No A/C after cooling fan melt down

[wyoua]

Hello, i have a 2005 Acura RL 3.5 V6.

About 2 mouths ago, i was out of town and started hearing this wining turning into a loud kinda griding sound only when the A/C was on, i turned it off and tried again the next day to find no A/C, it never worked at all after that. I get home to find the right cooling fan had literally melted, and fried the ground wire to the frame, which was also tied in with the harness that went to the A/C compressor, took the bumper off, fixed the melted wiring, new fan, turned it on and the clutch on the A/C compressor kicked on but no A/C, took it to a buddy that had one of those nice A/C machines and evacuated the system to find i only had 0.50 charge, he said that was low and charged it 1.05 pounds, but still no A/C, lines are not getting cold. With A/C off, high side is around 100PSI, with the low side being at around 120PSI, with the A/C on, its the same.

At this point, we both figured the compressor went out because of the fan issue, so new compressor installed, same thing, so we replaced the expansion valve and drier filter, still no go.

NOTE, one time when recharging, the low side went over 300PSI, but it only did that one time, not sure what that meant.

Now we're not sure where to turn, compressor clutch is engaging and disengaging when it should, no codes, any ideas what it might be?

Thanks

[mtwask01]

I am by no means an expert here, but having some familiarity with this A/C system (have an ’07 TL Type S with the same J35A8 engine, and is probably very similar A/C system to that) I thought I would chime in. I had an A/C related issue on that car in which the A/C clutch relay failed in the closed position making the clutch engaged all the time. When I had the car idling and the A/C off on a warm morning, I heard an awful noise (maybe similar to the noise you described) followed by a hissing sound. I quickly shut the car off and discovered that the A/C compressor has a mechanical relief valve that opens to vent refrigerant in the case of over pressurizing. Because the computer did not “think” that the A/C compressor was on, it did not turn on the electric fans, and thus the over pressurizing. I’m thinking your A/C compressor vented some refrigerant out and that’s why your charge was so low. And speaking of charge level, you report that you put in 1.05 lbs but the spec I saw for this vehicle is 19 ounces or about 1.19 lbs so you might want to double check your literature.

It is always concerning when there is a wiring harness failure such as yours. You should definitely be asking yourself what caused the wiring to fail and why didn’t a fuse blow when it started to overheat. Without figuring out the root cause of this problem and addressing it, there is a strong possibility of the problem reoccurring. I think verifying operation of your fans would be an excellent idea. Realize that Honda/Acura vehicles use a dual fan setup with low and high speed circuits. You need to make sure both of your circuits are working. Seeing both fans spinning does not necessarily mean that both high and low speed circuits are working. One of these circuits could have been harmed in your harness failure. I have some wiring diagrams from my TL’s factory service manual that I could PM you if interested.

As far as what’s going on with your new A/C compressor and your current issues, I’m wondering about that new expansion valve and compressor you put in. Were they OEM parts? I know a lot of guys on this forum are less than impressed with the quality of aftermarket expansion valves and compressors. Some of the cheaper aftermarket parts have poor quality control and you could have a dead compressor right out of the box. Also double checking that your low and high side quick disconnects on your A/C machine are fully depressing the schrader valves is absolutely essential for taking accurate pressure readings. Including the ambient temperature and engine rpm in your pressure readings would also be helpful in determining if you have normal A/C pressures.

[Tim]

Aftermarket A/C Compressors have the same failure rate as OEM. The biggest issue we see is in improper repair and then blame the compressor.

As far as what’s going on with your new A/C compressor and your current issues, I’m wondering about that new expansion valve and compressor you put in. Were they OEM parts? I know a lot of guys on this forum are less than impressed with the quality of aftermarket expansion valves and compressors. Some of the cheaper aftermarket parts have poor quality control and you could have a dead compressor right out of the box. Also double checking that your low and high side quick disconnects on your A/C machine are fully depressing the schrader valves is absolutely essential for taking accurate pressure readings. Including the ambient temperature and engine rpm in your pressure readings would also be helpful in determining if you have normal A/C pressures.