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Air Con Compressor

crespo

TAF Member
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Location
Bournemouth
Car
Accord EX 2.0 i-vtec
I was driving along the M3 last week with the climate on and noticed that it suddenly stopped so i ***umed it had run out of gas so thought to myself i would get it re gassed at the weekend.

After going to a air con guy who took a look at it he came back to me and said my compressor had seized that will be £500 please. Now i would have said fine no problem had i not been using the aircon at the time it stopped working because surely if it had seized while in use there would have been plenty of smoke and possibly a shagged power steering belt due to that being what turns the thing.?

I am a little sceptical with the diagnosis for this reason and don't want to shell out £500 without a second opinion. Now he may well be correct and it may have seized but i am not so sure.

If i understand correctly the aircon will stop working if the gas is low to protect the system from killing itself as a fail safe. He did show me that there was pressure in the system but i am thinking that it is just low and the compressor will not start for this reason.

Anybody know how i can check if it is seized or have any opinions before i take the car for a second opinion.???
 
you're correct in your ***umption that if the air con pump was seized then when you turned it on the belt would squeal burn or what ever

how did he show you there was pressure in the system?
 
you're correct in your ***umption that if the air con pump was seized then when you turned it on the belt would squeal burn or what ever

how did he show you there was pressure in the system?


He just plugged some tubes in to it with gauge on the end and let some gas out and said yeah there is pressure in the system. It looked a little more technical than my explanation but im sure you get the picture.
He didn't even attempt to add some gas to see if the compressor would engage which aroused my suspicions, I may be being a little over suspicious partly due to the cost but he just seemed a little to quick to condemn the compressor without really attempting to see if it just needed topping up.
Like i said i had it on while doing 70-80 on the motorway and i am sure i would have seen smoke or heard something if it just seized like that.
If it was off and just wouldn't turn on i could understand but seizing while in use is bound to be noticeable. And surely the clutch for the aircon would not disengage if its seized.
 
My bruv's compressor (albeit a quashqai) seized on the motorway and by all accounts it was rather dramatic; and cost him £600.


Smoke everywhere; to the point where he was panicking.
 
My bruv's compressor (albeit a quashqai) seized on the motorway and by all accounts it was rather dramatic; and cost him £600.


Smoke everywhere; to the point where he was panicking.


That is the sort of outcome i would expect. But the aircon just stopped no squealing/burning nothing.?
 
Were the fans running? Could a fuse have popped?
 
Were the fans running? Could a fuse have popped?

He did put a electric meter reader thing on the car to see if the compressor was receiving power and it was so a fuse can be ruled out.
The process consisted of release a bit of gas to see if there was pressure/ check for power/ condemn the compressor. That was pretty much how it went. I am thinking that the gas is just low, Hence why the compressor won't engage. Of course i could be wrong but hopefully not.
 
Neal just a long shot but didn't you get your car re gassed at kwick Fit a wile ago ;)
Correct me if im wrong as there was a tread on this but not 100% if it was you.
 
There is a pressure switch it is item 17Here unplug it and join the wires together that will fool the a/c into thinking there is sufficient pressure and compressor should kick in.
 
Neal just a long shot but didn't you get your car re gassed at kwick Fit a wile ago ;)
Correct me if im wrong as there was a tread on this but not 100% if it was you.


I do remember that thread and i have had previous cars gassed at kwik fit but not the Accord. I did look today but they currently want £49 to recharge the aircon the same price as Honda.
 
There is a pressure switch it is item 17Here unplug it and join the wires together that will fool the a/c into thinking there is sufficient pressure and compressor should kick in.


Cheers Dave, I take it from that drawing that the plug is mounted on the front of the radiator.?? and do i join the wires before starting the car or join them when it is running.

That may be a stupid question.
 
I'd do it before starting the engine, just bridge the wires together with a short piece of wire in the end of the plug and then start the car up and then turn a/c on and see if it kicks compressor in.

Yeah certainly looks like its somewhere on the radiator to me.
 
He just plugged some tubes in to it with gauge on the end and let some gas out and said yeah there is pressure in the system. It looked a little more technical than my explanation but im sure you get the picture.
He didn't even attempt to add some gas to see if the compressor would engage which aroused my suspicions, I may be being a little over suspicious partly due to the cost but he just seemed a little to quick to condemn the compressor without really attempting to see if it just needed topping up.
Like i said i had it on while doing 70-80 on the motorway and i am sure i would have seen smoke or heard something if it just seized like that.
If it was off and just wouldn't turn on i could understand but seizing while in use is bound to be noticeable. And surely the clutch for the aircon would not disengage if its seized.
theres pressure in the system but was there enough? i'd get a regas done before you do anything else like pulling plugs off and shorting out if it still doesn't work after a regas then thats the time to start pulling things apart
 
Most ac compressors cut in and out by utlising a clutch on the compressor pump.
The clutch is usually activated by a relay, the control circuit for the relay is the climate control function on the dash with the low pressure gas switch in series for this circuit.

I would therefore suggest the following approach

Check gas pressure from both circuits points (high and low pressure) as this is very quick and easy to confirm pressure is ok (hearing gas escape is not a reasonable test)
Check that the relay is engaging
Check the clutch operation on the compressor pump.

Never worked on an Accord compressor but on Vauxhalls and Range Rovers you can usually see/feel/hear the pulley/clutch engage.
 
Wouldn't it be nice if the pressure switch would activate a warning light when the pressure was too low.

Would cost pennies to implement.

In fact, it would be fairly easy to do as a mod I would imagine!?
 
Also sounds like a failed relay problem to me rather than a goosed compressor..
 
I had a similar issue and unplugging/replugging the connectors for the fuses, relays and the pressure sensor fixed the issue.

cheers mark.
 
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