade. I got in it at 2 o'clock in the afternoon, it was really hot, even with a windshield sunshade. Rolled the windows down turned the A/C on full blast with the reciculate off for 2 minutes,(timed it on my clock). Rolled the windows back up turned the reciculate on and turned the fan down a bit and with in 2 more minutes it was chillin' nice. I think the A/C works great, and I have a Black car, but tinted windows do help.

Just a FYI for anyone: A/C systems are designed to pull humidity out of the air, the less humidity in the air with higher temps will take a A/C system much longer to cool down. That why they measure A/C performance by the number of BTU's (British Thermal Units) pulled out of the air.

 
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It's not just our Civics that seem to have slower AC systems these days. I hear a lot of similar complaints about the AC on other subcompact and compact cars coming out now. So don't worry about it too much.

 
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I think the main problem is that the systems are SOOO much smaller than a few years ago. 5 years ago a average system held about 3 lbs. of R-134a now its much less, in fact, the Civics system only holds 1.1 to 1.2 lbs. of R-134a. This info is right out of the Honda Civic service manual.