A/C kicking on and off

[Nezdude87]

I've never been one to care about a/c in my car. Every car I've owned either had no a/c at all, or had leaky, screwed up systems. Well, when I bought this Accord the previous owner who did the f23 swap said he installed the a/c system but said he could never get it to stabilize. It would just blow cold randomly. I never cared, never used it nor thought about repairing it due to high costs. Well, lately I've been way more active about learning more about my car, and fixing the "little things" the previous owner left out (wiring up vtec, for one). I turned my a/c on earlier tonight, to see if I could find a pattern for when the air stops blowing cold (and my god, the air is ICE cold, seriously, for the 3ish minutes it works). I found that it's extremely cold before the engine gets to operating temperature. I did this again after letting it cool down some, and as soon as the temp gauge made it to its normal halfway point, the compressor kicks on and off, and no more cold air at all. At first the compressor will kick off for about 30 seconds, then run for another 30 seconds. After a few more minutes, it's like an instant on/off every so often. The fans engage when I turn the a/c on, and kick on and off with the compressor each time. I searched the forum but couldn't find a problem that specifically matched mine. If freon was low it wouldn't blow ice cold in the first place, would it? I was worried that even though my temperature gauge reads normal, and my coolant levels are always spot on, my engine may be running too hot or something. Does anyone have any ideas?

['93CB7Ex]

sounds like a pressure switch is going out. our cars cycle the compressor on and off so that might be normal but when it starts to go in and out, thats when the air gets warm.

[Nezdude87]

Do you know where it's located, and is it simple to replace?

[oaxaco1985]

on my CB7 it's on the High side on the driver side by the radiator

[oyajicool]

This is from wiki.answer,,,,,,,,,

Answer:
It could be several reasons. First, the freon level may be low. I would have the freon pressure checked first, or you can do yourself. Second, you could have a bad compressor sensor. Third, the compressor itself could be bad or you could have bad expansion valve. All could cause short cycling.

[Fleetw00d]

First question, has the system been converted to R134? Sounds like the freon is low. It may also be that the heater water valve may not be closing all the way. This would account for cold air to begin with, but once the engine heats up, the A/C is competing with air flow through the heater box. Adjust the cable for the heater valve so that the valve is definitely closed (or replace with a new one, it may be leaking internally) when the knob is all the way to "cold". Add some freon and see how it does.

[Stoner51]

Its impossible to troubleshoot this without some pressure readings.

However. I have had the switch connector go bad in my car. The connector would not stay engaged in the switch. It cut off everytime I went over a bump.

When I have overfilled my A/C it works for a while, then the pressure builds up and the high pressure switch cuts the compressor off.

you really need to get a gauge set and check the pressures. Too little or too much freon could cause the problem. In my experience the compressor won't engage if the pressure is too low.

steve