Air Conditioning

[guest3336]

Hello,

I have a Honda Jazz LS (Swiss) dated November 2003.  Is it possible to add air conditioning?  There seems to be a blank button on the fascia; would this mean that this was available for an AC switch?  And where would I buy an air con unit from?  Any help and advice would be much appreciated.

Many thanks.

[Ozzie]

These are the only guys I could find.
http://alpinair.rtrk.co.uk/?scid=4431&kw=5507737

[VicW]

'Air con' is not a unit as such,it is made up of several components including the compressor which is the most expensive part.
I would suggest that because the car was not designed to have air con then fitting all the components,electrics,ducting,pipework and electrics etc would not be cost effective when you consider the age of the car.

Vic.

[chrisc]

I spoke to my mechanic friend and he said that adding an aircon compressor to a Honda engine was not too difficult, but the parts were extremely expensive, on account of not being able to use a generic compressor, rather a Honda part which is a peculiar size on account of it having to fit under the engine. 

He pointed towards some electric driven compressors which are more compact and require less surgery inside the engine compartment, which is a bit cramped for space.  Feeding the pipes inside the body and fitting a radiator within the air duct is not too bad, but it is an expensive exercise on account of the time it would take (he reckoned 10 hours of workshop time for a Jazz).

[Pine]

The chilled air coming out of my vents does not seem to be as cool as it used to be. Yesterday I measured the air temp at the centre vents by inserting the probe of a digital thermometer, the reading varied slightly as the a/c compressor cut in and out but the general temp was between 5 and 6 degrees centigrade. the outside air temp was 20 C. Does anyone know what the temp should be or how often a re-gas is required?

[JazzyB]

regas every 2-3 years

5-6 seems to be ok

[culzean]

I would say 5 degrees is pretty good,  (it is the temperature inside a domestic refrigerator), normal range is 4 to 7 degC,

Be careful if you re-gas system yourself,  too much gas can be worse than too little.  Too much gas will not allow the proper compression - expansion cycle that moves the heat from the car to the radiator.  As the gas is compressed and forced through narrow pipes in the 'hot' end (radiator) it changes to liquid and gives up heat,  when this liquified gas is allowed to expand and re-gasify into the larger pipes of the heat exchanger (cold end) it absorbs heat, and cools the air passing through the core. Too much gas can also mean that liquid 'gas'  can get into pump, as the 'liquid is not compressible it can jam up the pump and cause damage.

[chrisc]

An air-conditioner that is reducing the temperature by 15⁰ is working well.  Two years ago on a trip to Namibia I thought it was getting a bit warm in the car and the aircon was packing up, so I opened the window a bit.  It was above 40⁰ outside, so I quickly calmed down and realised that 29⁰ temp was quite acceptable in the circumstances.

In Bahrain, my daughter's friend has a Jeep Cherokee that has "heavy duty" airconditioning as it often exceeds 48⁰ on occasion.  This keeps the interior quite cool, but you can make toast on the glass facing the sun

[caseyjones]

I agree with the previous comments; it sounds like your a/c is doing fine. As for regassing, I don't think it should ever be necessary unless there's a leak. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. I've certainly never had it done on any of the cars I've ever had. Stop looking for problems and enjoy your car!

[Pine]

Thanks for your replies and advice. I think I will leave a re-gas for another year. I did not intend to do it myself I was going to use a mobile A/C specialist who I used about 6 years for my last car, a Mazda and it made a noticeable difference . He has all the necessary equipment in his van. He extracted the gas from the system then ran an internal vacuum and drying cycle and finally re-gassed the system by weighing the gas being put in. If I remember correctly it took about 2 hours to complete.

[chrisc]

Lots of workshops here do car aircon regassing as it can get very hot in summer, especially in Durban where 35⁰ with 95% humidity makes it awful to drive

Anyway, the guy at the local workshop tells me that over half the people coming in for an aircon regas just have a blocked pollen filter, often they didn't know their cars had one.  He also said the compressor would be very noisy if it were running low on gas since the gas has lubricant properties.  He keeps 3 types of gas in stock since American and Australian cars use gas with a higher thermal co-efficient than European or Japanese cars.

So check those things before he sucks all the gas out.