2006 Acura TSX Air Conditioning problems

Is there a common problem with the TSX AC? I don't feel like it is normal for a 10 year old Honda* to have the AC just go out with no warning--it worked when we parked the car in the garage a week ago; when we got back on Sunday night it was not. This really couldn't have come at a worse time money wise, we cannot make any big purchases right now.

*I expect Honda AC's to be weak, but I also expect them to work.

EDIT: Tried to listen for the compressor, but it was too loud outside to hear whether it was kicking in or not.

Condenser is not oncommon to get a road puncture IIRC. Them and hte RSX were the 2 most common. And of course being Japanese built everything cost 3 times as much.

This is how I would approach this based on experience from my mom's 2007 Civic.

Check that the compressor is engaging. If it does not engage, buy new relays from Honda. One of them is known to fail. If the compressor kicks in but disengages itself after a while, then it could be the field coil, known failure point in both Honda and Acura. This is quite simple to swap and most likely not require compressor removal and therefore not dealing with freon.

Both Honda and Acura have the relay and field problems occuring at least in the 2007-2008 years, not sure about 2006.

If you have gauges, it would probably be smart to check and make sure the system is charged and that that is not the reason the compressor is not kicking in.

The relays are less than $10 and the field coil was around $75 if I recall correctly. It took me around 1 hour to change the field coil in the Civic.

Everything Slippery said.

I just sold a 2008 civic that the relay go bad last summer and then the field coil go bad this summer. Based off it working a week ago but not now, I'd do the relay first. I had the same symptoms and it was the relay.

With the field coil, it would blow cold for 5-10 minutes and then instantly switch from cold to hot.

Yeah, my wife's 2004 TSX has been as reliable as a stone ax. My vote is that the relay hung up if it went from working to suddenly not working between starts.

My 2004 MDX had a compressor failure at around 75K. Was surprised too. Our previous 02 MDX had 195K on the original compressor.

Hopefully you'll have a cheaper fix.

You should be able to pop the hood and look at the compressor. you will see it engage and disengage if it is doing so at all.

Also, if you get a new relay, make sure it's the updated one. Honda switched to a more robust one.

Where you ever able to figure this out?

I have an 05 Acura TL that the A/c worked last fall, and when I took it out this spring it did not. I just replaced the compressor relay and it started right back up.

My wife has a 2010 Acura TSX. As others have said the condenser is susceptible to road damage. A puncture would cause an immediate loss of AC.

Slippery wrote: Where you ever able to figure this out?

Unfortunately I can hear the compressor kicking in, which means it is not a relay. We'll take it in to get fixed soon since I don't have the time to try to do it myself. Really wish I could do it now, but the mortgage company said no big purchases until we close. So we're holding out for another week.