[nicksr]

AC blows cold air when working but intermittently fails . When failed ac clutch is not engaged. Mechanic has evacuated all refrigerant and refilled to proper level. Has he kc clutch operation which seems normal.

When ac failed in my driveway one day, noticed when opening hood that neither the radiator nor condenser fan were operating. I happened to have my garden hose nearby and sprayed radiator from engine side. Fans started up and AC clutch engaged and AC delivered cold air .
AC has been working every trip to mechanic so unable to duplicate. Trip to dealer also fruitless - they managed to refill the already filled refrigerant.

Thoughts?

 

[nicksr]

Ah - forgot to say 2010 with 130,000

 

[yst]

Looks like AC high pressure switch shutting down AC. And when you cooling down the condenser the pressure goes down as well and compressor starts.
It is possible, the condenser is dirty and need to be cleaned up.

 

[Dave J]

swap relays, that's what they do when their bad , or tap on it and it will turn on I have found on mostly Honda relays and that will make the fans not turn on if the coolant isn't hot enough,like yst said the high pressure switch could do it too if the garden hose wasn't coincidence this is more likely good point yst

 

[yst]

This video will show how to clean up condenser.

 

[rocky]

Good luck and please let us know the solution!

 

[nicksr]

Looks like AC high pressure switch shutting down AC. And when you cooling down the condenser the pressure goes down as well and compressor starts.
It is possible, the condenser is dirty and need to be cleaned up.

thanks - will look to replace switch.

Car was sitting for three hours after being used with ac operating. No AC, no fans working. Dashboard engine temp normal. Ran car for two ten minute runs. Spraying radiator initially had no effect. Third try, fans and ac came on.

 

[yst]

Before replacing anything need to be absolutely sure the part is faulty, as the switch replacement required freon recharging.
Symptoms of bad AC pressure switch https://www.yourmechanic.com/article/symptoms-of-a-bad-or-failing-ac-pressure-switch.
Also Pressure sensor testing.

 

[nicksr]

no schrader valve behind switch?

 

[wlong01]

AC blows cold air when working but intermittently fails . When failed ac clutch is not engaged. Mechanic has evacuated all refrigerant and refilled to proper level. Has he kc clutch operation which seems normal.

When ac failed in my driveway one day, noticed when opening hood that neither the radiator nor condenser fan were operating. I happened to have my garden hose nearby and sprayed radiator from engine side. Fans started up and AC clutch engaged and AC delivered cold air .
AC has been working every trip to mechanic so unable to duplicate. Trip to dealer also fruitless - they managed to refill the already filled refrigerant.

Thoughts?

Pretty obvious - A/C compressor clutch is failing. Common problem with this gen.

 

[nicksr]

compressor clutch failure would not shut off condenser and radiator fans. The signal shutting off fans is shutting off the compressor clutch.

 

[nicksr]

Had high pressure switch replaced - did not solve problem.

 

[Dave J]

the pcm detects the a/c is on from the pressure switch the pcm detects a rise in pressure then activates the fans so if the a/c clutch or relay is going bad it would cause the fans to stop shortly after the clutch disengages,I think they do it this way because in below freezing weather the refrigerant pressure will be below 28 PSI resting pressure so it wont activate the AC because of ac oil flow most likely for compressor life,before computers monitoring the ac pressure this was not the case they had the AC relay directly activating the fan relays like on my 2005 and 2006 the engine can be off with key forward and if I turn the ac on the fans come on and ac off the fans shut off , because resting ac pressure is close to ambient temperature numbers so at 28 psi resting pressure 32F resting temperature and lower numbers the AC compressor wont turn on so try the clutch relay first ,if you can get a test light on the wire going to the clutch that would tell if it is cutting power or the clutch is bad,but I have seen especially on Honda A/C clutch relay intermittently work,not sure where the spraying water would relate to the relay but I suspect the relay or clutch ,the pdf below explains the circuit of the ac relay and fans,an obd2 tool like the ap200 will read HVAC data to know if the PCM is commanding the clutch relay or not because the evaporator temp sensor could be bad also, I didnt think of that until just reading it ,did you swap the AC relay with the rear defrost or horn?be very careful if you are jumping terminals at the relay socket because positive power back to the PCM ground can damage the PCM driver transisor