Civic AC Compressor
 

Four years and 40,000 miles after replacing the compressor, expansion valve
and receiver dryer on my 95 Civic EX, the compressor blew up witht a half
dollar piece of the housing departing the scene.
Last time I replaced a weak compressor, I flushed the system, but I did
not replace the condenser. I noticed comments, after doing an extensive
search in the archives, that the condenser can't be flushed because of its
crossflow design. Also, I had a problem last June with the compressor's
head pressure being to high (350 psi), either frome me adding a few onces
of R-134A too much or the compressor having some sort of internal
malfunction. Prior to my adding 6 oz of refigerant, the car was not
cooling properly. I'm wondering if Honda spiral compressors are
prone to failure or if not replacing the condenser last time finally
caught up with me? Any assistance in this matter would be greatly
appreciated.