Rep Power: 0

2006 Honda Ex, Orlando, FL.

I have a 2 issues.

First, is the blower motor. A month or so ago, I got in the car (blazin' hot outside) and no air was blowing. I thought it was the big one, where I'd need to actually go get it worked on. I turned it off, on, moved the cooling dial, defrost, recirc, mode, etc... Anyway, half way home, it finally kicked on. I was just grateful and thought it was the hot day and my car is 10 years old.

It happened again the other day and upon reading some posts saw one saying tap/bump/hit under the glove box and wa-la, it started blowing air. So, I'm pretty sure that means the motor is starting to go from age/wear. I saw some posts about the blower motor resistor, but I don't think that is the problem because I can adjust the speed with no problem. I just wanted to know what you all thought.

Second, it seems to take a while to cool down. After I drive for 10-15+ minutes or so, it seems to cool down quickly, but that first 10-15 minutes it is not very cool. In the mornings/night, it is no problem cooling down quickly, but on those hot Florida afternoons, it seems to take longer than it should... Does that sound like low coolant? Or compressor going bad?

I plan on taking it in to get a quick test on the system, but I wanted to see what the experts thought about the issue so I wouldn't be completely at the mercy of the mechanic...

Thanks,
Michael

 
Rep Power: 141

The blower motor may well be going bad as you suspect. Check all of the AC line connection points, leaking ones usually leave an oily residue that then gathers dirt. It is likely low on Freon, I have had my system recharged once and it too could use a boost as it isn't cooling as well as it should. Fortunately the hot Texas summer is finally waining. Have you been changing your in cabin air filter regularly, from memory every 15-20K miles, this affects the amount of air flow if the filter is dirty?

 
Rep Power: 517

I'd agree on the blower motor being bad. If you can smack the motor and that gets it to start running, it's bad.

-----------------------------

As for the length of time it takes to cool down an interior that's at about 180 degrees (yes it can be) after sitting in the sun, that may be normal.

It's not so much that the AC is not working right, it's that the interior has a whole bunch of heat that has to be dissipated..

Roll all the windows down to let heat out for a while, drive a ways before rolling the windows up, let the interior shed about 100 degrees so the AC doesn't have to work so dang hard.

The AC systems in the cars are small, actually undersized in most cases....AND the cycling temperature may be a few degrees higher than some other cars....all done with the intent of getting a little better gas mileage.

A dark colored car may absorb sun heat load faster than the AC can take that heat out of the car.
A dark colored interior absorbs a whole lot of heat too.


Stick a thermometer in a middle dash vent and see how cold it gets, after the point you say it gets reasonably cool (15 minutes or more).