strange air conditioner behavior 2013 RDX

[Sturg]

The air conditioning system of our car has been on life support for a few years now. It doesn't get driven much so when we take it in for service the service guy says "You should be okay for now". Not really sure what they even do, but seems like an inadequate, temporary fix at best. Occasionally it blows cold air, but it's not consistent. Most recently I noticed that the air coming from the two vents on the passenger side is MUCH colder than the two vents on the driver side. It's almost like the driver vents are pushing hot, outside air.
What would explain this?
I just assume that because of the age and mileage that the air conditioner (compressor) needs replaced. Dealer wants $2000 for that. It's a lot of money, but I anticipate putting many more miles on it, so not out of the question to spend.

 

[97prizm]

Sounds like a blend door actuator. Not expensive but is sometimes labor intensive. The teeth shear or wear and then bind or don't turn.

 

[97prizm]

Look up your vehicle and see if that's a common failure.

 

[MParr]

The air conditioning system of our car has been on life support for a few years now. It doesn't get driven much so when we take it in for service the service guy says "You should be okay for now". Not really sure what they even do, but seems like an inadequate, temporary fix at best. Occasionally it blows cold air, but it's not consistent. Most recently I noticed that the air coming from the two vents on the passenger side is MUCH colder than the two vents on the driver side. It's almost like the driver vents are pushing hot, outside air.
What would explain this?
I just assume that because of the age and mileage that the air conditioner (compressor) needs replaced. Dealer wants $2000 for that. It's a lot of money, but I anticipate putting many more miles on it, so not out of the question to spend.

Part of your problem is the blend doors.
As for the rest there could be several other problems. Low refrigerant with leaks in the system. The cooling fans behind the radiator. The pressure switches and even the compressor.
We just had our 2019 VW Tiguan in the shop for the air conditioner not operating properly. It was found to be low on refrigerant. One of the Schrader valves was leaking. The shop replaced both Schrader valves and recharged the system.
I advise you to seek out an independent shop that does a lot of air conditioning work.

 

[Jetronic]

The air conditioning system of our car has been on life support for a few years now. It doesn't get driven much so when we take it in for service the service guy says "You should be okay for now". Not really sure what they even do, but seems like an inadequate, temporary fix at best. Occasionally it blows cold air, but it's not consistent. Most recently I noticed that the air coming from the two vents on the passenger side is MUCH colder than the two vents on the driver side. It's almost like the driver vents are pushing hot, outside air.
What would explain this?
I just assume that because of the age and mileage that the air conditioner (compressor) needs replaced. Dealer wants $2000 for that. It's a lot of money, but I anticipate putting many more miles on it, so not out of the question to spend.

dual zone AC I suspect? the mixing flap for the driver AC isn't working properly. Most often it's the motor that controls the mixing flap.

 

[barbersurgeon]

dual zone AC I suspect? the mixing flap for the driver AC isn't working properly. Most often it's the motor that controls the mixing flap.

Boroscope the drivers vent, manually open the flap and leave it that way?

 

[Sturg]

Man, you guys are up early! Ty for the replies. I'll check but I don't think our car has dual climate control.. just in the front, I believe.

 

[Jetronic]

Man, you guys are up early! Ty for the replies. I'll check but I don't think our car has dual climate control.. just in the front, I believe.

if there's 2 temperature settings, it's dual zone. one for the driver, one for the rest. you will have a sync button in that case most likely to make it 1 zone

 

[Nukeman7]

Man, you guys are up early! Ty for the replies. I'll check but I don't think our car has dual climate control.. just in the front, I believe.

This is a common problem in Acura RDXs and Honda Odysseys of that vintage. 90% of the time it is due to a low R-134a refrigerant charge (likely due to a slow Schrader valve leak), while 10% of the time is due to a defective or stuck blend door actuator. See Post #21 in this Acurazine forum thread:

2013 Acura RDX A/C Drivers side not Cooling

Also discussed last year for a VW with identical symptoms on this BITOG thread.

 

[brages]

I think the RDX may be somewhat similar to my old Odyssey -- it's not too hard to observe the blend doors for proper operation. On my Ody, I even took out a blend actuator, opened it up and cleaned the contacts on the encoder, and it worked properly again.

On the Odyssey, you can hit a certain combination of buttons on the climate control to cause it to run a self-diagnostic and it will tell you which actuators are acting up.

BUT!! I think if you have actuator problems, you will hear some unusual clicking noises under the dash and you will have a similar problem in the winter. HOWEVER - if you are low on refrigerant, it's common for one side of the evaporator to cool better than the other side. I experienced this on an Odyssey as well! This is what *I* think your actual problem is.

An easy test might be to turn off the A/C and just run in vent mode and see if one side is blending in hotter air than the other. Also, if you have blend door problems, going from full hot to full cold and back may make them start working again.

 

[97prizm]

Man, you guys are up early! Ty for the replies. I'll check but I don't think our car has dual climate control.. just in the front, I believe.

I work nights and was on my lunch break. No problem.