I bought my 96 civic lx in october, so the guy tells me AC works. Today it got a little warm (67 degress) so I turn on the AC for atleast 20 minutes, no cold air. I look in the engine and the AC fan spins. Looks like I might need a recharge? Is there some kind of dianostics i can do?

 

some oil change places can check and recharge an A/C system, if freon is the case.....

you may have a bad compressor, but that's really noticable. Loud and obnoxious....

 

Turn the car off, take a big phillips head screwdriver, and find one of the AC line fittings. Unscrew the plastic cap on it and VERY lightly press the pin inside the fitting down with the screwdriver. It releases refrigerant when you do this, so you only want to do this for a split second. If you press too firmly, you can rip the rubber seal in the valve or jam/bend the valve. If no gas is released, it's empty. You need to find out why it's empty (where the leak is) and repair that before recharging it.

If you press the AC button, you should hear a "CLICK" and your idle speed should change. If it doesn't, it could be the AC switch, or the magnetic clutch assembly. But those may not even engage if the AC system is empty, so test the first thing first. Don't forget to check all your fuses, too.

 

easiest way is to look for your sightglass. if there is freon in your system, then there will be liquid bubbling when your a/c is on.

 

True, but if the compressor isn't cutting on, there won't be any bubbling going on and there could still be a good charge in the system.

 

liquid bubbling where??

 

......

 

towards the front of the engine bay, near the radiator, there's the piping for the a/c unit. There will be a part of the piping that has a clear portion about the size of a pencil eraser. Thats what he's talking about

hope that helps