Air condition blowing hot air, car has 94,000 miles and roof liner is coming down. Is this car worth repairing AC? The fuse is NOT the problem, already replaced.
Probably, what is the AC repair estimate?
Versus $22,000 plus for anew Civic.
I consider AC as a luxury that we usually demand. If you agree, don’t fix it. However, if you are selling the car, it probably should work.
I, personally, would get a diagnosis and repair estimate and then make the decision. Some problems are not expensive.
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Define fix it. Got estimate?
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AC a ’ Luxury ’ ?
I am in the camp that does not consider A/C to be a “luxury”, but… to address the OP’s question directly, I think that his decision should be based on the overall condition of this 10-11 year old car.
Is there any rust on the body? If there is, then spending money on A/C may not be wise, in the long-term.
If it has an automatic transmission, have you changed the trans fluid at least 3 times so far?
If not, then you will very likely be experiencing transmission failure w/in a year or so, and that will run into a LOT of money.
Since the car is driven about 8,500 miles per year, do you change the oil on the basis of elapsed time, rather than on the basis of odometer mileage? If not, then the engine could have an accumulation of damaging oil sludge, and that can lead to expensive engine repairs.
The answer to the OPs question depends on things we have not been told.
Does the OP live in Phoenix, or Toronto?
Is the rest of the car a rolling wreck or just sporting a saggy headliner?
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Depends on what part of the country you live in.
Just for reference… I just spent $1300 to fix the AC on my 16 year old truck with 140K miles on it. Not fixing it was NOT an option since I live where it gets HOT. And it is black.
It has rust holes in each rocker panel, a formerly saggy headliner (DIY with spray adhesive) and the driver’s seat is a bit saggy but it runs very well and has been properly maintained. It was WELL worth the money.
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When cooler weather comes and the defogger doesn’t defog, this becomes a safety issue, not a question of luxury.
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I guess I am showing my age when I remember the first AC systems coming into cars as an expensive option. And, of course, the relative need depends upon your latitude. Where I am has just completed about 35 days of over-90 temperatures.
Yes, but let us not forget that indoor plumbing was considered a luxury not that long ago. When my mother was a child and a young adult, she had to use an outhouse located in the backyard of her building, and that was in NYC. Yes, NYC in the 20th Century!
Mankind evolves along with technology, and one-time luxuries become cheaper and more commonplace. And, in the process, we learn that these luxuries often make us safer, as well as more comfortable.
To try to bring this back to cars, let us not forget that computers–which were once thought to be a luxury–are a necessity in modern automobiles. Without onboard computers, a huge percentage of the functions would not be possible . Luxuries evolve into necessities.
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How does a 2009 Civic have a sagging headliner? That car must’ve lived a rough life.
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It sounds to me like the A/C problem has not even been diagnosed by a pro yet and the OP is a DIYer whose expertise is very thin at best. There is more than one fuse involved and the OP has provided no other info besides checking one fuse.
The problem may be nothing more serious than a service port leak or it may involve a trashed compressor. Who knows?
In my younger days I didn’t need no stinking air conditioner. Sticking to vinyl seats was perfectly acceptable…
In my somewhat older years an A/C is a necessity more than a luxury. When the temperature is 100 degrees here in OK with a 75 degree dew point not having a working A/C is beyond miserable.
And as mentioned, no A/C when the windows are fogging, or icing, over can be a safety hazard.
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Where I live, it’s supposed to be 115 degrees this weekend . . .
One of my cars had a sagging headliner when it was 7 years old
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I can’t complain about weather in OK. It’s actually been pretty nice this summer with only a brief period of 100 degree weather. Everything here in northwest OK is still green and most of the time it’s fried brown by this point.
Record temp in my area is 118 and record temp for OK is 120. The humidity is what makes it miserable.
You should at least spend a hundred dollars and get it looked at. I could just need to be recharged and a leak taken care of. If serious though, yeah sure budget $1000 or more.
I’ve done both but I was more like 400,000 miles not 100K before I gave up. I also gave up on heat for a winter too so I’m tough. Just depends on how much you are going to drive the car and if you will have any passengers. So $1000 for air and $200 for a headliner on an 09? Toss up.
Shoulda’ read the other comments first I guess. Yeah I remember my dad would never want to spend the extra $400 for AC so went without it until the 80’s when you couldn’t buy a car without it. Remember on vacation driving through Montana or someplace hot, we’d put wet towels on our laps to cool off. Fun.
Then @VDCdriver we never had AC in the house either. Just used fans. So when we built in 76 we skipped the AC until it was pretty hot and the in laws were coming and the wife said time to get air conditioning like everyone else. The guys got it in before the weekend. So depends what the wife says but I wouldn’t dare go a couple days now if it broke.
Circa 1962, my parents and I went on vacation in our '59 Plymouth. I don’t recall our exact itinerary, but suffice it to say that we were driving South from NJ. Instead of taking our usual NJ Turnpike/Delaware Turnpike route, my father decided that we would take the Garden State Parkway to Cape May, and then take the Cape May-Lewes Ferry over to Delaware.
After we bought our vehicle ticket at the ferry dock, a very large detachment of The National Guard–which was on summer maneuvers–showed-up, their vehicles were given priority, and they filled the next 3 boats. We, and a lot of other folks sat on the dock and the approach roads for several hours in the broiling sun on a scorching-hot day.
In those days, A/C was not frequently found in cars, except for some Caddies, Imperials, and Lincolns, and it appeared that nobody in that mass of vehicles had A/C. Then, I noticed an elderly man in a new Pontiac Bonneville, who obviously had A/C, and he used it for all of the 4 hours or so that we all sat on that dock. Everyone–including a pregnant woman–stared daggers at him because he chose to not share his cool comfort with anyone else.
On that day, for the first time, auto A/C didn’t seem like a luxury to me.
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