1990 air conditioner problem

[thoughtjewel]

red lite goes on on the ac button and the ac goes off...this is an intermittent problem...when it works it is fine: nice and cool...local mechanic has done all kinds of things to fix it...it never works...the $$$ are starting to add up...suggestions?

[thoughtjewel]

no ideas out there?

[Team L.S.D.]

Hello can anyone help him out. Sorry wish i knew!!

[91Si4WS]

the little red light comes on in mine sometimes too, it's a 91. but i talked to one of the guys at my work and he told me to watch and see when it comes on and i seen that it only kicks the ac off when i accelerate hard with it and he said that it is some kind of power saver thing so when the motor gets a lot of strain on it it kicks off the ac compressor so the motor can accelerate easier not having to work as hard to turn the compressor too, but when im crusing down the interstate and stuff i can turn the ac on and not have a problem with it.

[thoughtjewel]

mine can go off just driving around town or stay on for long highway drives and then go off again

[91Si4WS]

eh, i wouldn't put anymore money into it because chances are they're not gonna find anything wrong with it, just keep your windows down

[Uncle Buck]

keep your windows down


best solution yet....and also it doesnt rob the little bit of horsepower we got rollin in our g-rides:biggrin:

[terminator2373]

I have the same problem. I talked to a Honda Tech and he tells me that sometimes oil gets on the AC clutch and when it slips it will automatically kick the AC off, the the red light comes on. He told me of a fix you can do. Take the clutch off, clean it and there are shims in there. Remove the smaller of the shims and this should buy you some more life out of the clutch. May not work but he's done it before and has had them last years.
I haven't tried it yet, don't think I will. I'll just pay him to do it.

[Whit90si]

I fought the same problem on my Lude, after tracking down a $350 (reman)Sanden compressor a year ago and installing it. Little red light. Noise. Intermittent cold Air. I have just bypassed it with the shorter Alt. belt, but damn I misss the air, It gets hot in Georgia.

[lfoster200]

I have a '91 with the same problem. The problem is a sensor that thinks the pressure is too high and kicks the compressor off. On mine it only does this if it's real hot, of course being in Arizona, that most of the time. Anyway the fix is to install a toggle switch with one wire to ground and the other to the hot wire on the compressor. When the compressor kicks off, flip the switch. The compressor will still cycle on and off like its supposed to, it will just ignore the faulty pressure sensor. Mines been fine for a year now.

[terminator2373]

Sounds like you need to do a write up with some pics! I'd like to see the wires you had to tap.
.
I have a '91 with the same problem. The problem is a sensor that thinks the pressure is too high and kicks the compressor off. On mine it only does this if it's real hot, of course being in Arizona, that most of the time. Anyway the fix is to install a toggle switch with one wire to ground and the other to the hot wire on the compressor. When the compressor kicks off, flip the switch. The compressor will still cycle on and off like its supposed to, it will just ignore the faulty pressure sensor. Mines been fine for a year now.

[Diamondsleeper]

I had the same problem on my 90 Si. I troubleshot everything. Installed different sensors. Different compressor. Checked and rechecked all the wiring and plumbing etc. Even hot wired it. Don't recommend that. This system is pretty sophisticated. It monitors a lot of stuff. Not like simpler systems that just have a pressure switch. Only thing I didn't have to troubleshoot with was the control unit. This went on for over a year. I finally got a control unit from a junkyard after emailing them a picture of what I was looking for. That fixed it. Has not failed once since then. The control unit is a little brown box slightly bigger than a pack of cigarettes located behind the glove box above the kick panel. :biggrin: