svann

If your A/C fails to cool at idle or any other speed get it checked soon. My technician was amazed at the amount of metal debris he found in my A/C system. The refrigerant oil looked like mercury. It appears that my entire A/C will either be flushed and/or replaced.
The technician suggested that I pass along this information for anyone who has experienced A/C issues. If your compressor has the same problem the evaporator/dryer and all related lines will require power flushing or replacement in addition to a new compressor. He was amazed at the extent of the problem on a car with only 4000 miles. The repair has required three weeks in the shop so far to diagnose and more time is likely to obtain special flushing equipment. It is not yet known if this defect exists in other S2000s.

Zoinks

I'm glad to see that the dealer was able to isolate the issue. However, it's a bit alarming that it took 3 weeks to find metal fragments in the AC system.

Zoinks

Sondra S2K

Ouuuuuch, three weeks with no S2000? That's as bad as the damage you describe!!

I hope they get it fixed and get you back on the road as soon as possible!

wirejock

Maybe they didn't build the AC compressor with 9000 redline in mind and some parts blew apart. Course that would mean the AC would have to be running while the car was pushed to redline. I'm sure everyone turns off the AC to get that extra couple of HP the AC drains. Just my $.02.

svann

Good point,
It is unlikely that I was running A/C intentionally at or near redline however the compressor may have been engaged due to the defrost setting. The weather was not very warm at the time of initial failure. The second failure happened when the defrost was turned on and the compressor engaged. The car was not even close to redline (it was raining) but the compressor was already damaged.

svann

Update:
The tech guys used a power flush device to clean the system. They suspect that the compressor engaged at high RPM and was damaged. The compressor then died slowly from metal fragments in the system.
There is no cutoff for the compressor at high RPM even while running in "defrost mode". (IMO)The compressor is probably not up to high RPM operation and should not be used anywhere near redline.
I wish an auto cutoff relay would disengage the compressor before or around VTEC and then resume at cruise. This would be a useful feature for everyday driving in very hot or cold environments.
I've been told the car could be ready for pickup Friday.

wirejock

Sounds like a tech tip svann. Sound like we better try to remember to shut down the ac before vtec. Thanks. Hope all is better when your stook is returned.