I had some cooling issues with a 2000 accord Ive owned a good while now. Its had some work done on it from a local garage in the past. It was having trouble cooling in the extreme conditions when the temps are in the 90's (F) but they have added refrigerant one year and 2 years back replaced the thermal expansion valve. Well it acted up again this year so a friend mentioned another garage they had good success with and was reasonable. They looked it over and said it had a leak at the compressor and the system would need to be replaced. $680, new compressor dryer and lines and refrigerant with UV dye added to test for leaks in the future. After they did the work I drove it home and it was better than before for sure.

But, the lest few weeks here have had temps in the high nineties and the car is parked in the sun. Whenever I drive it in the afternoon I first lower the windows and drive a few blocks to let out the heat. Then I raise the windows and let it ride full blast with recycle air on. I also have a thermometer in the vent and it cools to 60 for a good portion of the first 10-15 minutes of driving, then it lowers to 50 eventually. It just feels stuffy and not very cool.

I took it back to the shop and mentioned what I was experiencing. They kept it a few days and said its fine. It blows 50 sometimes even 48 and the fans are all working and all and there are no leaks. I have a 96 accord that I also tried the thermometer in the vent tested the same conditions as the 2000 accord and its blowing 30 degrees when it is running a while.

I dont know if what refrigerant I have in my 96 is better than the r134a that the 2000 has in it....i thought it would be the same. Ive owned the 96 since the year 2000 when it had 67k on it. I have never had issues with the ac in it and to my knowledge it would have whatever it would have had from the factory in 96.

Whats reasonable to expect here?

 

IDK, but my 99 Accord sedan with high mileage and OE compressor puts out 45*F air at the left center vent where my AC thermometer sits inside of (the probe end). I do know the longer I run it for the colder the air WILL get, as I've driven it on a 45 minute run, and the air coming out is 40*F. Of course here in Michigan,we also get a lot of humidity, which the AC has to take out of the air as well.
I haven't put a temp sensor in my wife's 00 Accord yet, but I do know that it does make cold air. On road trips I wear long pants and shoes because I get too cold wearing shorts and sandals while driving.

 

Buy a window visor to see if it make a difference. At 15 minutes it should definitely be colder than 50 degrees. It seems like your pressure is low if it gets no colder than 50. The summer months can be brutal and does takes some time for the car to cool.

One of my cars did the same thing this summer once filled I haven't had another issue. This winter I'll check to see were my leak is and fix it

 

I always thought there's a chart where you take outdoor temperature & humidity, and that will tell you how cold it's supposed to be, measured in the center air vent.

 

I've never heard of that before. I've been doing ac for a while and if my car is not blowing under 30 degrees no matter what the temp is outside something is wrong (or course not when just turning on the car). A lot of mechanics don't follow proper procedures when filling the unit up. If you fill correctly hitting 30 degrees from the vents within 10 minutes on a hot sunny day should not be a problem.

 

So, going by that mine might be slightly under charged then. I haven't really worried about it, as I only use it when it's hot and humid.

 

That depends if the procedure was done correctly. 40 is standard.

 

You really need to know the outside temperature and humidity, temperature coming out of the center vent, and the high and low pressures in the a/c system to determine if your a/c is functioning properly. The 100 degree 85% humidity days in Houston make the a/c system blow warmer vs hot day in the north.

 

Look at the attached pic. It shows a chart pulled from Honda to give you a better insight of what your a/c should be doing. It came from this site

 

OK, going by that chart I'm on the upper end for my temps, but still within spec. So I guess I'm OK then.