Question:
My 2003 Honda Accord LX, 4 cyl, auto ac will function properly on humid days until I drive over rumble stripes or hit a bump in the road. Then the blowing air warms up as if the AC switch was turned off. Sometimes if I drive over another bump or reflector in the road, it starts blowing cold air again. Other times it won''t blow cold air until the car is turned off for a few minutes. The dealership has replaced a relay switch but it didn''t fix the problem.
The radio has been replaced in this car. Obviously we don''t know if this is relevant or not but the problem didn''t occur until several months after the dash was pulled to replace the radio.
Answer:
A couple things can cause this, the relay is one and sounds like your dealership has addressed this. Another common thing that causes this but is often overlooked is the air gap in the A/C clutch. As the air gap increases when it's hot a bump or shock to the car can cause the gap to be too much and then A/C compressor shuts off. If compressor is allowed to cool then the gap decreases again and it will work.
The good news is the gap is easy to check without taking the compressor off the car or anything. With a feeler gauge and the spec. in the book a tech can see if it's out of range. Another way to check for this is to hit the outside of the clutch on the A/C compressor when it shuts off again and see if the compressor starts working again. If so the air gap is out of spec.
