[K-Dog7469]

Jump into the ridge this morning headed to a crab feast. Click on the AC and crank it up. Feelin' nothing but warm air.

Dont have time to deal with it. I want my crabs.

Few hours later, get home. Pop the hood. I have two fans spinning. Good. Look down at the A.C. compressor and its engaged, but the splash shield directly below it and the area is completely soaked.
Yup. A.C. oil. All the surrounding lines ( as best as I can see ) are completely dry. I guess I gotta go compressor shopping.
Oh well...

 

[K-Dog7469]

So, did you get crabs, and if you did, did you share them with other people? I hear they're hard to get rid of. Sorry, couldn't resist...

I see you are from Nebraska. I dont expect you to get it. Its a Maryland thing.

 

[K-Dog7469]

Well that sucks..maybe a blown o ring or something? How would the pressure be gone and still engage the clutch? Wouldnt it not engage if low?
I had to add some freon couple years ago so far so good..if you do change out be interested to see the repair!

Yeah I dont know specifically what the deal is. I figure if I am digging into it I might as well just swap it out.
I got pricing today. OE is $760.00 or after market from NAPA for $250.00
Hmmmmmm which am I gonna pick ?
Yes normally I HATE anything aftermarket, but its a different beast with mechanical parts as opposed to body parts.
Either way, just under $500.00 difference ?
No brainer.

 

[K-Dog7469]

Love to try it sometime! Add some prime Nebraska beef to that plate and you'll have a great meal my friend! .

No question there.

 

[K-Dog7469]

FYI, OEM online is closer to $500 plus shipping. Still twice the NAPA price but a bit closer anyways . . . .

OE price is from the Honda dealer my shop deals with. That is with my employee discount. Not sure why the significant difference though.

 

[K-Dog7469]

Bernardi parts list the AC compressor for a 2007 Ridgeline as being $506+ shipping. They show a list price of $721. Not sure where your dealer is getting their pricing but with discount they appear to still be quoting you over list price. The later model Ridges appear to use a more expensive AC compressor so perhaps the dealer is confused about the year?

*shrugs*

It matters not at this point. I guess since we do so much work with them I just assumed. I dunno, maybe it was a new guy.
I will keep this in mind if something else ever comes up.

 

[K-Dog7469]

Wellp' the job went well. Quite well, but didnt end up quite how I had hoped.

The only initial snag was there are these little 5.5mm bolts holding on the one connector.
Here you see one removed and one still there.

Well the one still there, the head rounded out. So I had to grind it out.
I took the 5.5mm I successfully removed and put that in its place since its countersunk. Then on the other one, just used the regular bolt that came on the new compressor.

I got it all back together all in all just about two and a half hours. ( I am a body man remember, I dont usually rush too much ) Charged it up and sat in the truck enjoying the cold air.

Shut things down and went to put the engine covers and splash shields back on.
Then I saw what I THOUGHT was smoke and I smelled refrigerant.
Then i saw this...

Look right by the ground bolt.
D'oh !!!

I CAN NOT believe I missed that the first time. I almost have my self convinced that it had JUST happened. I mean there was NO oil in that area before. I am sure I looked at least in that area.
*sigh*
Frustrating.
Very, very, frustrating.
( feeling like an idiot )

 

[K-Dog7469]

That does suck..glad to hear change went well.And thanks for pick..
I still don't unde stand how it would still engage..

Well that sucks..maybe a blown o ring or something? How would the pressure be gone and still engage the clutch? Wouldnt it not engage if low?

Must not have been too low.
Here is the pressures before I evacuated the system...

 

[K-Dog7469]

Man that sucks big time. I wonder if the whole line has to be replaced, or is there some A/C tech magic that can 'splice-patch' that section of line?

(I'm thinking no such luck)

I will tell you that once upon a time when I was poor, young, & foolish enough to try, I put one of those 'steel putty' products onto a (exhaustively prepped) leaky, long line going to the rear of a mini-van (Voyager).... had it recharged. It had one of the mounting clamps for the line broken in a side impact collision a couple of years prior (which was undetected & unrepaired). The line was moving around until it wore a hole in itself against a frame member.
Long story short, I cleaned, sanded, patched with a small alum cover piece (to keep goop out of line) & then liquid steel goop all around, and crossed my fingers/held my breath. I figured it couldn't hurt to try (they wanted several hundred dollars for that line plus labor if I recall.... and that was food from the kiddies' mouths). Then took it to the place that found the leak & quoted the repair... had them evac & recharge (no guarantee of course). Guess what... it held fine as long as I owned it. Sold it a couple of years later & never looked back.

Yeah, I'm feeling the sun on my neck as we speak.

Other than time consuming replacing that line is not going to be a big deal.
I gotta take the front cover off just to be able to feed that long sucker in there.
Its just that I work on cars all damn day, I dont want to do that on my free time. The next four weekends are full so I gotta do the job one night after work.
It is what it is. *shrugs*

 

[K-Dog7469]

good news.

The cut pipe was replaced. Honda did a switch-a-roo on me. The pipe that was cut went from the firewall to the condenser. But the replacement pipe comes in two pieces.
I got the long pipe first and said " Hey !!!!!!!! " and then ordered the second pipe.
It all makes sense. If the pipe was all one piece it would have been just short of impossible to instal without bending and unbending it to no end.

You can see in the photo the connection I am talking about. Bottom left of the photo.

To avoid any future drama I cut an old piece of hose and placed it where the original infraction occurred.
I still had to remove the front bumper cover to access the connections on the condenser.
The pipe that runs from the firewall actually installed very easily from the underside of the vehicle. I found that out quite by accident.
I just cut the old pipe just to pull it out quickly. When I cut it it fell to the floor under the truck. The whole job only took an hour and a half including evacuation and recharging.