2001 Honda Civic A/C and Electrical problems

2001 HONDA CIVIC
174,000 MILES • AUTOMATIC
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JSENS
  • MEMBER
  • 1 POST
I have a 2001 Honda Civic that has recently been having some problems. First of all, the lights near the gear shift stopped working. The cigarette lighter also started working off and on, and I got an odd smell coming from my car followed by a small amount of smoke coming from the air vents (which stopped after 2 minutes and hasn't started since). Next, my A/C only blows warm air, and will only blow air from the vents occasionally and only for a short period of time. I attempted to add more freon for this, but after 2 canisters my psi reading on the low pressure side goes to 40 as I'm adding it and back to 0 when I stop.
Jun 4, 2011 at 2:53 PM
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CARADIODOC
  • ✓Experienced Mechanic
  • 34,407 POSTS
The AC has a major leak. You should see white smoke coming out if it's leaking that fast. Common sources are the condenser in front of the radiator, the evaporator in the dash, from in front of the compressor right behind the pulley and clutch, and from a hose. Also look at the receiver-drier to see if the high-pressure safety valve popped out.

Sounds like there's a wiring problem in the dash for the electrical problem. Normally fuses will protect wires from overheating if it's due to too much current, but corroded connector terminals will cause overheating and too LITTLE current so a fuse would not blow. A common thing to find is burned terminals in a connector for high-current items like heater fans and cigarette lighters. The connector body will be melted too. To fix those you can cut the wires back to an area where they are not hardened, and splice in a new piece, bypassing the connector.
Jun 4, 2011 at 4:19 PM
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