I started running
into issues with my 2000 Honda Accord's Air Conditioning a couple of months
ago. The symptoms were the following
- All A/C control panel LEDs went out
- None of the buttons worked
- Only the blower motor speed control worked
Exactly what
happened to this guy.
I could control how
hard the air was blowing, but I couldn't make the air cold or hot. Needless to
say, this was extremely annoying. The problem also wouldn't happen every time I
drove my car. In the morning it would work, then on the way home from work it
would all of a sudden stop functioning. This went on for weeks until I finally
decided to do some research.
It looks like this
is a common problem with this year of Hondas. I found lots of forums which
discuss this exact same problem. The issue comes from the A/C and Heater
Control Board and it's due to a small design issue. There's a couple of ways to
fix this.
- Get it repaired
- This will most likely cost around $300 for a brand new unit, and additional money for an hour's worth of labor
- Buy a used control board replacement
- You can find used A/C Heater Control Boards for 98 - 02 Honda Accords for around $200
- You can also try looking at local salvage yards
- Do It Yourself for around $30!
I found a few guides
online that taught me how to fix the problem myself with just a few bits of
soldering. And to my surprise, it's worked great! I've had at least a year of
no issues and I expect the fix to last me a lot longer. I was so amazed at how easy
this was that I made this blog just to document the fix and help others save a
bit of money.
EQUIPMENT NEEDED
This will be
everything you'll need to buy, and most likely you already have some of this
stuff lying around
- Soldering Iron Kit: Don't need anything fancy. Just make sure you get solder with it.
- Wire
- Flathead & Phillips Screwdriver
- Cloth rag (I used it to help protect my clock when prying it loose)
HOW TO
** I am not an
expert. I also can't guarantee that this will work for you. However, I followed
these steps and it worked for me.
- Remove the Radio Trim
- DISCONNECT YOUR CAR BATTERY - save your electronics. **Be sure you have the code for your factory radio before starting this process. I had to get mine from a Honda Dealer. You'll need it when you hook everything back up.
These
steps are also covered in these 2 videos (which were very helpful)
- Remove the two screws at the bottom of the center console.
- Using the Flathead screw driver and the cloth rag, gently pry loose the clock.
- Unclip the wires to remove the clock. Be sure to pull from the plastic connectors and not the actual wires.
- Unscrew the Phillips head screw that is located behind the clock.
- Gently pull with two hands to separate trim from the bottom of the dash.
- There are two clips that are located behind the clock location. These gave me a lot of trouble. I had to reach in and unclip these to then separate the whole trim.
- Unclip the wires to remove from the trim.
- Uncover the AC Control Board from the Radio Trim
- Pull the control
knobs off the front.
- Remove screws of the black
cover on the back.
- Twist and remove the light
bulb connected to the black cover. Then remove the whole black plastic
cover in order to reveal the control board.
- Solder the Board
- Orient the radio trim so that the air vents are facing away from you.
- We'll be jumping a pin near
D3 to the pin left of R12.
- Check out some soldering videos if you're never soldered before.
- Measure out a length of wire
that's long enough to connect both pins but is also able bend a bit. Then
solder the ends of the wire to the pins to jump the connection.
- I used a really thick wire
(just because it's what I had already), so I had to make some room into
the black cover. I used my screw driver to carve out some space.
- Reassemble everything in reverse order.
Test everything out
in your car and make sure it's all still working. Congratulate yourself on
saving a ton of money!
I'd like to give a huge thanks to hybridmojo on the driveaccord.net forums, where I followed his original instructions.
