2001 civic 1.6 auto aircon

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Tue 12 Sep 2006 01:41
2001 civic 1.6 auto aircon - stevenage
have recently received my copy of WHICH? CAR report so turned straight to my car and under ''troublespots'' heading was ''aircon''. now my car's a/c packed in shortly after purchase, took it back and was sorted. now out of warranty and has packed up again, so any honda experts know what the common cause is??
thanks in advance
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Tue 12 Sep 2006 12:39
2001 civic 1.6 auto aircon - mike hannon
What was the problem last time?
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Tue 12 Sep 2006 13:08
2001 civic 1.6 auto aircon - Dave N
The main problems I've come across are condensors rotting out, and filter driers blocking.

A lot of these were fitted by the dealers when they landed in the UK, as a result, some were'nt fitted terribly well with pipes rubbing, wires chaffing and poorly adjusted heater valves.
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Tue 12 Sep 2006 15:54
2001 civic 1.6 auto aircon - stevenage
cheers dave, i'll check it out if i can.
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Tue 12 Sep 2006 15:51
2001 civic 1.6 auto aircon - stevenage
as far as i know ...just regassed.
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Tue 12 Sep 2006 17:33
2001 civic 1.6 auto aircon - mike hannon
Regassing is something that probably has to be done every few years if you use the aircon as intended. It doesn't necessarily mean there's anything wrong with the system.
Did you not notice that the aircon was losing its effectiveness?
I don't understand this stuff about systems badly fitted by dealers. I thought Civics that age were built in the UK anyway?
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Tue 12 Sep 2006 20:16
2001 civic 1.6 auto aircon - Dave N
Regassing doesn't have to be done every few years. No gas gets used, only lost. Normal leakage rates are very small indeed, typically a few percent a year at most. Therefore the origianl qty of gas should last the lifetime of the vehicle. But the systems are made to a price, and will spring a leak very early in some cases.

The japanese manufacturers (and now Korean) have a history of making accessories a dealer fit option. So if you want a lower spec vehicle with a/c option, then the dealer fits it. The knock on effect of this is they're usually easy to work on, as all the components are accessable. It's changing a bit now, as virtually everything comes with a/c, but it hasn't always been the case.
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Tue 12 Sep 2006 22:49
2001 civic 1.6 auto aircon - stevenage
thanks for the input chaps..........will do a thorough fault find if it stops raining tomorrow.
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Tue 12 Sep 2006 23:46
2001 civic 1.6 auto aircon - grease monkey
hi stevenage,usual thing with this generation civic is the condenser,fit loads of these at work,quite a few now im seeing have just rotted and fall apart,the good news is that if yours has rotted then honda have extended the warranty to six years or 90k witchever comes first,obviously if it has a hole made by a stone impact or other foreign body then this isnt covered......
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