Ac troubles

Good evening, I hope you are doing well despite the current issues. Thanks for choosing JustAnswer. My name is\*\*\*\*\* am a master diagnostic technician and I would be happy to assist you with this today. What are the AC issues you are having?

Well I just purchased this 96 honda accord. A/C is is inoperable. I evacuated and recharged. Still inoperable. I found the fuse for the condenser fan was missing. When I put the fuse in place the headlights would turn on. Upon further investigation I found the harness in the drivers side wheel well had rubbed against the tire and frayed some wires. I repaired the frayed wires and this took care of that issue. To no avail I've still got now compressor on or fans when I turn on the ac. I've check the high pressure switch it it checks out good. I've tried several different evaporator temp sensors with no luck. If I jump the evaporator temp sensor to ground the compressor and fans fire up and the ac blows cold

Okay got it, thanks for all the detailed information. Give me a few moments to look through the electrical diagram and see what could cause this to happen on these models

Sounds good

Does it have the 4 cylinder or 6 cylinder engine?

4 cylinder

Okay got it. When you jump the evaporator temp sensor, which pin did you jump to ground that turned the compressor on?

If you have the connector in your hand facing you with the tap on top it would be the furthest right pin out of the 3

Was it the Blue/Yellow wire or the Black/Yellow?

Blue/yellow

Okay so that is the circuit that also runs through the pressure switch. It is normally grounded through the A/C switch/heater control assembly, so if it is not getting a good ground signal then we might have an issue inside the control/switch assembly

Ok, so what part of the assembly is supplying ground? The a/c switch itself?

The control assembly is grounded through a body ground stud. If you have a multimeter we can test the ground signal at the control assembly to make sure it is good there

Ok, I do have a multimeter

Sorry for the delay, I thought I responded and it saved as a draft.With your multimeter, check the ground connection at the black wire on the hvac control assembly connector and let's verify that we do indeed have a good ground there

That's alright. I've cleaned up for the night. On gonna get back on it tomorrow. Can I message you then?

Yep absolutely, just message me a little while before you are going to work on it and I will make sure I am available to help for a bit :) Have a great night

Cool man, thank you very much. You do the same.

You're very welcome. Thanks!

I'm about to get started

I'm out on a service call at the moment, but I will turn my notifications on if you have any immediate questions

Ok cool, thanks man

No problem bro :)

I could use your help with checking out the climate control. I've got ground at the black wire to the chassis

Okay, if we have good ground there then I bet there is an open circuit inside the control assembly

Shit, I just got back from the salvage yard with a used unit just for shits and giggles. It's the same issue

Oh wow, that is very interesting, based on the diagram it should just be a straight shot from ground through the control module and then switch. Let me look through a few community cases and see if I can find any similar issues

Hey man, I got it figured out. It was in fact the evaporator temp sensor not switching to ground. Replaced the sensor with a used unit and all is well. Blowing cold now. Thanks for your help with this.

Awesome! That's what I'm talking about bro :) Nice jobYou are very welcome. Feel free to reach out if you ever need help in the future

Have a great night!

Thanks dude. Sounds good man, you do the same

Thanks, \*\*\*\*\* \*\*\*\*\* it

Hey bud, wondering if I could pick your brain again

Yeah absolutely. What's up? I'll be home soon and can get on the service info if needed

Cool. Well the ac is working to a degree. It just doesnt seem to be getting very cold. It's cool enough to keep it somewhat cool in the cabin. It takes a good minute or two to start feeling cool air out of the vents after start up. When I charged it it was about 90° ambient. I put roughly 22-23 oz in it. Low side pressure was steady around 30 and high side was around 250. At idle it's not cycling, and during a road test it blows constantly. So I'm inclined to believe that the charge is good, I'm just not getting the desired temp. I havent put my infrared on it yet to tell you exactly what temp it is actually reaching. Any ideas?

It sounds to me like we could have a weak compressor clutch or bad compression inside of the assembly not allowing it work all the way.Usually when you have cycling issues at idle it is either a charge level issue or it is a compressor problem

I'm not having a cycling issue. It runs consistently. I've only felt it cycle at higher rpms, like on the freewayI'm going to take the grill off tomorrow and clean out the condenser. Maybe the fins are plugged up with crap and debris.

Yeah it could be plugged and not cooling the system well, that would cause the compressor to stay engaged and overworloverwork