wallow

My 2004 Accord EX also has a dual AC problem -- passenger side blows cold, driver side blows hot, regardless of setting.
Before moving I took it to a Honda dealer and paid $50 for a diagnosis. They said that the compressor had 2 sides and one had failed -- very expensive replacement, and they couldn't fit me in before I moved anyway.
But now, after reading this forum, I am not convinced! Why is it always the driver side that seems to fail?? Could it be that the problem is with the air direction controls?
I don't want to pay for a very expensive compressor replacement if the problem is something else.

slowcivic2k

First of all, whoever told you that the accord has a dual cooling solution is full of crap.

Second, do not say "My A/C blows hot air." A/C does not blow hot air in ANY car, its the sun that heats up the dash that makes it hot.

Merging to this thread will help a lot:
https://honda-tech.com/forums/honda-accord-crosstour-2003-2012-118/air-conditioning-problem-2935451/

And an overview of how A/C works, and some basic diagnostics:
https://honda-tech.com/forums/tech-misc-15/%2A%2A%2Aair-conditioning-c-guide-how-works-when-doesnt%2A%2A%2A-2900177/

Does your accord have dual temperature control or not? If there is not a separate temperature control on the drivers and passengers side, yours is not dual mode.

Read that first thread and perform the tests that I suggested in there. Usually, cooling on one side and not on the other is a refrigerant level problem, because there is not enough to go around.

Put your can is a shady area, and let the A/C run for about 3 minutes. Check all the vent positions, and ensure that when you switch to floor, or defrost, that the air moves. Then make sure that the temperature changes on all those positions. Turn the heat on your side on, it should get very hot, if the temperature does not change, you have a drivers blend door problem. Next close the passenger vents, then turn on the heat on that side, and turn it to cold on yours. You may or may not notice cool air on your side, a sign of low refrigerant.

Darde001

I am having the same problem with my 2006 Honda EX. I have the navigation system so it makes it even harder to follow the diagnostic plans I have seen, and the two center vents aren't capable of closing at all (only redirecting the air). I have dual air controls. I have tried every setting available... even turning the AC system completely off doesn't help, although at that point the air is not as hot, it is definately still warm on the drivers side.

It just seems so weird that the drivers side blows hot air (not vent air - it's HOT) the passenger side blows cold air like it should. Is there a hose that could have come loose? A damper?

I can't afford any major repairs so I was hoping you have some suggestions my husband might be able to fix.

boca

Any updates here?
My 2006 accord with navi is blowing hot hot air from passenger vents, and cold air from driver side

Darde001

Still don't know what the problem is. It seems to get stuck when I use the heater - like a valve gets stuck???
My husband ended up disconnecting something under the hood by the dash so I can have AC in the summer and hooks it back up for the winter so I can use the heat. I wish I could find a better solution!

John Elke

I haven't seen anyone mention this yet.

The Accord and Odyssey have an air conditioning self check that you can run. I don't know all of the models that it applies to but it works for my 2006 Accord with dual air conditioning controls.

The basic procedure is to turn the key on, you don't need to start the engine. Press and hold 'auto' on your a/c then while holding 'auto' press and hold 'off'.

On your display you should see '88' flashing. Hold both buttons for ~1 minute. If an error code is displayed, you'll have to look that up.

The self test causes the a/c system to cycle various bits in your air conditioning system. In my case, I was blowing hot air out the drivers side and cold out the passenger side. Performing the self test causes the air valve to get 'unstuck' and everything works fine again. It's only happened to me about 2x since I've owned the car (today and about 2 years ago).

Hopefully you're lucky and the self-test frees up whatever is stuck. If not then at least you have the error code to work off of.

walt in NB

continuing with the dual a/c discussion,, my '12 Acura TL has developed an intermittent a/c issue, where it will stop blowing cold air on the passenger side and then soon after, the driver side will go hot also. there is never a decrease in the blower and after a while of the car being turned off, it will begin blowing ice cold again. Thought it was an alternator issue, due to a recent battery failure, changed the battery, tested the alternator, its good. also checked coolant in radiator, its full. When I turn the a/c on I can hear the clutch kick on and it then hear it go off, the fans run with no problem.... I have not checked the refrigerant level, it doesn't seem to be low, since when it is blowing cold, its really cold. I saw somewhere that there is the possibility that a relay in the under-the-hood fuse box might be failing... does anyone have any knowledge of this problem and the solution of replacing the relay? and if the relay needs to be replaced, which one is it? I'd truly appreciate any good help here... I know its October1, but central TX doesn't cool off until January. thank you

Almighty-Si

The relay is located in the underhood fuse box. Remove the fuse box cover and look for the relay that has a picture of a snowflake, that will be it

Jommystew

I'm having the Sam problem with my 2004 Accord. It was happening continually so they said I needed a new compressor. $1100 and 4 months later its happening again.

The strange thing is..is when I flip to high.. The left center starts blowing cold air. I used to have a similar prob on a non dual ford system and they said it was the flap was broken and wasn't switching back and forth. That when I turned it to high the pressuremoved the flap. When I mentioned this to the Honda tech.. He said it couldn't be that. Talked to my 72 year old mom inFlorida about my frustrations.. She said her 2006 accord non dual a/c had the same problem and they greased the flp and problem solved. So now I gotta find some service center, other than Bryan Honda in Fayetteville NC, to try that. Their answer after giving them $1100 to replace the compressor is to buy a new car.

slowcivic2k

If you car is blowing heat, that is a blend door/ambient air temperature problem. This is quite rare, as most people mistake the summer heat plume in the vehicle for heat. If you cannot determine heat output, turn the heat on full, there will be a huge difference between hot air and HOT! air.

Verifying the refrigerant level is the first step, you need to read previous posts and create your own threads, as each of your problems may have separate causes.

Honda uses servo motors to control door position and have self-diagnostic capabilities on some vehicles. This swings the servos to their outer limits, and reports the door position. If the door/servo cannot reach the desired position, a DTC will be created.

As I have made clear in my previous threads and articles, cycling A/C systems are caused predominantly by low refrigerant charge. Once the vehicle is in motion, the cooling level will change, this is indicative, at first inspection, of a low refrigerant level, an inoperative fan, or blocked expansion valve.

love2travel

I have been having this problem with my 2007 Accord EX for 4-5 years. In the beginning, I would take it to my mechanic at the beginning of summer and tell him the same thing...it's blowing HOT air on the driver's side and cold air on the passenger side. He would service the a/c, including adding Freon (if necessary) but it never fixed the issue. It happened at random times, not every time I turned on the a/c (I actually run mine on "auto" 24/7 year around). If it started to blow hot air, I could usually turn the temperature dial up to High (as if I were running the heater) and then turn it back down and it would run fine...until the next random time that it would do it again. Then 1 time, right after having it serviced; it started acting up again. I called my mechanic on the phone, he said to bring it in and to not turn the car off until he could have one of his guys look at it. He wanted them to "experience" the issue first hand. After doing so, the mechanic told me that "Baldor Motor" was going out on it and that because it's dual control, there would be no way to tell "which one" was going bad until it stopped working completely. This sounded kind of "fishy" to me; I mean if it's blowing hot air on the driver's side, doesn't it stand to reason it's the driver's side that is going out? Anyway, I finally resigned to the fact that it was just going to be this way until it stopped working completely and I would deal w/it at that point. Well now...at least 2 years later (after the conversation about the "Baldor Motor") it would appear the day has come. For the last 2 days, nothing I do can "reset" it to blow cold air on the driver's side. Of course, now I am a divorced single mom (living in an area where 105 degrees in the summer is the "norm") on a limited income and cannot afford a huge repair bill. So any inexpensive, quick fix...advice would be greatly appreciated. Seems like after reading this forum, it always seems to be the driver's side. Does that seem odd to anyone else? It also seems to be a fairly common issue...wonder why Honda hasn't done anything about this, since it would appear to span several years of production.?.?.


**I did try the holding the auto/off button down for 1 minute as mentioned above. Never got an error message, and it would appear that it is blowing colder (not really cold) air now...but I only tested it in my garage for maybe a minute or 2.

Goggle1824

We have this issue with our 2007 Accord EX. Tried the self-check but it just blinked and blinked for over three minutes, never threw a code ( that I could tell), so I moved on.

What temporarily fixes this for us is turning the heat (both zones), all the way UP to high, turn the fans all the way, let blow for a few seconds, THEN, turn the temperatures all the way DOWN to "lo" let blow for a few seconds, then back up to high, let blow, then turn the fans down, the heat down to an acceptable temperature and check left to right air ducts for consistent temps.

We usually do this once or twice a year when the driver's side blower starts blowing very warm/ to hot air while the passenger side blows cool to cold air.

from the people I've spoken to, their best guess is an internal door/air director gets stuck for some reason and going all the way hot to cold to hot with the air temps "corrects it".

If your having this driver's side hot air issue, give this a try, it's free and takes about 15 seconds to complete. So far it continues to work for us.

Good luck! Also I finally joined this site just to share this info that works for us in hopes that it can help someone else.

This is a super helpful site, we have learned lots and have saved several trips to mechanics/dealers and a bunch of money (so far), because of others experiences and information.

Thank You ALL!!!

ChuckleBox

Sounds like it could be a blend door that's not working quite right. I'm saying this more from my personal experience than any real knowledge of a/c mechanics. It's a pretty easy fix when compared to those porr bastards that get Black Death but I've never heard of that happening in Honda a/c units.

love2travel

Thanks for the feedback. I had a motor replaced in my a/c. It cost me $186 but the problem is solved. Now I sometimes freeze. Well worth the $$ for sure!!

I recommend anyone with this issue taking your vehicle to a reliable mechanic. It's a quick and relatively inexpensive repair.

Good Luck!

stickfighter

I am having this issue with my 2008 Accord. I will try doing this later. Hopefully it works. Thanks!