100k miles, automatic
Air condition has not been working for a while, had a mechanic take a look recently, here is what he found
'Check A/C not cold - testing finds A/C clutch not turning on, Check relay - ok, testing finds ECU engine computer purple wire bottom connector not grounding the replay to engage clutch. Need new ECU'
which gonna cost an arm and leg to fix.
I tried swapping the fuse with the back up, and swapping the AC relay with the horn one, doesn't fix the problem.
This mechanic said if it's his own car, he will wire a switch to turn on the clutch, but he cannot do that on customer car.
Is this a common problem? should i get another mechanic to take a look?
Thank you!
If I were you, I would find another mechanic to check the car.
@yaser
thank you for the feed back.
No mention of the A/C refrigerant being low or empty.
Hopefully your mechanic did the following.
Remove the A/C clutch relay.
Jump pins 1&2 in the relay/fuse box and see if the clutch engages.
Check continuity from pin #1 to compressor clutch connector.
Do you have power going to pin 1 of the A/C relay? If not, you may need to replace the relay/fuse box.
Check the voltage on pin 4 in the relay/fuse box. If no voltage, check for a bad fuse in passenger compartment fuse box.
Does the compressor clutch engage if you run a jumper wire from the computer pin 15 in the 49 pin connector to ground? If yes, check computer grounds. If not check for a bad wire in wiring harness.
Remove the connector from the compressor clutch and check clutch continuity.
Hopefully you won't need to replace the computer.
@bc-st
Thank you. not sure if he did all of those, but he did say he checked the refrigerant is good, and when he grounds the 'purple wire' manually, the clutch engages and AC works fine.
If the computer really is the problem look up Scotty's videos where he talks about "hot wiring" AC systems that stop working due to a malfunctioning computer. As others have said though, get a second opinion. There are other things that will prevent the air conditioning compressor from engaging, such as refrigerant too low or a bad low pressure cutout switch.
@chucktobias
thank you, do you have a link to that video? tried searching for it but could not find it.
@dabing
It would be nice if there were an index for Scotty's videos to make it easy to look up specific topics but I don't think such a thing exists. I know he's talked about it at least a couple of times.
Basically what it involves is hooking up a toggle switch and fuse to directly energize the compressor clutch manually on demand, bypassing the computer. I would think you might also want to use a relay and at least include the low-pressure cutoff switch in the circuit so as not to damage the compressor if refrigerant gets too low.
AC breaking on those model years and also CRV is common problem. take it in to a good mechanic, it could be an easy fix like a blower motor, or you'd had to look at a refurbished/brand new unit to replace it
