A/C Condensor Punctured

[VTEC Grocery Getter]

This happened to me as well when driving to Kentucky from Florida in my
FA5. I heard a loud thud and pulled over. Looked around my car and noticed nothing out of the ordinary. Then I got to Kentucky and used the A/C for the first time on the trip. It blew only hot air. I called the local dealership in Lexington and they knew the problem before I even arrived. The tech looked between the bumper at the condenser and like Jeff Foxworthy said "well theres your problem." A small nut had bounced off the road and straight into the condenser. It was lodged in there really good. So he said yeah this isnt covered under warranty. So I asked how much? He said 440 for the part and 300 for labor. I said ill call you, and left. I went onto hondaautomtiveparts.com and bought the part for 154 bux shipped , and some R-134a from the local Wal mart for 20 bux. Installed it myself in about 2 hours. But yeah I was not happy with it only having 9k miles on the clock and having a newborn baby with it being 85 degrees outside.

[baglenn77]

ouch. Honda not only dont want to take blame for this design flaw they want to double the price of the condenser. I looked up how much a condenser costs from the dealership it said 180 bux but to say 400 that robbery. I would tell them ill give 180 for the part and lets make a deal on the labor. I dont know how to do this repair myself if it ever happened to me

[VTEC Grocery Getter]

Originally Posted by baglenn77

ouch. Honda not only dont want to take blame for this design flaw they want to double the price of the condenser. I looked up how much a condenser costs from the dealership it said 180 bux but to say 400 that robbery. I would tell them ill give 180 for the part and lets make a deal on the labor. I dont know how to do this repair myself if it ever happened to me

Its fairly simple. bumper off. condenser off. replace condenser. bumper on. fill back with r134a

[baglenn77]

hey vtec grocery getter, where on the condenser did the nut hit it? Also what gas mileage u getting?

[VTEC Grocery Getter]

Originally Posted by baglenn77

hey vtec grocery getter, where on the condenser did the nut hit it? Also what gas mileage u getting?

it was on the lower passenger side corner. all the fins where pushed in around that areaas well. i get horrible gas mileage. im always in VTEC

[Retread]

Same thing just happened to my EX Coupe. $740 for the dealer to fix. Good thread here with lot's of good info. I will get this fixed myself, or elsewhere rather than the dealer.
I found a condenser on line for $95 shipped.

[whitecivicsi]

So has anyone found a good place to buy good high quality condenser for their car yet? I'm still looking for one. If i'm going to fix this I'm going to only do it once you know.

I would hate for this shit to happen again 2 months down the road.

BS if you ask me.

[TrekRider]

Originally Posted by whitecivicsi

So has anyone found a good place to buy good high quality condenser for their car yet? I'm still looking for one. If i'm going to fix this I'm going to only do it once you know.

I would hate for this shit to happen again 2 months down the road.

BS if you ask me.

All condensers are essentially the same quality regardless of who makes it. Once upon a time back when R12 was used, there were quite a few condensers made from copper which were practically indestructible. Now with the higher pressures and temperatures with R134a, aluminum is the norm and with the need for more airflow to the condenser, there is a greater chance that it will be damaged.

[whitecivicsi]

Originally Posted by TrekRider

All condensers are essentially the same quality regardless of who makes it. Once upon a time back when R12 was used, there were quite a few condensers made from copper which were practically indestructible. Now with the higher pressures and temperatures with R134a, aluminum is the norm and with the need for more airflow to the condenser, there is a greater chance that it will be damaged.

Thanks TrekRider for the info...but you know I'm just hoping just maybe theres something of better quality out there.

[FlyingBrickyard]

Originally Posted by jjanders

Bumping this old thread because I would like to know this too. I am near purchasing a 2008 Civic EX and the quality issues are holding me back, this seems like a HUGE design flaw and if it indicative of the 8th Gen Civic, I may go with Toyota.

I can confirm that this has NOT been addressed with the 2008 models.

I did the mesh installation today, so should now be pretty safe from this happening.

I went with the 1/4" "hardware cloth", which is really just 23 gauge galvanized metal mesh with a 1/4" grid pattern.

Since I didn't want it to be bright silver, I picked up some black paint. However most of the spray paint I found made a specific point of saying "not for use on galvanized metal".

So... I finally found some High Temp "grill paint" (The BBQ kind, not the front of the car type, although in this case, it is).

It's good to 1,200F and does not forbid use on galvanized metal, and also advised against priming. Seemed good enough for me, so I picked up a can of flat black color and then cut the mesh and painted it, and then anchored with the zip ties.

I put the mesh in both intakes in the front, upper and lower, so there really shouldn't be any reasonable way for something to get directly in there.

Painted black and tied to the black plastic with 4 inch black ties the whole installation is invisible unless you specifically look for it.

In fact, when looking in through the grille, the first thing that catches your eye is still the silver AC condenser well behind the black wire mesh I installed.

I'm quite happy with the results, and feel a lot better about not sucking up a rock and putting a hole in an expensive and vulnerable part.

My only slight concern is that the installation may interfere slightly with the full nose mask, but I think I left enough play in the lower sections of mesh to allow the mask hooks to catch the bumper and still function as intended.

[baglenn77]

I feel i shouldnt have to go out of my way to figure out to install a protector mesh grill. I paid good money for a honda and it should be designed right so i dont have to spend time and more money to fix something that i dont know how to take apart. I have owned toyotas, nissans and never had the slightest concern about a condenser getting punctured. Is this condenser thing a Honda thing?

[whitecivicsi]

Originally Posted by baglenn77

I feel i shouldnt have to go out of my way to figure out to install a protector mesh grill. I paid good money for a honda and it should be designed right so i dont have to spend time and more money to fix something that i dont know how to take apart. I have owned toyotas, nissans and never had the slightest concern about a condenser getting punctured. Is this condenser thing a Honda thing?

I agree bud...this is sad and they're not doing anything about it either...my luck i get it fix and they come out with something.

[FlyingBrickyard]

Is this condenser thing a Honda thing?

Nope. Any car with AC has one, and several makes and models are prone to the same sort of damage. There's a very good chance your Toyotas and Nissans were just as likely to suffer this type of damage as well, but apparently they never did. A lot of it is luck.

I agree, it'd be better if they had more protection in place right from the factory, but putting the mesh in place really is pretty simple and inexpensive. If you had none of the required tools and wanted to do a really nice job, it'd probably cost you about $25 to get everything you need.

If you have the tools and just want to stick some mesh in there, it'll run you less than $10.

There's a good chance it'll never be a problem anyway. I've never lost a condenser to a debris hit (or anything else) in all the time I've been driving, but I figure with a very simple and inexpensive bit of preventative maintenance, I can just about rule out the possibility entirely.

That's worth $15 and a couple of hours of time to me.

[xmarine]

I also had a 07 LX with the same problem ----- I had 0 deductible on my comp. insurance so State Farm covered it in full and subrogated Honda to get there money back in full !

[audibleforce]

Well, this has happened to me again. This is the second time that my condenser has been punctured but this time the dealer wont replace it under warranty. The first time they did replace it under warranty here in Pasadena Honda . Looks like I'll be replacing this myself now. My mom always told me I had bad luck.

[whitecivicsi]

Originally Posted by audibleforce

Well, this has happened to me again. This is the second time that my condenser has been punctured but this time the dealer wont replace it under warranty. The first time they did replace it under warranty here in Pasadena Honda . Looks like I'll be replacing this myself now. My mom always told me I had bad luck.

Damn that just plain sucks man...can you just imagine how many more times this will happen in the future?

The only way I see fixing this problem is getting a Turbo so that the intercooler is mounted there

Hope we hear something about this soon.

[whitecivicsi]

Anyone knows why the 2008 2dr coupe SI models have a different condensor part number?

06 and 07

80102-sva-a11


2008

80102-sva-a12

and whats the difference between the two? If theres any?

Thanks

[Leonard1818]

So is the concensus to use metal mesh or the "gutter guard" plastic mesh stuff?

I know this was an issue for RSX owners and I almost did it to mine but sold it before I had a chance. I would think the plastic stuff would hold up a bit better... anyone?

[distrbd]

After reading all these posts on punctured A/C I decided to follow the procedure written by ndoelling with a couple of differences,I didn't use any tie wraps at all and made the wire mesh longer and wider so I can bend the ends of it and screw it to the grill,the whole thing took 2-3 hours but it was certainly worth it.

[whitecivicsi]

^^ Looks good man