AC suddenly started blowing in warm air

[Sahar Choudhury]

Had my 95 Honda Accord Automatic re-gassed. AC worked great for day and a half. On 2nd day, stopped car after a drive. About 10 mins later started the car and now the AC only blows in warm air. I have fiddled with all knobs etc but to no avail. Any ideas?

regards
sahar London, UK

 

[TL]

You don't say why you had it recharged. Was it working before? If it wasn't getting cold enough before, you may have been low on the gas as a result of a leak. Perhaps recharging has made that more pronounced as a result of repressurizing the system.

Or it could something simpler like knocking a wire loose on the compressor that finally fell off after a couple of days of driving.

 

[Sahar Choudhury]

You don't say why you had it recharged. Was it working before? If it wasn't getting cold enough before, you may have been low on the gas as

I bought the car second hand and the air conditioner was blowing only slightly cool air. Inspection of the AC system by a AC mechanic showed it was empty - i watched him pump 650 cc of AC coolant into the system

the compressor does come on when AC is turned on - i have checked this

Also, theres a little upright metal canister under the bonnet with a glass spy hole on top connected to the AC, when I turn it on, i see fluid and bubbles running through ?

 

[Nick (archive)]

If the bubbles are large that would tend to indicate low refrigerant pressure. Under normal circumstances you should hardly see any bubbles. You most likely have a leak somewhere in your system.

Nick

 

[Joe and Ruth Levy]

I bought the car second hand and the air conditioner was blowing only slightly cool air. Inspection of the AC system by a AC mechanic showed it was empty - i watched him pump 650 cc of AC coolant into the system

the compressor does come on when AC is turned on - i have checked this

Also, theres a little upright metal canister under the bonnet with a glass spy hole on top connected to the AC, when I turn it on, i see fluid and bubbles running through ?

Good chance that there is a leak in the system. The new planet-friendly refrigerant, which replaces old Freon on any cars model year '94 and later, is a much smaller molecule, which means it can leak out very quickly through minor leaks which could require weeks or months to drain the system with the old Freon. The system should be checked very carefully for leaks before another recharging.

 

[George Macdonald]

I bought the car second hand and the air conditioner was blowing only slightly cool air. Inspection of the AC system by a AC mechanic showed it was empty - i watched him pump 650 cc of AC coolant into the system

the compressor does come on when AC is turned on - i have checked this

Also, theres a little upright metal canister under the bonnet with a glass spy hole on top connected to the AC, when I turn it on, i see fluid and bubbles running through ?

Do you know if your car has R-12 or R-134a refrigerant? It should be marked somewhere under the bonnet. In the U.S. the changeover years were 1993/4 but I'm not sure if that was the case for the U.K.

With the old R-12 refrigerant, when the A/C compressor is running there should be no bubbles in the sight glass at all under normal conditions of temperature where A/C is normally used - that was the easy check for refrigerant level in the system.

With the new R-134a, I'm not sure what is considered normal. I understand that there is less liquid phase in the system, than with R-12, so *some* bubbles may be normal. It's not such a reliable check as it used to be which is why most mfrs no longer fit the receiver/dryer with a sight glass.

Does the A/C cycle on and off too quickly or does it just run and yet not provide sufficient cooling? It's possible that the A/C mechanic added refrigerant with some fluorescent indicator in it which would allow tracing any leaks you might have.

Rgds, George Macdonald

"Just because they're paranoid doesn't mean you're not psychotic" - Who, me??

 

[Kevin McMurtrie]

I bought the car second hand and the air conditioner was blowing only slightly cool air. Inspection of the AC system by a AC mechanic showed it was empty - i watched him pump 650 cc of AC coolant into the system

the compressor does come on when AC is turned on - i have checked this

Also, theres a little upright metal canister under the bonnet with a glass spy hole on top connected to the AC, when I turn it on, i see fluid and bubbles running through ?

Turn the AC on, the fan fully on, and hold the engine at driving RPM (~2500 RPM) for one minute. The glass should be clear or foggy. The presence of bubbles indicates a low charge. Now drop the engine RPM down to idle. Some bubbles may swirl through every now and then. If they don't, it might be overcharged.

Also check the stickers for the refrigerant type. R-12 coolant is banned and a mechanical modification may be required for use with R-134a.

 

[Sahar Choudhury]

Thanks to ALL of you for all your tips and advice

i shall follow them through, much appreciated

sahar

PS. my car uses the new gas