Clarity A/C problem (and warranty extension on pg 10)

[Walt R]

Sorry you have to go through this.

I don't recall anybody reporting a bad evaporator in this forum. Condensers - absolutely.
I agree with your skepticism, and it just seems unlikely that both the condenser and the evaporator would be bad.

Is there another Honda dealer within a reasonable distance that you could try?
Of course, I'm sure all Honda dealers will now see the diagnosis you were given in their computer and that would certainly taint their thinking.

Did they provide any "evidence" to prove that the evaporator is bad?

I too had the warranty extension condenser replacement recently. I had it diagnosed on a long road trip but they didn't have the part, then replaced a few weeks later at home. Notably, the home dealer did want to retest, even given the paperwork from the first dealer.

I too am skeptical of two different problems at the same time. Especially as the known one is a leak, so nothing mechanically wrong with the part.

 

[JFon101231]

Of course, I'm sure all Honda dealers will now see the diagnosis you were given in their computer and that would certainly taint their thinking.

I'm not sure if that is possible - or at least whether they'd have a reason to look and how difficult it is...

I can say from experience I went to closest dealer and they refused warranty claiming it was from road debris. I went to another dealer 6 months later (where I bought the car) figuring it was worth a shot and while service writer warned up front it wouldn't be covered if road damage etc, they ended up warranting it. Not sure whether they didn't see something other ppl did, maybe some dealers follow the letter a bit stricter, or who knows what.

TL, DR - try another dealer IMO

 

[begranter]

Brought in my 2018 Touring with almost 25k miles for the A/C failing. Sure enough, the condenser was leaking significantly and they replaced it under warranty.



However, now they've identified the system's low and high gauges are too far from normal levels, the cause of which is a blockage in the system, likely the pressure valve. I'm feeling like this should be covered by the extended warranty as well as from what I've found online it seems that blockages tend to occur from leaky/faulty condensers. I'm not a mechanic though, so wondering if anyone else has had a similar experience.

Apologies if this was brought up already in the thread but couldn't find anyone else mentioning this experience.

 

[MrFixit]

I'm not a mechanic though, so wondering if anyone else has had a similar experience.

I have no experience with this, but I find it hard to believe the scenario.

• Your A/C dies, and they identify the known condenser defect as the cause. It is clearly bad (visually apparent).
• They replace the condenser only to find that lo and behold there is another problem (unrelated to the condenser failure)?

Let me ask you this - Did you take the car in 'shortly' after the A/C failed, or could you have conceivably been driving around for many months not knowing that all the refrigerant had leaked out? The reason I ask is that without refrigerant, moisture will get into the system [over time] and could cause some corrosion resulting in the valve sticking (or similar). That would not happen quickly, but the trouble is that nobody runs the A/C during the winter, so if the condenser fails and the refrigerant leaks out in the fall, you may not know it until the next summer (hence a 'long' time for peripheral damage to occur).

That would still be the "fault" of the condenser, but seasonal timing could make the difference as to whether additional damage occurs.

If it were me, I would certainly push back. You may get nowhere, but my feeling is that whatever this blockage is, it would not have occurred if the condenser had not failed in the first place. Either that, or you had an incompetent mechanic who somehow caused additional damage during the condenser replacement.

 

[begranter]

That's my thought too. I'm in New England so all winter I only use the A/C for defogging, which is not often. I also park in a garage both at home and at work and the A/C still worked enough to keep a cool car cool. I only noticed the A/C wasn't functioning properly when it was trying to cool the car down after it was sitting in the sun on a 90-degree day. I think it's fair to assume I was driving with a faulty A/C compressor for multiple months.

I did purchase an extended warranty for 10 years that covers almost all repairs with a $100 deductible, including a car rental covered for up to 5 days. I may be better off just taking the rental for $100 since it's going to take them a few days to get the part in (~$50/day) since the dealer doesn't cover a courtesy vehicle.

Edit: Forgot to say, thank you! Appreciate your input.

 

[izudin]

Another A/C failed, Clarity Touring 2018, 39k miles. Called the dealer and scheduled to bring the car, unfortunately will have to wait more than a week for the first available opening.

 

[izudin]

Another A/C failed, Clarity Touring 2018, 39k miles. Called the dealer and scheduled to bring the car, unfortunately will have to wait more than a week for the first available opening.

The condenser leak, replaced under Honda A/C extended warranty

 

[jorgie393]

Likewise. 2018 Clarity, 37k miles. A/c failed, determined to be condenser, being replaced under 21-017 warranty extension for this part as we speak. Two nice surprises: first, they had part in stock so it is same day replacement. Second, the car ahead of me in line at the service center was an identical Clarity in same color (Forest Green) which I have never seen! Didn’t find out why it was there.


Sent from my iPhone using Inside EVs

 

[claritypwner]

I have a 2018 Clarity I leased new then purchased end of lease last year. Car has around 48,000 miles on it. About 3-4 months ago AC slowly gave out, blowing cool but not cold for maybe 4-5 days, eventually blowing warm air only. Took it to dealer and they said it was condenser and replaced under extended warranty.

Now 3-4 months later exact same thing happened, cold air turned to cool to warm over several days. I assumed it was the condenser again but when I took it in they said it was the evaporator coil which isn't covered by the AC warranty and costs 2670.00 to repair including tax. They recommended I call Honda America to see if there is anything they can do, which I did. Opened a case, submitted the requested docs which was just the diagnosis and estimate from the dealer. A few days passed and they called me this morning saying they had reached a decision and had a good will offer for the repair to be done at the same dealer (Norm Reeves Honda West Covina) for $1900.00. They also were almost like a Time Share saying this is a one time offer that I need to accept or decline and they never renegotiate the offer, and that it was only good for the next few days (can't remember how many exactly). Seems like a friggin' scam considering they are selling cars with known faulty AC units and my car had 2 critical parts have catastrophic failure a few months from each other but according to them totally unrelated.

 

[MrFixit]

This sort of thing has been reported here before (I'm sure you read some details in the thread above). A 'failure' of another component this close to the replacement of a known bad condenser just seems unlikely to be coincidence. It is unclear how to be sure you are getting a fair shake because you (and most anyone) is at the mercy of the dealer / Honda. You could try a different dealer (hoping that the first one diagnosed it improperly) but it is quite possible that the 1st dealer did something wrong with the condenser repair that led to this. Did they explain how they arrived at the failed evaporator diagnosis, why they are confident in that diagnosis, and why it can't possibly be related to the condenser failure / repair?

Also, the price you were given seems a little unreasonable. Unfortunately this is a very labor intensive repair. The evaporator is roughly $300, but the flat rate labor to replace it is 7.1 hours + 1.4 hours for evacuate / recharge + refrigerant cost (maybe $100). I'm not sure what the current labor rate is, but assuming $175 per hour, this all comes out to pretty close to the $1900 "good will" offer (not the original price). You could find out what their actual labor rate is to get a closer check, but fundamentally this sucks !!! For comparison, the condenser takes only around 3 hours to replace.

 

[Geor99]

6 months ago the ac went out in my Clarity. I bought refrigerant at Autozone for $60 & used it.

My ac has been working well ever since, and I use it daily.

I'd give this a shot guys. It worked wonders for me!!!!

 

[Arctiic]

Has anyone else experienced their A/C compressor suddenly and seemingly permanently becoming a lot louder? The noise sounds like a loud "whirring" and specifically only comes on when A/C is operating (goes away when turning A/C off while fans are still on). I did take it in to the dealership, but what a bunch of crooks! I waited in the lobby for nearly 6 hours, didn't take a shuttle because they couldn't give me an estimated time frame all the way up to the end, and at the end couldn't tell me a single thing about what's wrong with the compressor or what the cause of the noise was, and charged me $180 for a "diagnostics fee". the only thing they could tell me was the cost of a new compressor, which he tried to sell me on despite the total lack of informative data. Finally, I get home that night and take a look under the hood myself, and what do I see? The fine layer of dust all over the radiators and visible portions of the interior bay were completely intact. It's no wonder they couldn't give me an estimated time the whole day, and couldn't tell me a damn thing about what's wrong with the compressor, because they never even touched the damn thing! They literally just pulled it into service, then parked it back out, slapped me with a $180 bill and recommended I buy a replacement for $5k+! I was infuriated! Anyway, in light of that, I'm hoping to get some more trustworthy feedback on the issue.

 

[insightman]

I was one of the first Clarity PHEV owners to have the condenser fail and be replaced under warranty. Now my 2018 Clarity is out of warranty and the AC has stopped working again. I thought I'd try adding refrigerant to see if that would fix the AC and then keep track of how long it kept working before making an expensive visit to my Honda dealer's service department.

However, after I bought a $153 can of R-1234YF refrigerant with a giant gauge on top, I noticed a warning on the sales receipt telling me the product wouldn't work with my Clarity. Can someone tell me why a vehicle with a non-belt-driven electric compressor can't accept refrigerant from a can?

The O'Reilly expert behind the counter didn't have an answer for me, so I returned the can on the spot. Even though I won't be driving in hot weather for several months now, I'd like to have the AC to assist with defogging windows.

 

[izudin]

Condenser has an extended warranty, so still should be covered by it.

 

[MrFixit]

Can someone tell me why a vehicle with a non-belt-driven electric compressor can't accept refrigerant from a can?

After Googling for a while, I believe the issue is not related to the fact that it is a 'can'. The trouble is that the EV systems are especially vulnerable to problems due to the high-voltage within the compressor system. They use a different type of oil as a result. You have to be careful because some cans of refrigerant contain some oil, or stop-leak, or leak detector substances that would be incompatible with the high-voltage systems. If the can contains just pure R-1234YF refrigerant, it would be OK. I suspect the can that you saw at O'Reilly's had some additive or another...

To corroborate this, I found a short video where he describes this, and identifies that there are indeed cans of R-1234YF that are compliant and they are advertised as suitable for EV's and Hybrids. You can probably find a can that states this, and it would be fine. The video is about 2 minutes long:



And yes... If your condenser fails again, it should still be covered by the warranty extension. But, it would seem unlikely that your replacement condensor would have failed, so perhaps it is something else. My suspicion would be that the condensor repair left you with a small leak causing you to eventually loose refrigerant. Honda should bear some responsibility if that is the case, but how would you ever prove it?

 

[insightman]

After Googling for a while, I believe the issue is not related to the fact that it is a 'can'. The trouble is that the EV systems are especially vulnerable to problems due to the high-voltage within the compressor system. They use a different type of oil as a result. You have to be careful because some cans of refrigerant contain some oil, or stop-leak, or leak detector substances that would be incompatible with the high-voltage systems. If the can contains just pure R-1234YF refrigerant, it would be OK. I suspect the can that you saw at O'Reilly's had some additive or another...

To corroborate this, I found a short video where he describes this, and identifies that there are indeed cans of R-1234YF that are compliant and they are advertised as suitable for EV's and Hybrids. You can probably find a can that states this, and it would be fine. The video is about 2 minutes long:



And yes... If your condenser fails again, it should still be covered by the warranty extension. But, it would seem unlikely that your replacement condensor would have failed, so perhaps it is something else. My suspicion would be that the condensor repair left you with a small leak causing you to eventually loose refrigerant. Honda should bear some responsibility if that is the case, but how would you ever prove it?

Thanks, @MrFixit, your Googling skill surpasses mine. It never occurred to me there would be an incompatible additive.

 

[Geor99]

I was one of the first Clarity PHEV owners to have the condenser fail and be replaced under warranty. Now my 2018 Clarity is out of warranty and the AC has stopped working again. I thought I'd try adding refrigerant to see if that would fix the AC and then keep track of how long it kept working before making an expensive visit to my Honda dealer's service department.

However, after I bought a $153 can of R-1234YF refrigerant with a giant gauge on top, I noticed a warning on the sales receipt telling me the product wouldn't work with my Clarity. Can someone tell me why a vehicle with a non-belt-driven electric compressor can't accept refrigerant from a can?

The O'Reilly expert behind the counter didn't have an answer for me, so I returned the can on the spot. Even though I won't be driving in hot weather for several months now, I'd like to have the AC to assist with defogging windows.

View attachment 18879

I have already posted this, but the ac went out in my Clarity. It was blowing out room temperature air- not cold in the slightest bit. After reading this forum, I was going to do to the dealer, but I decided to risk the $60 on a can of refrigerant as a "Hail Mary." I went to O'reilly and bought a can of R-1234yf.

I followed the instructions and the ac now works perfectly and has for months now. I use the AC literally every single day for an hour or so. I am not saying that it will work for everyone, but it worked wonders for me. Before you guys deal with hours of fighting with dealers or spending 1000(s) at the mechanic, I would give this is a shot. I am glad that I did!!!!! I used it once and it has worked ice cold for months now.

 

[guinness10]

2018 Clarity Plug-In owner. About 4-5 months ago noticed the AC was no longer blowing cool air, brought it to dealer and the condenser was replaced at no cost due to the extended warranty on the part offered by Honda. Now, the AC is again not blowing cold air and although I am scheduled to bring it to the dealer again tomorrow, they’ve already stated that if it is the evaporator then that won’t be covered. Gonna be honest, feeling a little peeved if this turns out to be the case as I don’t think any car I’ve ever owned had such issues with the AC system, whether bought new or used.
Just felt a need to rant a bit to folks in similar situations. If anyone has any tips or additional info on how I might handle this (if it does turn out to be the evaporator) I’d certainly appreciate it.

 

[MrFixit]

018 Clarity Plug-In owner. About 4-5 months ago noticed the AC was no longer blowing cool air, brought it to dealer and the condenser was replaced at no cost due to the extended warranty on the part offered by Honda. Now, the AC is again not blowing cold air and although I am scheduled to bring it to the dealer again tomorrow, they’ve already stated that if it is the evaporator then that won’t be covered. Gonna be honest, feeling a little peeved if this turns out to be the case as I don’t think any car I’ve ever owned had such issues with the AC system, whether bought new or used.
Just felt a need to rant a bit to folks in similar situations. If anyone has any tips or additional info on how I might handle this (if it does turn out to be the evaporator) I’d certainly appreciate it.

I don't know why the dealer would specifically prepare you for a 'bad' evaporator without even looking at anything. Sure, it could be a bad evaporator, but to me, the chances are much greater that the condenser repair job was not done correctly since it only lasted 4-5 months.
.

 

[Kevin Kim]

Socal 2018 Clarity PHEV owner here. Bought new and currently has about 54K miles. Condenser was replaced under extended warranty back in July 2022 at local Honda service center due to A/C failing to blow cold air. I noticed it started to gradually blow less and less cold air since a couple months ago but weather wasn't hot enough where I needed to run the A/C so wasn't a huge concern at the time. Now it's starting to warm back up with today being over 90 degrees. Turned on the A/C and met with the nastiest warm air that just made me miserable during my commute home from work. Luckily I scheduled a service appointment last week at my local Honda service center for tomorrow. I'm hoping it's the condenser again and not something else like the evaporator someone else on this forum previously mentioned. Will come back here and provide an update after my appointment.