HELP: EK3 civic hardly have power when ac on :(

RAJIE · Postby **RAJIE** » September 22nd, 2013, 11:36 pm

well have a local 1998 ek3 civic

car works great without the ac on

however whenever the ac is on. the car does be like holding back plenty. like hardly have power
and idk what to do to fix this

anyone have any ideas what can be done to restore the power it should give when the ac is on?

thanks

Vtec Vigilante · Postby **Vtec Vigilante** » September 23rd, 2013, 6:38 am

condemn the ac...lol..jus joking. Do you run the ac full blast ?.

wakabashop · Postby **wakabashop** » September 23rd, 2013, 2:47 pm

U need to get a Step up for the ac.

Run your vacuum hoses to it.

RAJIE · Postby **RAJIE** » September 24th, 2013, 10:41 am

Vtec Vigilante wrote:condemn the ac...lol..jus joking. Do you run the ac full blast ?.

yeah but mostly glass down due to power loss..

Vtec Vigilante · Postby **Vtec Vigilante** » September 24th, 2013, 3:51 pm

try putting the ac on level one or two. If the car continues to act up get a stepper motor aka the IAC. I'm open to correction on this

vtec-ghost · Postby **vtec-ghost** » September 24th, 2013, 11:40 pm

would like to find out the same thing as well

S_2NR · Postby **S_2NR** » September 25th, 2013, 2:35 pm

by design an a/c takes away power from the engine. i dont understand the problem. unless the car stalling?

CD4Accord · Postby **CD4Accord** » September 25th, 2013, 2:52 pm

An AC usually is supposed to take 10-15% of the power.. The OP sounds like he has a problem where he is losing significantly more power than that to the AC..

red_dragon · Postby **red_dragon** » September 25th, 2013, 5:33 pm

OP what engine in the car ?

Did you do any work on the car before this problem happened?

HondaR · Postby **HondaR** » September 25th, 2013, 7:16 pm

I'm guessing the op has the 1500 non vtec engine as i have this same issue 9 yrs now but i've just learnt to live with it and get around the problem by using the a/c at two notches.The higher you go the more power u loose and on the civic with the a/c on the power loss is substantially greater than other vehicles i drive with the a/c on.

CD4Accord · Postby **CD4Accord** » September 25th, 2013, 9:25 pm

I swear a similar condition happened for me after I installed my intake... But maybe it is just coincidence in my case.. If you want to put down a somewhat close overtake, I usually press the AC button on the dash to turn off the compressor and you get almost a surge of power that it didnt have with it on

Recently, the accord may also stall if parked up with the ac on, when the fan kicks in the revs drop too low, something which doesnt happen at all with the ac off. Idle is set correctly

HondaR · Postby **HondaR** » September 26th, 2013, 4:09 pm

As said by CD4ACCORD,similar scenario in the civic in overtaking with a/c on.Make sure you have ample room when overtaking with the D15b non vtec engine,otherwise say ur prayers.Otherwise its a very reliable and user friendly car,just in my 18 years of owning 4 cars the d15b is the most dead engine i've encountered.

nightman22 · Postby **nightman22** » September 30th, 2013, 10:24 pm

i had that problem and it was the compressor that was going thru. i replaced the compressor n no power significant power loss. had almost the same amount of power as if the ac wz off.
so in all check ur compressor n see it it holdin compression

Kerrons101 · Postby **Kerrons101** » October 1st, 2013, 12:48 am

Try tuning alyuh car by changing oil and plugs cus I had that same problem n after I tune I fine d car pulling jus as if d ac was off so TUNE UP!!!!!

CD4Accord · Postby **CD4Accord** » October 1st, 2013, 1:13 am

My car is quite fine in terms of tuning. Runs 100% perfect with the AC off. It only has issues when the AC compressor is engaged (problem is not the power draw from the blower)

I will try tightening the belt on the compressor and see if it helps at all

RAJIE · Postby **RAJIE** » October 2nd, 2013, 2:36 pm

Kerrons101 wrote:Try tuning alyuh car by changing oil and plugs cus I had that same problem n after I tune I fine d car pulling jus as if d ac was off so TUNE UP!!!!!

lol well i does do oil and filter change and all those things often.. i dont slack off with that
only thing i didnt change.. like a good few years is spark plugs

yall thing spark plugs could be the cause?

because with the ac the car pulling real nice.. i could have the ac on 1,2,3,4 wouldnt make a difference.. once the ac on.. could be on wateva speed.. it does hold back the same

as i said only thing i didnt change was spark plugs

CD4Accord · Postby **CD4Accord** » October 2nd, 2013, 3:48 pm

unlikely that plugs would affect the ac but you may as well change them anyway

HondaR · Postby **HondaR** » October 8th, 2013, 2:00 am

To the OP,is it really the D15b non vtec engine you have

RAJIE · Postby **RAJIE** » October 8th, 2013, 10:27 pm

HondaR wrote:To the OP,is it really the D15b non vtec engine you have

haha yeah boy.. to me i find it does work rel fine without ac..

HondaR · Postby **HondaR** » October 11th, 2013, 7:17 pm

Yep very good without ac. Even with ac at two notches some days better than others but none as good as with it off. Seems honda was concentrating too much on fuel economy when designing this engine that they forgot all about the speed side of this engine.MY swift 1300 engine was like a pocket rocket compared to this.