2002 Civic AC doesn't work when outside temp is above 78-80*

[yaatnotyacht]

I have a 2002 Civic EX that I bought last spring from a Honda dealer. The ac worked fine all last year, but this year when it started getting warm I noticed that the ac worked fine until the outside temperature got above about 80 degrees. At first, it would work intermittently above 80, and turning the ac on and then off would make it come on for a few minutes until it died again, or it would cycle on and off on its own, blowing ice cold air sometimes and then warmer air. After about a week of being able to turn it on and off to keep the inside of the car cool enough, it has now stopped cycling on and off all together. A lot of times when I first start the car it will work, but then after only a minute or two it will stop blowing cold air and no matter what I do, it will not blow cold air again. My thought was that maybe there is a leak in the system and the dealer simply recharged it to get the ac working last year rather than finding the leak and fixing it. Any suggestions would be appreciated as I really don't have the money to take it to a shop and have no idea where to start when it comes to trying to fix it. Thanks!

[Humphries]

low refrigerant level. get the ac charged.