a/c condenser fan trouble

[tmarsh]

Hoping you all can help. My 99 civic dx is giving me grief with the A/C. It is not blowing cold air when at idle, I have had this problem with another car, basically the fan doesn't come on. I got a new motor - worked fine for about 5 minutes, then seized up. I double checked the old motor - and it works (lesson learned). So, now I have no clue where to look next.

One other symptom - prior to getting my hands dirty with this, when at idle (and with the a/c on), the car started surging, and would sometimes die. Kind of like it was loaded down.

Any help would be awesome. It is my wifes car, she is pregnant and due any day - not really wanting to stress about a/c down here in TX with a pregnant woman, if you know what I mean.

Thanks.

 

[mitka]

does the motor stall w/o A/C?
If yes, could be faulty IAC.

 

[tmarsh]

I haven't noticed a stall with the a/c off. I am going to double check the relay for the a/c now. Is there anything, other than a relay, that would tell the a/c to go on and off? Or anything that would put a load on it?

Thanks

 

[Esotericimage]

Might be the Hi/Low pressure switch... Ron might chime in here.. He's pretty informative on AC systems..as for the fan, might be the fan relay..

 

[tmarsh]

The motor works, when jumped at the relay housing. Could all of this be due to the a/c pressure switch? How do you test this? Could it be a lack of freon?

I am at a loss right now. the relay works, the motor works, the connection between the two work.

Any ideas?

 

[mitka]

bypass the pressure switch:

Unplug the connector to the pressure switch and put a jumper wire to the two prongs on the wire connector side. If A/C works your pressure switch is bad. If it does not work you are low on freon.

 

[RonJ]

If the A/C works when you are driving the car, then the pressure switch, thermostat, and heater control panel are fine.

You need to get the condenser fan running. Does the condenser fan relay socket have battery voltage at both terminals 2 and 4? How do you know that the fan relay is good? Swap the condenser fan relay with the compressor clutch relay in the hood fuse box. Does the condenser fan now run when you push the A/C button? If so, get a new condenser fan relay.