Hi,

Typical oft-asked question, but some nuances here, so please bear with me.

It appears that about 8 years ago I posted about some A/C issues with my new Fit in over 100F temps. Don't think I ever got it checked out! Since then I've put on nearly 100,000 miles and have seen A/C performance wane such that on a long drive, hot and sunny day in the 90s, it would wane, and now, on a long drive, hot and sunny day in the mid to upper 80s it's waning as well. And after getting home and parking it, quite a bit of water ends up underneath the car the next day (not inside the car, as some folks inferred from my original thread). So much that I don't think it's a normal A/C evaporator drip, but probably the result of something icing over and then melting.

I first considered changing a relay, having had on an '07 Accord a sudden total failure of A/C that was fixed by changing a $7 relay (much to my delight!). But my '12 Fit's A/C works adequately for me on more than 90% of my trips. Either the drive isn't long; or it's cloudy; or it's just not quite that hot. It works. This morning it was about 70F outside and I found that on recirculate, the air temp coming out of the vents was 39-40F, then regularly cycling to about 49F, then back down. So I think it's working, at least for shorter trips and when it's not so terribly hot.

So this makes me wonder if I may be low on refrigerant. Anything beyond that (or the relay) is probably beyond my ability as a DIY-er. I read some of the forums threads here and saw that there may be over the counter refill kits that, if used carefully, may provide a fairly long-lasting fix. That one must be careful not to overfill, and use proper technique when measuring the low side pressure, etc. One post mentioned to avoid any refrigerant that has additives like "stop leak" in them.

Well, I was ready to buy and try one of these canned refill kits, but I noticed all 3 brands available in the combo can/hose/gauge form had additives or stop leak. I admit, I didn't check to see if one could avoid the additives by purchasing separate hose/gauge and refrigerant can. Does anyone know if that's the case? Is it really important to avoid those additives? I know they may not do much if you have a real leak, but can they make things worse?

I don't mind taking it in to a pro, but my dealer has lost my trust, so if I must take it in, it'll be some other place. But first I want to see if I might be able to fix it myself. Based on the car's age and mileage, and the fact that the A/C is usually adequate, I'm reluctant to sign up for a $1000+ repair. $150-200-ish isn't bad for a decent mid-term fix, but if they're mostly going to do what I can do with one of these $20-$40 kits, I might as well do it myself.

Thanks in advance for feedback!

 

Personally I would not use one of those DIY kits with stop leak additive. These cars don’t hold much refrigerant anyway and it’s very easy to overcharge with one of these kits which can lead to other issues. The supply air temperatures you had mentioned are within normal range. First check your cabin air filter and replace if needed, low air flow across the evaporator can cause icing problems. You might want to take it to a shop and have them reclaim the refrigerant, vacuum the system, if it holds a vacuum for about 30 mins, then recharge with the correct number of ounces with their machine. Car ac systems do leak over time through the compressor shaft seal. Given the age of the car it might just be a low charge issue.
Hope this helps.

 

I had exact same issues, my 2012 Fit has 133K now and I finally checked the refrigerant pressure/level last month. Sure enough it was low.
A 7$ can of r134 from Walmart and 39$ amazon set of gauges have fixed all the issues.

Now I can run the can in 118F death valley hit and remain cool inside for any number of hours (all day in fact).

Please start with the obvious, check the refrigerant level. It tends to escape over time and there have been reports of these cars being underfilled from the factory.

It has small capacity so a leak can drain it fairly noticeably, especially after so many years.

 

Thanks for the feedback!

John21031 - I'm curious, what led you to choose those gauges versus anything you could buy locally? Most DIY-er kits / cans that I've seen only have one gauge, for the low side I presume. Is the combo unit strictly necessary if you're only adding, not evacuating first?

Thanks -

 

Why did I buy a full set of gauges vs the one tube type?

With both gauges you can see pressures on both low and high sides.

And yes, you can also evacuate the system if that ever becomes necessary (then i have to buy about 50$ pump though).

The one tube gauge is not a serious nor accurate way to diagnose and measure the performance of the AC system, but it can certainly be enough to add a bit of refrigerant and is the cheapest way to go. I also prefer to see pressure on a guage in actual calibrated measuring units (PSI) rather than interpret a gauge that just shows rough "low" or "ok" zones. Feel like that's a lot less accurate. I would not want to overcharge the system, and it's easier to do that when the gauges don't show the actual pressures.