Rep Power: 253

Well the a/c began blowing hot and i checked the r-134(alternative freon) with a gauge and it was low, i refilled it and it lasted for about a day before it ran out again. Got a friend of my who works on a/c to look at it and he told me about the hole in the condenser. The condenser got cracked from a rock or some kinda of road debris so i got the new one and Im about to install it. N e thing i gotta be aware of before the isntall?

I also installed a DIY homedepot grill ($4 mesh) between the fog lights to keep those rocks from hitting my condenser and messing it up again.

Thats a bad design flaw on hondas part leaving the condenser exposed like that.

 
Rep Power: 262

Are you going to do this at home? If you are, without a recovering machine, it is illegal. You cannot release the R-134a into the atmosphere, it is very harmful to the environment. Take it to a licensed shop for them to change it because you will need to do a system leak check after they install the new condenser.

And also, this is not a bad design flaw. If you look at any other car manufacturer, they have thier condensers located right at the opening (which is what it is made for). It needs to be in the front to exchange all the hot refrigerant in the system. You can probably cover it up but you will feel a significant difference one you've blocked the air passage.

 
Rep Power: 313

Do it in your driveway. Its illegal, yes. Like everything else most of us do isnt illegal. lol. When I had to swap my motor...I just emptied it out myself and went and bought a recharge kit and it works like magic. A shop will charge you at LEAST $100 just to evacuate the system. Besides, if you have a leak, theres not much left in there and the shop will charge you up the *** to recharge it. DIY. Just be careful, theyre really high pressure lines, but if you have a leak, it may not be so bad. Its really not hard though.

 
Rep Power: 253

yea im gonna do it at home...but the system is already empty. i said in my earlier post that my friend checked it out for me, he had the recovery machine which emptied it before he looked at it he only charged my 35bucks and he refilled it aswell but it ran out again as expected and i dont feel like paying to have the condenser installed. These shops around here act as if there retarded the guy my friend was working with didnt even know how to get off the bumper! i dont want people messing with my car and messing up my car especially these mechanic shops, they suck.

and as for the design flaw i was talkin about, i didnt mean having the condenser to the front was a problem i meant they should of atleast had there own grill in place to stop rocks from cracking it. Alot of the 8thgen civics are having this problem to. It aint a problem tho i built my own.

 
Rep Power: 263

hmmm u more info plz and pics im sure alot more people have the same problem and are probably lazy to research this.... And how much is a new conderser and lemme see ur mess setup plz i was thinking about this after i DIYed my fogs with black mess or mess sprayed black =D

 
Rep Power: 253

mess?? whats that haha i ment the shops around here f**k up(mess up) your car. the new condenser i got from majestic honda was like 140 or something but if you shop around u can get it much cheaper.