About 90 minutes into a highway drive on an 85 degree afternoon, the cabin in our Fit began to heat up. We eventually noticed that the blower was not working properly: it would not deliver anything but the weakest air flow and changing switch positions had no effect. The AC indicator light indicated AC on, and the thin stream of air coming out “may” have been cooled, but the most obvious and immediate problem was not being able to get the blower to increase speeds, AC on or off. We opened the windows and arrived at our destination within 20 minutes.
After stopping for about 10 minutes for gas, the blower improved to about 50% capacity. The car then sat for three hours, and we drove home in the cooler evening and used AC for the entire 2hr drive home - no problems, full blower/AC capability. No problems in week since, around town, on short drives. Dealer can’t find anything, no service bulletins - suggested replacing cabin filter - new 1500 miles ago, thanks anyway.
Any suggestions anyone?
Gratefully, Steve,
aka, Fit To Be Fried in Fargo
It sounds like your evaporator is freezing up. When you are taking long trips in humid areas, set the air control to recycle instead of fresh, and that should prevent the problem. (You have to do this at the start, after the airflow is reduced, it will be too late to help.)
Tardis: Hey, I was using fresh instead of recycle, and the humidity was unusually high that day. Why didn’t my wife think of this?
Thanks for your suggestion. (And by the way, there’s an opening for your at my local Honda service department!)
Best regards, Steve