2003 Honda Accord EX - A/C problem related to hard and sudden braking?

Maintenance/Repairs
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1

Two weeks ago I had to brake suddenly while driving in town and my A/C immediately stopped cooling although the fan continued to work. I drove it home and the next morning when I started my car the A/C worked fine. It was working fine until yesterday when I was driving and again had to brake suddenly to pull over after taking a wrong turn. The A/C immediately went out again. Only this time the A/C didn’t ever start working correctly again. Does anyone have any info to help me in fixing this issue? Thanks!

2

The A/C system has an internal pressure switch the will shut the compressor off (but the fan will still run) if the refrigerant pressure drops too low, so that the compressor won’t be damaged. The refrigerant will leak slowly out of any A/C system because no seal is perfect. Your car is old enough that, over ten years or so, enough refrigerant may have leaked out to trip the pressure switch.

Have the refrigerant pressure checked. It may be time for a recharge.

3

There’s nothing that should shut the AC off under hard braking. Unless there’s a problem with the wiring harness under the hood.

Under hard braking this causes the engine to move forward on it’s mounts. This movement forward of the engine may be pulling on a wiring harness/connector for the AC compressor causing the compressor to shut off.

Tester

4

Thanks for the comments. I will look into both recommendations

5

Open the hood and check the radiator/condenser fan operation. A worn out fan motor can stop or seize during rapid speed changes.

6

Thanks Nevada, altho’ in my case the fan still works, it’s the cool that no longer works

7

He’s talking about the condenser/radiator fan, the one that’s under the hood that keeps air flowing through the radiator and condenser.

8

It’s worth having someone check your engine mounts. Honda had some engine mounts in those years that didn’t hold up very well. If your engine is moving around more than it should, other things can be affected.

9

ThanksTester and lion9car! I’m going to take it in and have the mounts etc checked out. I’ll let u know what they say!