Originally Posted by hondamike
My 97 Accord air conditioning unit works, but not all the time. At times it works well, and blows out very cold air, and at other times; when I push the A/C button, the compressor never comes on. I have even pushed the A/C button and it did not come on right at once, and after a time, it just comes on by itself. I had my mechanic check it out before I knew it had this problem, and he said the freon was a bit low, so he charged it. But now, I never know when its going to work or not. Any suggestions on what the problem may be, or something I could check myself before taking it back to the mechanic?
If your system is low on Freon or R-134a nowadays, it will not engage the compressor clutch. it has a pressure sensor which turns on the compressor only when enough pressure from the Refrigerant charge is available. I suggest you get a total evacuation and recharge of fresh R-134A. My a/c was acting up all the time, i got it flushed and recharged and now it spits out 38 degress baby! The reason why the system turns on after some time after u press the button, is possible that the engine running and driving (high rpms) increases the pressure of the refrigerant, which then turns on system... Mine was REALLY f*&^ed up and i got it flushed n recharged, and now it works perfectly.