What kind of leak did your friend have? Did she upgrade then? So you've had the little Civics in the past? WAY back in the '80's the Civic was even smaller than the Fit...dates me some...

 

I have just over 22000km on my 2007 m/t and along with lack of power when running the a/c I also noticed it didn't really cool the car. I changed the interior filter that is behind the glove box and that seem to make all the difference in the world. The filter is available at Honda and in Canada is around $18. Very easy to change and it was full of leaves and other outdoor stuff. I have a bigger concern with lack of power so I just role down the windows. Love fresh air

 

Fresh air??? What's that??? Can you tell me more???

 

I'm still awaiting an email about the specifics on the leak (not A/C related, but rather rainwater entering the car somewhere - will update when I know the details).

I've owned two '90 4door civics (one DX, one EX), a '91 DX hatch, a '90 Si hatch, a '90 DX hatch, an '88 LX 4dr, a white '93 EX coupe, and I currently have a black '94 ex coupe. The two DX hatches had no A/C system to speak of b/c they were originally from Maine. The a/c systems in the 90 Si hatch, DX 4dr, and EX 4dr were all broke when I bought them and needed several items to be replaced rendering a cost that was not worth putting into the cars. the 88 LX was actually the only one whose a/c worked pretty damn good. the white '93 coupe struggled to keep cool and i sold it before i investigated the problem. the a/c in black '94 EX coupe I currently own does not work due to a leak in the evaporator. I dumped $1200 last summer to replace the compressor, drier, some leaky lines, etc. and it only lasted about two months until the leak in the evaporator developed. but when it did work, it only really cooled well at interstate speeds - "in-city" driving was a joke and it was almost better to roll the windows down.

i used to have a '92 accord and a '97 prelude, both of which had ICE COLD a/c. I'm no expert, but I believe the colder air could be attributed to the larger condensers on these larger cars. their condensers spanned the entire width of the radiators, not just half of it like many of the EG/EJ style civics (92-95). the 88-91 civic condensers did span the full width of the radiator (which could be why my old 88's a/c was cold).

....anyone have any other input on condenser size in relation to coldness of a/c????

 

bump for more responses......a friend who tints for a profession has said the tint will greatly reduce the heat gain...so it's given me more courage to reconsider the Fit.

 

bump for more responses...

a friend who tints professionally has stated the tint will greatly reduce the heat gain...

I'm reconsidering the Fit....

need more input.

 

I wouldn't let it scare you away from purchasing the car. It's not bad for the front seat occupants and otherwise I consider it the best and most versatile car in it's class. The experts tend to agree.

Lately my wife's been using the defogger positions instead of the A/C control and it seems to work better...go figure

 

Because your positioned so close to the wind shield that's generating so much heat direct A/C kind of gets cancelled out. So cooling the wind shield helps quite a bit. Now, cool that glass and insulate that line going into the fire wall and stay cool.

 

I bought mine in December 07. I drove it throughout the rest of the Winter here in the northern AL area. And I have been everywhere from here to FL, GA, MS, KY, MO, IL, IN, and TN and the A/C worked perfect around the warming months into spring. Last couple of weeks I started noticing (throughout July and early August. As it got hotter, around the mid 90s I was seemingly useless to even use it. It wouldn't cool but about 20 below ambient temperature. I took it to the Honda dealer and they checked it and couldn't find anything wrong with it after keeping it overnight. I called them and told them it was probably because it rained the night before i took it and cooled off that day they tested. I told them it probably wouldn't do it unless it was around 93 or higher outside. I recovered the refrigerant in the a/c system myself at work and only pulled 6oz. out of the A/C when it requires 14.1 to 15.9 oz. I refilled it with the refrigerant from our machine at work and it cooled down to 20 degrees coming out the vents on the upper center dash! Runs and cools great now. Even with the manual tranny, I barely notice the compressor kicking in and out. You might want to have someone check to see if it has enough refrigerant in it. Also. I vacuumed a lot of excess compressor oil out of the low side of the system. Hope this helps

 

Rick_a: Cooling the occupants in the back seat (particularly my 10 month old daughter and the occasional joy ride in the hatch for my two dogs) would be my primary concern. I would definitely tint my windows 20% all around - no question - I've done it for all my cars b/c I have problems with bright sunlight/glare causing serious migrane headaches (Dr. exemption).

rubixdimension: i'm seeing a pattern here among responses and it seems that the a/c systems do not contain enough freon from the factory since a few people have claimed to add freon which helped. I think that if this is the case that Honda better shape up - low freon from the factory is ridiculous. Don't get me wrong, I love my Hondas.

Thanks for the input guys. ...I'll make up my mind someday.

 

I have liked my Honda a lot from the get-go. But as you know, the Fit's only been in production two years in America. And I don't know about them all...mine personally, said Japan 100% on the window sticker when I bought it. So if it's low of refrigerant from the factory and being shipped overseas. It MIGHT be due to laws against Hazmat and the amount in the vehicle when shipped. Idk, but your right, the dealers here should do something about it on their PDIs when they arrive on the lots. Glad to be help though

Cooling in the back of my car for passengers has always been a concern of mine as well jdmwhore... the car's got rear under-seat vents on the front driver and passenger seats for the rear, but it's not really sufficient for as much space as there is back there (upper half of car and trunk area being open to each other. Not to mention 20+ sq. ft. of roof the sun beats down on and heats while you're trying to cool the inside 50+ cu. ft. of interior space at the same time. Set the A/C to fresh air entering with the windows up or down, if down, wait until the air gets cold and roll them up, when you feel the car's temp start to drop. Set it to recirculate and it will start recirculating cold air from within the car and bring it down cooler. Also, Check the cabin air filter behind the glove box to make sure it's not stopped up! Hope this helps!

 

First of all. your 'dealer' is wrong. The A/C has a standard discharge air temperature limit that it must meet based on inlet air. Its not 5F difference either. If the thermometer doesn't show that temperature the A/C is defective.
Now check to see first if you are asking the A/C to work in full recycle mode with no (supposedly) fresh air. Yes it does have a little by design.
Second, make sure your A/C water drain is clear.
Third, see that the A/C drive belt is tight to spec.
Now if the A/C outlet doesn't produce max 80F air at 40 mph and #3 fan setting there is somehing defective about the A/C, or controls or ducting.
I realize the FL summers are hot and muggy (been there more than a few times) but that shouldn't make a diifference (except in mpg) to a proper A/C unit.
We,ve had a pretty hot and humid summer so far (92-97F and 65 to 75% humidity) and my air certainly is below the 80F standard limit once everything is at operating condition. And its not a white car.
Complain to Honda.

 

I've hated mine. Who wants to put up with that noise of having their cars on #3 or #4 fan setting. I think the cars aren't full of juice when they deliver them to the dealerships. I will probably have mine charged up. Somebody told me Toyota ships their cars less a 1/2 pound of refrigerant and it saves them a lot of money.

Rubixdimension may have hit it on the head.

 

Running A/C on fan speed 2 would hardly cool the Fit south of the M&D line. To cool the cabin you have to move a lot of air. Noise? yes #4 is noisier but comfort makes the noise goi away.

 

Assuming this is R-134a, I'm running down to wallymart this weekend to put some juice into my A/C. Thanks again for the tips FF'ers.

 

With my manual sport, that I just got in June, the A/C temp goes up and down noticeably, which I haven't had on other cars. In other words, I'll hear the cold kick on, and feel it, but on really hot days, when I'd like it to just stay cold, I'll hear it go on and off every minute and feel the air get warm and then cold again. I was going to take it to a dealer and then the temp fluctuation seemed to go away. Like a lot of other people I've noticed that it doesn't often seem quite cold enough too, but a few people said this might be because of low freon. Anyone else notice this temp fluctuation sometimes?

 

For us here in Southeast MO we've been treated to unseasonably mild weather. I'm kinda enjoying it.

But in the last week or two when it has gotten warm (90 or so) it's felt pretty adequate. It doesn't remove the heat like my Ford Ranger reg. cab did (smaller space) but it works alright.

I can sometimes just run the cool air without the a/c in the morning, and the a/c with the fan on 1 in the afternoon (after the car has cooled down).

Hopefully the windows will get tinted over the winter months and we'll be set on both the wifes car and mine!

 

I test drove a brand new 2008 Fit a few weeks ago and it was ~90 F. The AC was just barely adequate. My wife commented on it and she was sitting up front with me. I wonder how the salesman in back felt...

Hopefully my 09 wont have this issue.

 

Just got back from driving to Vegas (about a 5 hour trip). I was concerned before I went because when I got my Fit (it's just 2 weeks old) I didn't think the AC was really cold either.

Happy to say I only ran the AC at 1 or 2 the whole time (106 degrees while I was there and my route driving there was through the desert) and coming home I actually turned it off because I got too cold.

 

On Really Hot days(85 degrees and above) the A/C seems to need some time to cool down. Once I get going it cools well enough, and on regular hot (75 to 85 degrees) days it freezes you out.