The Civic has been out for a test run, puttering its way up and down Jefferson Ave. for about an hour on Sunday. No issues to report, although I’m really getting tired of that rattling in the exhaust! That was present since the last time I worked on the engine.
I am getting a slight “whirring” from the engine, making me wonder if I overtightened the two drive belts. But in better news, that throttle hesitation from a dead start seems to be gone. I’m thinking that the cleaning of the idle air control valve fixed the issue.
The AC is questionable, however. It took forever to empty the first can of R134a. The hose fitting I’m using for the can needed some adjustment, and the second went faster. However, a few things seemed to be off. The low side pressure never came up to where it should on the gauge, and the sight glass still does not seem to be as clear as it should. I also miscalculated the PAG oil I needed, so I may have as much as 1½ ounces extra in the system. (When I removed the high side hose from the gauges, a lot of oil came out.)
Yet you would think it doesn’t cool off very well. On the contrary–it gets really cold, colder than it has ever been. And we had a perfect day in the upper 80s with high humidity to test it. After another day of driving around the area, it is still pumping out cold air. One thing still bothering me is that the blower fan has never been very strong in the Civic–I don’t know if that is how they all are, or if this one may just not be performing all that well.