Rep Power: 0

Just got a 2004 civic hybrid 1.3L and the A/C didn't work so I just wanted to share how I fixed it since there was no info anywhere online for the 1.3 engine.

Original Issue: No A/C and the clutch didn't engauge at all. Turns out theres a thermal protection sensor on top of the A/C compressor that goes bad. Cut the wires and just put the two together to bypass it and bam, problem seemed to be solved, blowing ice cold perfect AC.

Second Issue. After that the A/C was working fine for a few days, then it started intermittently cutting out. After about 5-10 mins of run time the A/C would just all of a sudden start blowing cold and the compressor would disengauge. I would continue driving maybe 20 mins or so and randomly it would just come back on and stay on for 5 mins or so and continue that cycle. Turns out the A/C clutch magnet was shot. It would work fine for 10 mins and then the windings inside the magnet would short out once they got hot probably.
Now at this point if you don't have the proper tools to change the magnet out then just get a new complete compressor with the clutch and all already installed and call it a day. Cost is about $170 on www.rockauto.com. You will need to vacuum and recharge the system if you go this route.

Now, if you are cheap and eat your cereal with a fork to save milk, then you can get away with just replacing the magnet on your compressor. I found a brand new one on ebay for about $50. For some reason Ebay was the only place I could find this part but I guess you could search for Sanden TRSA09 Coil or Magnet and maybe find it idk?

Take the passenger wheel and wheel well off to make room and you don't even have to unbolt the compressor or discharge the system to do this repair. Only special tool you will need is a cheap set of two or three jaw pullers, and a set of snap ring pliers from harbor freight. Unbolt the clutch nut off the front of the compressor, pull the clutch off, remove the snap ring holding the coil to the body of the compressor and replace. Snake the old wire through or reroute your new one over if you are lazy and dont want to f with pulling old wires out. You may have to splice your old coil plug onto your new coil, my new one was ever so slightly different, use good water proof butt connectors for that and zip tie your wires up nice and safe.

Thats it, A/C runs non stop no problem now.

heres a link to the AC compressor Sanden Service Manual, its for this style of compressor and shows how to pull the clutch and coil off. Its not exaclty the same but the procedure is: https://www.sanden.com/objects/TR%20...e%20Manual.pdf