Air condition compressor seized at 125K--this is the second one--new part is on order.

- Wyckoff, NJ, USA

My 2004 Honda CR-V's air conditioning stopped working on the afternoon of 9/24/10. The air blowing out seemed to be warm. I made an appointment at a local service station to inspect the A/C for the following morning, 9/25/10. The mechanic removed the lower panel A/C compressor and showed me a hole that was caused by the A/C compressor "exploding" outward. There were a few metal shard pieces left in the plastic panel that covers that area of the vehicle. The mechanic said that he had heard of this happening but had never seen it. According to the mechanic, his parts supplier said that they hear of this often. Both believe there is a manufacturing issue with the compressors. Due to the way that the A/C system in the Honda is set up, the entire thing needed to be replaced. Fortunately my mechanic was generous with his costs and labor charges. It cost $1313.52 to fix. I checked online for a recall and called Honda America. There is no current recall but I found an online discussion thread with better than 900 comments of folks who all had similar issues with their Honda CR-V A/C compressors. Iwww.topix.com/forum/autos/Honda-CR-V/tu0okfjgv9V3F3fgl/P49 it appears that the dealerships are charging around $3000 to fix this issue. I should mention that I had purchased an extended warranty but my car has 160,000 miles on it. This issue seems to occur at various mileages. In some cases, the metal shards that blow off of the compressor can either slice into the tires or make a hole in the oil pan. I guess I was "lucky" it didn't do more damage.

- Saunderstown, RI, USA

Airconditioner quit working. Thought was just low freon-was shrapnal in my vehicle from the unit disintegrated. Was told lucky I didn't drive any further or the shrapnel would have gotten into the engine, seized it up, possibly crashing in the process. This is something that Honda knows is happening. It cost me about $1600 to repair, someone is going to continue to drive after losing the airconditioning because they can't afford to fix it and someone is going to get hurt from it crashing.

- Williston, ND, USA

The air conditioner clutch froze and nearly stopped engine. Now we have no air conditioning or window defrosting.

- Silver Spring, MD, USA

2004 Honda CRV - air conditioner condenser blew apart while operating the vehicle. Looking at complaints - this is an ongoing problem with the CRV and Honda knows about the problem. I am having to pay a large amount of money to get this replaced. (Honda is paying a portion - they know they have a problem with this model of Honda) Honda needs to do a recall on this car to fix this problem. It is happening to hundreds of these cars.

- Carlsbad, CA, USA

Air conditioner compressor implode - loud bang and no air conditioning.

- Barrington, NJ, USA

Driving and heard loud noise, A/C quit cooling, took to Honda dealership and was dx as needing a new compressor clutch coil, dealer paid part of the cost.

- Gulf Shores, AL, USA

The contact owns a 2004 Honda CR-V. while driving 50 mph, the contact noticed a squeaking sound coming from the engine. The vehicle was taken to the dealer and the contact was informed that the air conditioner compressor failed. She did not notice any differences prior to the failure. The vehicle has not been serviced for the failure. The current and failure mileages were 44,000.

- Tatchogue, NY, USA

In short, the air conditioning compressor on my 2004 Honda CR-V blew apart at 70 mph and 58,000 miles sending metal pieces flying and bounce back from the pavement hitting all along the entire length of the underside of my CR-V. to add to my frustration, the CR-V was given a 60,000 mile service in the amount of $955.76 at 56,050 miles to guard against something like this happening. At the 60, 000 mile service along with all the regular service, the complete cooling system was cleaned and flushed with state of the art equipment removing old contaminated coolant, replacing with new coolant, adding a water pump, lubricant, corrosion control and a system sealer. At 58,000 miles the air compressor blowing up, I was 900 miles from home transporting two elderly relatives in 110 degree heat in July in Oklahoma. By the time we reached the next available city, we were all wind-burned from the intense heat despite the fact that we were driving with the windows partially down and at a much slower speed. In the end and since the flying parts of the compressor had gone everywhere, I parted with $1,805.20 at 58,154 miles for the replacement of the air compressor, clutch, coil, condenser and, of course, the cost for evacuation and recharging of the A/C system again. This does seem to be a problem for Honda since whoever is supplying compressors for their air conditioning system is not meeting safety standards. It is apparent from my experience, the compressor bearing(s) frozen causing the compressor to jam and the housing to overheat and blow apart. These flying parts can go anywhere causing more property damage and additional cost beyond just replacing the compressor ($542.78 plus labor); and when these compressor parts are spread across heavily traveled highways, they could cause a tire blow-outs contributing to a serious accident.

- Williamston, MI, USA

The A/C went kaput on my 2004 Honda CRV. Hendrick Honda of charleston told me the entire system was contaminated and needed to be replaced in the ballpark of $3000. My car has 40,000 miles on it and I have learned of a litany of the same problem with other 2001-2004 Honda crvs. I've also learned that the CRV air conditioning system has been redesigned for models after '04. I contacted american Honda and received a case number which I shared with my service representative. He said "I wish you hadn't done that because I could have got things going faster." This is neither here nor there, but I did get the sense I did the correct move. Hendrick Honda of charleston says they can fix it no problem, but I don't want to be on the hook for a major repair on a car that isn't that old with few miles. I'm not looking to cause a stink... I just want the car fixed. Other than this, it's a bang-up vehicle. Thank you for your time.

- Charleston, SC, USA

Complete air conditioning failure on an '04 CRV, after 8 months of ownership. Only occurred once to this point. I contacted Honda. They told me it wasn't under warranty any more. Repair was $1,700 Honda finally covered the parts under (good faith agreement) after I hounded them.

- Cleveland, TN, USA

On Aug. 20th I took my '04 CR-V to the Honda dealer where I bought the vehicle for its 5,000 mile service, including its first oil change. The next day, after driving it for several miles and stopping to get gas, I noticed a burnt odor. I popped the hood and noticed a small amount of smoke coming up from the back of the engine. I looked under the vehicle and noticed oil dripping from several locations. I returned the CR-V to the dealer. They examined the vehicle and told me that the problem was a "double-gasket" - the gasket from the factory-installed oil filter had stuck in place when the oil filter was removed, and a new oil filter and gasket was installed over the old gasket, resulting in an oil leak. Amid many apologies, the old gasket was removed and the oil change was properly completed. Had I been less attentive to the vehicle after the oil change, and had the vehicle been driven at highway speeds, there was a very good possibility that a fire would have resulted. Why did NHTSA close their investigation of the CR-V fires" why did Honda lay the blame on technicians? and why, after all the publicity the fires received and after Honda presumably instructed their technicians to be especially careful with CR-V oil changes, are CR-V owners still at risk of a fire after an oil change? will it take a death before NHTSA and/or Honda does something that effectively addresses this problem"

- Woodbridge, VA, USA