O.T. Need help with my Honda A/C Options

[Bob L.]

Perfect timing! Middle of Texas summer and my A/C goes out.

Its a 2002 Civic. I'm going to replace the compressor and probably the drier.

Has anyone done this?

Any pitfalls I need to look out for? Any advice is greatly appreciated.

[ThePaintedMan]

Perfect timing! Middle of Texas summer and my A/C goes out.

Its a 2002 Civic. I'm going to replace the compressor and probably the drier.

Has anyone done this?

Any pitfalls I need to look out for? Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Don't just probably replace the drier - do it. Everytime an A/C system is unpressurized for more than just a few minutes, they should be replaced.

But before you do anything, how do you know your "A/C went out?" What exactly happened?

If you do need to replace the components, fine. Take it by a shop first and have them recover the R-134 first. They should do it for free (they make money on the coolant recovered). Then, if you don't have access to a vacuum pump, and one that can sustain 1 bar, then expect to take it back to a shop to have them pull a vacuum on the system and recharge it. Or at minimum, you could pay them to pull a vacuum and you can put your own R-134 in it.