04 Civic Air Conditioner Not So Good

From New Orleans, 1 post

I have owned a 2001 Honda civic ex since 2003 and never had any air conditioning problems until the car hit around 100,000 miles and my warranty was up. Apparently it wouldn't do me any good anyway if I still had my warranty. I am having the same problems every one else is having where it is warm for around 10 to 20 minutes and then cools down. It also gets warm on acceleration. Around a month ago I had more freon put in and it cooled it down a little bit then but is really warm again. After the freon was put in, it still wasn't 100%. Has anyone found a solution to this problem?

2 posts

I recently had problems with my air con, then it failed. Took it to the dealer, who "fixed" the leak and regassed for £75. Failed again a week later, they then said it was the condenser and that would cost £493 to replace! I wrote to Honda (i have a 2004 Civic 1.7CTDI) who say there is a problem with the aircon system on some Civics, and that mine is one of them. It's gone up to a 95000mile/6 year warranty on the original part. I've booked it in with the garage tomorrow, and also told them i would like to speak to the head of servicing. I want my original £75 back, and want to know why they were prepared to charge me for a condenser when there is a service bulletin on my model saying they are defective and should be replaced. I had the same problem when my turbo failed, they tried to charge me for that, until i contacted Honda and found there was a service bulletin on that as well!I'm glad i've always contacted Honda directly when the dealer tries to get money out of me.

1 post

I also recently had problems with my air con.My car is a 2004 civic 1.7ctdi.Took car to honda and told the condenser had been stone damaged and would cost £495 to renew.While looking for a cheaper part on the internet i came across colinwd18 report on his honda,so i returned to honda and asked if my car was covered and after looking at the condenser and not finding stone damage they replaced it free of charge.

2 posts

Obviously, the same as my dealer. Funny how suddenly there was no stone damage suddenly. Would they have told you if you had paid to change the condenser and they found no damage? I think i can guess the answer.

1 post

I had the same problem with my 2004 Accord in 2006. It turned out to be a defective seal in the compressor in the A/C system. I was over the mileage limit on the warranty, but barely, and after a 'discussion' with the dealership they replaced it at no cost. It would have cost over $1500. I told them, "I haven't been driving the air conditioner!" Shortly after that, I discovered that almost all Hondas from that year have inaccurate odometers anyway. The actual mileage is aproximately 10% less than is shown on the instrument. Now I am having MORE problems with my A/C. Sometimes it won't come on when I first turn my car on, then after 5 to 15 minutes, it decides to come on. Then it does not blow cold for the first few minutes. The dealership charged me $735.00 to fix it, and when I got it back nothing was different. I got my money back, but my A/C is still messed up. This car is only 5 years old!! I have never had so many problems with a Honda before, but I am going to try a Toyota next time. I know how hot it is in Arizona, but it is really hot in Texas too, and it only cools off about 5 degrees at night. The heat seems to make it malfunction more frequently.

1 post

I have a Honda Civic 04 Manual Transmission. It has ALWAYS had a problem with the air conditioning. The car is great, except in Texas summers. When it gets over 100 degrees outside, I just assume I'm going to sweat the whole way to wherever I'm going.

I've had Honda look into the issue a few times, but they just tell me that there's nothing wrong and look surprised that a civic would have a/c problems. Of course, everyone probably complains about it and the dealership is probably trying to shirk the issue.

I always assumed that it was simply a matter of a 4-cylinder engine trying to pump out cold air. However, I am not certain how other 4-cylinder engine a/c's perform. Anyone have experience with a Toyota Corolla or Nissan Sentra's a/c? I always assumed the more powerful the engine, the better an a/c unit will perform on a car.

I noticed that the a/c performs well only when I am in gear and moving. It probably needs the extra energy from the engine to cool the car down and have the a/c running properly. If I am on the highway the whole time, the a/c cools decently. However, when I am not in gear, it blows hot air. As you can imagine, driving local roads and constantly being in and out of gear keeps the car hot.

Movement is key to trying to get your honda civic a/c to work semi-decently. As long as the car is in gear and moving, the a/c should work a little better.

Other tips: Park under shade. Leave the windows rolled down a little bit. Use a sunshade. When first starting the car, do not recycle air as the interior will be very hot. Move to a/c recycle once the interior has "cooled down" (not really cool, but simply cooler).

I agree. The honda civic A/C sucks. It is a price you simply pay for having good gas mileage and reliability. I just hope I don't pass out while driving in this hot Texas weather. I've even considered rigging a window a/c unit with a generator nailed down to the trunk .

I really like my civic 9 months out of the year. The other 3 months, I curse it.

I'm wondering if the new generation of civics have better a/c systems.