Greetings, I'm trying to figure out if the AC compressor is bad on my Honda with
160,000 miles. Cooling was mediocre & there was foam in the sight glass. Clutch was spinning on the compressor. I had the car in to a Honda dealer in April for an oil change & they reported that the compressor needed to be replaced as it was leaking ($1800). Amused, I told the service manager that the car AC blew ice cold last summer & that the trade-in book value of the car was $1200. His response was that it would not blow cold much longer then. Sure enough, the first time I turned the AC on about a month later it was not cold (50 degrees)& foam in the sight glass. Suspecting foul play I procured some R-12 Freon & hooked a can up to the low pressure port with the engine on & AC at full. Freon would not suck in. Rather the pressure blew Freon (slowly & it was the low pressure port) back out through the hose fitting at the can. I ended up losing more Freon from the system. I double-checked the clutch & it was spinning. When I turned the AC off the clutch was rotating very slowly. Is this significant or just normal momentum. There is an oily residue on the clutch & compressor but not much. Also, while the engine seems to be under load when the AC is turned on, it doesn't cycle on & off. Is there any way I can get Freon into this system or is the compressor bad & not able to suck it in. If so, would there still be some cold air coming out & foam in the sight glass (that goes away when the compressor is off) if the compressor is bad? I'm just trying to figure out if there is a simple way to get Freon into the current system to get it working properly or if I need to find another auto shop to replace a bad compressor & convert to R-134a. Thanks, Rich- posted
16 years ago