Honda Fit A/C issue

[M1Accord]

My Honda Fit starts to have A/C issue from the long road trip I just complete. For local driving, I only need Ned to set it to 2 blue bar and the the is nice and cool. However, we went on a 160 miles road trip and the A/C sort of stop working after 75 miles. Barely any air is blowing out of the vent and the air isn't very cold, even at maxmimum setting. I had to pull over and let the car cools down for 3 minutes and the A/C worked fine again for about 30-40 miles. Once we got to VA Beach, the A/C works fine for local driving. And the same problem occurs on the trip home today; nice A/C for 50 miles or so but stops working after that.

My wife drives this car; therefore, I don't know how it is normally. She says it is fine in normal driving. I also it ice that there is a nice puddle of water every evening when she gets home from her 50-mile commute.

I am going to get a pressure gauge and look into recharging the system. It's is a 2012 model so this is weird. I have 55k miles on it so it is out of warranty. I do have a screen guard on the lower bumper to prevent road debris damage as that is a known problem for Honda cars. How do I check if there is a leak? How should I diagnose this problem?

Thanks.

 

[Hokiefyd]

Is the A/C evaporator (the coils in your HVAC box in the car) freezing up? This can happen if there's a lot of humidity in the air and low fan speed. Feel the bottom of the HVAC box to see if it's super cold and/or wet. If you have reduced airflow, my first suspicion is a frozen evaporator.

 

[Chris Meutsch]

Sounds like you're losing refrigerant and the evap is indeed freezing.

One thing you can do is when this is occuring, park it and let it sit for 15 minutes. Look underneath....is the condensation puddle much larger than normal? If yes that's a helpful hint as the ice melts off the evap.

 

[mattwithcats]

Evaporator drain is clogged.

Look under car, passenger side.
There should be a small hole with water dripping out of it.
Use a straw, poke through a few times.
Don't use anything sharp or metal!

Also look for water leaks around windows...

AC is working, evaporator is freezing up with ice.
A half can of PAG 100 oil, may help.

 

[sciphi]

When was the last time the cabin air filter was changed? It's a 5 minute job on the Fit.

Ours was a little bit low on R-134a from the factory. A little top off had it blowing a lot cooler.

 

[M1Accord]

OP here. I haven't changed the cabin airfilter yet since the vehicle is less than 3 years old but has more than 55k miles. The filter is on schedule to be replaced in a month.

The A/C is working but the evoprator is freezing up due to large puddle of water once the vehicle is parked. This has been going on for 6 months but I couldn't tell that was problematic as the A/C had been ice cold for our trips, mostly 50 miles but with some 60-70 miles trip thrown in sometime. This past Saturday is the first 150+ miles trip that I recall doing this vehicle and the A/C lost significant airflow and cold flow after 75 miles.

Beside poking at the water discharge hose, what else should I do? The vehicle is a week or so until 3 years purchase date, is there warranty course of action even though mileage is around 55k? I never had issue with my Accord A/C even after going 10'years without cabin air filter change due to that job requiring the dash board to be removed.

A quick search show a lot of Honda having A/C problem, mostly from road debris damage, which I minimize with a homemade bumper screen guard per fit freak community recommendation.

 

[raytseng]

try not using the AC continously. Just turn it off for 2min every 10minutes.

See if you have same issue.

 

[Hokiefyd]

If your evaporator is repeatedly freezing up, a possible cause is low refrigerant. Have the system pressures checked. Also, I'm not sure where you live (your Location is "Lost"...not very helpful), but if you live in a humid area, try running your A/C with an elevated fan speed from the get-go, to see if that keeps the evaporator from freezing.

 

[Schmoe]

Turn off the recirculation from inside only to outside air. I've had similar issues on my Honda's and just about any other car I've owned, especially the truck. It also has to do with outside temperature and humidity. If you had a leak, you wouldn't be getting cold air at all. At some point, the compressor will not even turn on if it senses low freon.

 

[JTK]

Originally Posted By: M1Accord
OP here. I haven't changed the cabin airfilter yet since the vehicle is less than 3 years old but has more than 55k miles. The filter is on schedule to be replaced in a month.



That's way too much time and mileage on a CAF. It will be nasty at this point and most likely restricting airflow. I pull and shop-vac them off a few times between replacements.

 

[M1Accord]

Op here. I took it to a new mechanic, who seems very trustworthy gentlemen working out his garage. His diagnose is dirty CAF.

Does anyone know if the CAF and engine air filter are the same size? I want to get a K&N because the mechanic recommends at least twice a year. K&N has much better price than amazon.

 

[raytseng]

They are not the same.

You are better off just changing cabin air filter frequently with a disposable filter.
Your cabin air filter will get dirtier dependin on how you store your car. Debris drops straight down from the cowl onto the cabin air filter, so if you store your car outside it gets dirty faster.
Versus your engine air filter only sucks in air when you're driving.


But a couple at a time. They are inexpensive:
http://www.amazon.com/TYC-800125P-Honda-Replacement-Filter/dp/B0041TQS5M

 

[Vikas]

You never want oil coated filter as a cabin filter! Come to think of it, you don't want oil coated filter as an engine filter either but at least the engine does not have a nose to smell the oil. You do.

 

[ThirdeYe]

We have a 2013 Fit Sport with around 18k on it and I just changed the CAF in it. I wouldn't wait 55k, personally. Those things get pretty dirty, pretty fast. The ones I just changed in my girlfriend's Civic only had around 20k on them and they were completely filthy and clogged up.

 

[M1Accord]

I got the K&N filter order but will not apply oil on it for obvious reason. However, i do apply a light coat of oil on engine oil filter.

Honda Fit CAF change takes less than a minute total. My 2002 Accord requirs about 3 hours and plenty of adjectives cor the same task.