Honda Fit AC problem
- Thread starter M1Accord
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First of all the Condenser, and likely not the compressor, was damaged by rocks or road debris. The reason for this is that the Fit, like so many other vehicles on the road today does not have a lower bumper grill to protect the Condenser from road debris. More than likely your current vehicle does not have a lower bumper grill...
Many, many vehicles are prone to this same problem. To this end, this problem is easily solved by simply fabricating and installing a grill yourself to prevent this. This is something i have done to just about every vehicle i have owned, and never had the problem. It's one of those ounce of prevention/pound of cure kinda things.
Many, many vehicles are prone to this same problem. To this end, this problem is easily solved by simply fabricating and installing a grill yourself to prevent this. This is something i have done to just about every vehicle i have owned, and never had the problem. It's one of those ounce of prevention/pound of cure kinda things.
I had also read about the problem of condenser damage to the Fit but I was surprised to read that several 2011 Chevrolet Cruzes suffered the same fate. Chevrolet actually installed a plastic guard on the condensers of 2012's. I had already followed Veilside's advice and fabricated a grill (using metal gutter guard)...it even looks good...
Yes, you are absolutely correct about what you have heard.
I have been meaning to do it myself, the fix is simply to buy gutter guard plastic mesh (the stuff that keeps leaves out of your roof gutters) and fix it behind your lower grille with black zip ties.
This stops rocks that are skipping low along the highway that have been kicked up by cars and trucks ahead of you. If you tend to speed a bit the damage is worse.
For fun, get on your knees with a flashlight or open the hood and look through the big openings on your lower bumper and see if there are any rock impacts that folded over the fine aluminum rad cooling fins... You'll probably see quite a few.
Get a golf ball sized piece of concrete kicked back at your condenser and it will probably break it.
I will go and do it one day after school myself...
I have been meaning to do it myself, the fix is simply to buy gutter guard plastic mesh (the stuff that keeps leaves out of your roof gutters) and fix it behind your lower grille with black zip ties.
This stops rocks that are skipping low along the highway that have been kicked up by cars and trucks ahead of you. If you tend to speed a bit the damage is worse.
For fun, get on your knees with a flashlight or open the hood and look through the big openings on your lower bumper and see if there are any rock impacts that folded over the fine aluminum rad cooling fins... You'll probably see quite a few.
Get a golf ball sized piece of concrete kicked back at your condenser and it will probably break it.
I will go and do it one day after school myself...
The RSX had the same issues.
Is this problem occurring on the Civic or just Fit and RSX? I don't want to buy a new car only to have to work on it. Easy or not, it is still an add-on by me on something that should have been properly designed. Since the vehicle I am looking at has about 8 miles when I tested drove it and now has probably 13 miles, I wonder if any damage already occurred to the condenser or any other parts. Why can't they have plastic plate underneath like other vehicles?
If I buy a vehicle and went straight to Lowes to and start f-ing with it, I'll never get any rest from my wife indicating I am screwing up a brand new car. And if something occurred, I'll be blame it instead of Honda.
If I buy a vehicle and went straight to Lowes to and start f-ing with it, I'll never get any rest from my wife indicating I am screwing up a brand new car. And if something occurred, I'll be blame it instead of Honda.
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Picked up a bunch of black zip ties and gutter guard plastic mesh (6 inches wide, 25 feet long) and will install it next week after classes.
I should have done this a long time ago...
I should have done this a long time ago...
I put pet-proof mesh behind the grilles of both cars. It's worked, as the condensers are pretty new-looking underneath.
Just installed the gutter guard today. Really easy to do and barely noticeable. I bought a big bag of long black zip ties and a 6"x25' long roll of gutter guard at Canadian Tire.
I didn't jack it up and pop out push pins and unscrew the splash shield, the lower "grille" at the bottom that has the large openings was large enough that I could cut it to length and feed it in then bend the zip tie tips to form a hook to be able to quickly get the mesh attached.
I used a lot of zip ties all over the stock grille supports to make it really strong in case a large chunk of rock or ice in the winter goes flying into the lower bumper full force, so it can deflect it or at least slow it down enough to lessen the damage.
Remember, a rock the size of a large marble coming towards you quickly when you are traveling 120km / hr and lets say the rock is doing 40-50 km / hr the impact is around 160 km / hr so it has to be pretty strong. This is an impact that is strong enough to destroy the condenser in the first place, so make it solid.
I drove all the way to NDG today and it was 32 deg C today, so it was really hot. As soon as I stopped the car I popped the hood to see if it is abnormally hot under the hood, and everything seemed ok. I guess the mesh still lets enough air to pass that it doesn't overheat anything too much.
To get it all installed the way I wanted took about 20-25 mins. Very happy with the result and I am confident that it will protect the condenser well, and even stop 10 years of smaller stuff from eventually wearing out the condenser with hundreds of smaller rock and debris impacts.
I didn't jack it up and pop out push pins and unscrew the splash shield, the lower "grille" at the bottom that has the large openings was large enough that I could cut it to length and feed it in then bend the zip tie tips to form a hook to be able to quickly get the mesh attached.
I used a lot of zip ties all over the stock grille supports to make it really strong in case a large chunk of rock or ice in the winter goes flying into the lower bumper full force, so it can deflect it or at least slow it down enough to lessen the damage.
Remember, a rock the size of a large marble coming towards you quickly when you are traveling 120km / hr and lets say the rock is doing 40-50 km / hr the impact is around 160 km / hr so it has to be pretty strong. This is an impact that is strong enough to destroy the condenser in the first place, so make it solid.
I drove all the way to NDG today and it was 32 deg C today, so it was really hot. As soon as I stopped the car I popped the hood to see if it is abnormally hot under the hood, and everything seemed ok. I guess the mesh still lets enough air to pass that it doesn't overheat anything too much.
To get it all installed the way I wanted took about 20-25 mins. Very happy with the result and I am confident that it will protect the condenser well, and even stop 10 years of smaller stuff from eventually wearing out the condenser with hundreds of smaller rock and debris impacts.
Originally Posted By: Falken
Just installed the gutter guard today. Really easy to do and barely noticeable. I bought a big bag of long black zip ties and a 6"x25' long roll of gutter guard at Canadian Tire.
I didn't jack it up and pop out push pins and unscrew the splash shield, the lower "grille" at the bottom that has the large openings was large enough that I could cut it to length and feed it in then bend the zip tie tips to form a hook to be able to quickly get the mesh attached.
I used a lot of zip ties all over the stock grille supports to make it really strong in case a large chunk of rock or ice in the winter goes flying into the lower bumper full force, so it can deflect it or at least slow it down enough to lessen the damage.
Remember, a rock the size of a large marble coming towards you quickly when you are traveling 120km / hr and lets say the rock is doing 40-50 km / hr the impact is around 160 km / hr so it has to be pretty strong. This is an impact that is strong enough to destroy the condenser in the first place, so make it solid.
I drove all the way to NDG today and it was 32 deg C today, so it was really hot. As soon as I stopped the car I popped the hood to see if it is abnormally hot under the hood, and everything seemed ok. I guess the mesh still lets enough air to pass that it doesn't overheat anything too much.
To get it all installed the way I wanted took about 20-25 mins. Very happy with the result and I am confident that it will protect the condenser well, and even stop 10 years of smaller stuff from eventually wearing out the condenser with hundreds of smaller rock and debris impacts.
OP here. I just did the same to my brand new Fit. Yes I picked it up last night and did the installation this morning while it has only 23 miles on it. I made 2 mistakes; not applying primer on the mesh and cut it perfectly straight instead of into a skirt shape. As the result, there is a quarter to half of an inch gap at the bottom edge on each side. The chance of having a rock or road debris sniping into the bottom edge is extremely slim but not impossible, just like Romey becoming VP for Obama and Hillary wins the the next Nobel Price on Family Value, all in the same term. If something does manage to come through either gap, it will land on the frame instead of radiator or condenser. I thought about adding a side pieces but do not have any small zip-ties to hold 2 mesh together.
By the way, my Accord does not have a grill protector either. It just that I never heard of such problem until I start reviewing the Fit.
Just installed the gutter guard today. Really easy to do and barely noticeable. I bought a big bag of long black zip ties and a 6"x25' long roll of gutter guard at Canadian Tire.
I didn't jack it up and pop out push pins and unscrew the splash shield, the lower "grille" at the bottom that has the large openings was large enough that I could cut it to length and feed it in then bend the zip tie tips to form a hook to be able to quickly get the mesh attached.
I used a lot of zip ties all over the stock grille supports to make it really strong in case a large chunk of rock or ice in the winter goes flying into the lower bumper full force, so it can deflect it or at least slow it down enough to lessen the damage.
Remember, a rock the size of a large marble coming towards you quickly when you are traveling 120km / hr and lets say the rock is doing 40-50 km / hr the impact is around 160 km / hr so it has to be pretty strong. This is an impact that is strong enough to destroy the condenser in the first place, so make it solid.
I drove all the way to NDG today and it was 32 deg C today, so it was really hot. As soon as I stopped the car I popped the hood to see if it is abnormally hot under the hood, and everything seemed ok. I guess the mesh still lets enough air to pass that it doesn't overheat anything too much.
To get it all installed the way I wanted took about 20-25 mins. Very happy with the result and I am confident that it will protect the condenser well, and even stop 10 years of smaller stuff from eventually wearing out the condenser with hundreds of smaller rock and debris impacts.
OP here. I just did the same to my brand new Fit. Yes I picked it up last night and did the installation this morning while it has only 23 miles on it. I made 2 mistakes; not applying primer on the mesh and cut it perfectly straight instead of into a skirt shape. As the result, there is a quarter to half of an inch gap at the bottom edge on each side. The chance of having a rock or road debris sniping into the bottom edge is extremely slim but not impossible, just like Romey becoming VP for Obama and Hillary wins the the next Nobel Price on Family Value, all in the same term. If something does manage to come through either gap, it will land on the frame instead of radiator or condenser. I thought about adding a side pieces but do not have any small zip-ties to hold 2 mesh together.
By the way, my Accord does not have a grill protector either. It just that I never heard of such problem until I start reviewing the Fit.
Didn't see this earlier. Rock to the condenser is the reason I traded my Fit in. $800 repair at the dealer. I said "%$#@ it, lets talk numbers on that Si out there."
I have commuted on interstate daily for 10 years now. It was the first time I've ever had an a/c condenser taken out by a rock. Good on you for going ahead and protecting it. I thought the danger was overblown...
I have commuted on interstate daily for 10 years now. It was the first time I've ever had an a/c condenser taken out by a rock. Good on you for going ahead and protecting it. I thought the danger was overblown...
We didn't have our Fit for 200 miles before it was getting ripped apart to put something down there. It's been on there for about 60k miles, many at 75+ mph. Still intact, and I'm pretty sure it's taken a rock or five, seeing how sandblasted the front end on that car is.
Now I got to worry about fog light lenses getting busted. There are films out there but they want too much for shipping. I wonder if I should cage it with a mesh as well. I hate the idea of drilling holes into a brand new fog light assembly since I can't be trusted to put a parking permit decal on without bubbles and crooked edges. But I did put the grill on and it looks perfectly. I used the zip tie route instead of clamp and went with the biggest zip tie possible to ensure they won't melt or being ripped off.
Originally Posted By: sciphi
We didn't have our Fit for 200 miles before it was getting ripped apart to put something down there. It's been on there for about 60k miles, many at 75+ mph. Still intact, and I'm pretty sure it's taken a rock or five, seeing how sandblasted the front end on that car is.
Out of all the whining and complaining about Honda going downhill and yada, yada, yada...I ignore ALL of it EXCEPT....the paint. Really, the paint on my Fit and Civic...I could flick a booger at it and it would cause a paint chip...
I keep touch up paint for mine. handa.com sells it at a decent price.
We didn't have our Fit for 200 miles before it was getting ripped apart to put something down there. It's been on there for about 60k miles, many at 75+ mph. Still intact, and I'm pretty sure it's taken a rock or five, seeing how sandblasted the front end on that car is.
Out of all the whining and complaining about Honda going downhill and yada, yada, yada...I ignore ALL of it EXCEPT....the paint. Really, the paint on my Fit and Civic...I could flick a booger at it and it would cause a paint chip...
I keep touch up paint for mine. handa.com sells it at a decent price.
I have debated putting the lower grille on my Civic as well because A/C problems are one of the most common complaint of Honda's in general. A guy I work with just had to replace most of his A/C system on his 2007 Civic, and my parents have never even touched, no recharge, nothing, the A/C on their 2000 Maxima. It still works perfectly.
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