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Sedans Honda Civic Honda Civic Climate Control System
73 messages, Last post on Sep 26, 2008 at 10:17 AM
You are in the Honda Civic Forum. Your Hosts are pat & karens
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Replying to: melsinct (Aug 01, 2006 10:06 am) Just for information, I owned two 98' civics (1-ex, 1- hx), both black. The AC in both had a very hard time cooling the car, but I always attributed it to the cars being black which absorbs heat. My silver 2006 EX sedan AC has been very good. I also have not noticed the "blowing of hot air during acceleration" which I have been trying to pay attention too. |
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I find the A/C to be better than the 04 Ex I had. That wasn't the strongest. The current A/C won't freeze you out but it does an adequate job. Some general tips. I am sure you already know these but just in case...... 1. Run your a/C on max/recirc to start and open the sunroof a little to get all of the hot air out. 2. Keep it on max/recirc. 3. Park in the shade. 4. Consider window tinting 5. Consider wearing sandals and going with bilevel cooling in hot weather. Your feel dissapate a lot of heat and the Civic vents direct air right at them. Had you decided not to get the civic because of the A/C, you might have ended up with a Mazda3 where by all accounts, the A/C is worse. Marc
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Replying to: mcap56 (Aug 01, 2006 6:15 pm) You said " Had you decided not to get the civic because of the A/C, you might have ended up with a Mazda3 where by all accounts, the A/C is worse." All accounts? I have to disagree here. There are many Mazda 3 owners who have no issues with their A/C. In fact, my son owns a Mazda3 in Tucson, where we have 4 or 5 months over 100 degrees, and he is very comfortable with his A/C. I previously owned a 2001 Civic EX dark Blue, and I found the A/C to be weak, after the car sat in the sun all day. In city driving, it did take along time to cool the car. After me, my son then drove that Civic for 2 years before buying his 06 Mazda 3, and he states that the 3 cools better than the 2001 Civic. I believe that in trying to squeeze every last mpg out of these small cars, they have downsized the compressors and other parts of the AC system, to where it may be just marginal in many cases...perhaps undersized in desert conditions. Also, it has ben a design feature for MANY years to have a cutout function on the compressor for strong acceleration. I have had many cars over the years, even US made cars have had this...a throttle position switch that actually turns off the compressor under strong acceleration to aid the performance. It was able to be disconnected on many of my vehicles, but I don't know if this is possible today with the computers controlling so much in the cars, but it might be worth investigation for those of you who are bothered by this behaviour.
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Replying to: jbollt (Aug 02, 2006 6:28 am) I have to say that my car did a decent job of cooling. I put my hands to the vents during acceleration and I didn't really notice any major change. Perhaps it is an issue with your individual cars. Best bet is to act like you are interested in a purchase and take a test drive. Compare the two. Or, if someone you know has one, take it out and see what happens. Oh...and just so you don't get jealous...I have the idle vibration and perhaps the suspension issue. So, I am not blind to the shortcomings of the car. Marc |
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Well I have had my car since July 6th and have noticed this problem almost daily. i live in Southern California and drive about 20 miles from Orange County to Los Angeles County for work. I always notice this because the car seems to need to be driven at constant speeds to stay cool. If I hit traffic or a stop light, the A/C will blow out ambient temperature, which in traffic going 5 mph and its 100 degrees is pretty darn hot. I am glad to see other people with the same problem, I left VW for similar problems and high maintenance costs. I guess we will just have to wait for Honda to give us an answer to whether they intended this, or its a defect. Either way their should be a TSB on it soon. I have seen so many Civics around here I feel like a fish in a school of fish. BTW, I have an 06 Civic Sedan EX with Nav. Maybe is our below average Stereo thats causing it  , I want the one in the coupe.
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I have not had the discussed problem--I've been very satisfied with the performance of my AC even in the recent heat wave. One thing I have noticed is that when the AC is set on anything but the highest cooling setting (regardless of "max"--I'm talking about the blue to red temperature knob), the temperature of air blowing out of the vents does seem to go up and down, but it doesn't seem to be related to temperature. I've been renting for the past 3 years, though, and I've noticed this on a lot of other cars too. I've always driven 4-cylinder cars and I've never noticed any problem with the engine not being able to supply enough power for the AC compressor. (including an '00 EX coupe) I do seem to remember reading somewhere (it might have been in the manual or on one of the Honda info pages about the redesign) that the compressor has two modes of operation to save energy under light loads but provide adequate cooling when necessary. Sorry but that's all I remember. I'll try to do some digging. But might it be that the cars experiencing these problems have some type of programming bug that is preventing the higher-energy mode from kicking in? Does anybody remember reading anything about this? Based on what I've said above, here's my two theories about what could be causing this problem: 1-A flaw in the temperature control knob or its supporting systems that keeps it from registering that you want the coldest setting. 2-A programming or electrical problem that stops the dual mode (?) compressor from getting out of its power-save mode. 3-referring to another thread somewhere on the internets, road debris has damaged your unshielded compressor.
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Replying to: sotony (Aug 10, 2006 10:44 am) |
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I've been driving my 2006 Civic for 6 mos. now (5100 miles) and I am pleased with the finish, exceptional handling, smoothness, and decent ride. I get about 39-40 on the road and about 33 in town so the mileage is very good as advertised. My only gripe is with the a/c. I live in Tucson and the a/c is barely adequate most of the time and poor at other times in the hot weather. All of my previous cars here (Subaru Legacies) and my present 2000 Toyota Avalon all cool really well under all conditions. I mentioned this to the dealer at the first oil change and they did test the a/c thoroughly. They said the performance test showed normal operation, no problems, and correct temperature output. The 2 mechanics who worked on the car both did say that Honda was never really known to have great a/c and that in hot climates it usually just barely did the job. There were no fixes and no specific tips they could offer since i was operating the a/c correctly. I had a 1988 Honda years ago which was fine. The very large glass area in the new Honda heats up the car quite a bit too so I guess this is something to live with in the hot weather. All of the cars good points help mitigate this problem.
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Replying to: stanaz (Aug 27, 2006 12:03 pm) Most people out here in AZ use high quality window tints to deal with the solar gain. They work well. However, when you are headed toward the West or have an overhead sun, the 06 Civic's A/c will struggle as the front windshield makes for an excellent greenhouse. I suppose that if Honda engineered their A/C for the most extreme conditions, it would be oversized and impractical the rest of the time. With the population growth in the Southwest, perhaps Honda should consider a Desert option that would consist of an Eglass windshield and ventilated seatbacks, which are terrific. I think its interesting that Honda offers heated seats on many models, but not one Honda offers the ventilated seatbacks. I know roughly the size of desert communities such as Palm Springs, Las Vegas and Tucson/Phoenix. Is Fargo, ND really that big?
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My EX Sedan has a good A/C in it. Even with recent 100f plus temps this summer it did good. I kinda wish my A/C compressor would cycle. It almost gets too cold at times. The huge windsheild does lend its self as a good green house. Window tint helps alot in all cars. The better the tint the better it works. |
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