Fixing Car Air Conditioning 101
Have you been perspiring inside your car because its air conditioner is broken? Well, if that is the case, here is a short fixing car air conditioning guide, along with a short introduction of how your car air conditioner works, and the possibilities of why it might not work. But before we go over it, keep in mind that you should not check the refrigerant by nudging something into the fitting and looking for vents, because it is certainly illegal as it releases the refrigerant which is bad for the atmosphere. The second thing to remember is that you should not put more refrigerant in a car AC system that is leaking because again, you are allowing it to vent into the atmosphere. Now that you know the legality of fixing a car air conditioning system, let’s get started!
1. Understand that an auto air conditioning is basically like a refrigerator in a different and weird layout. It is designed to actually move heat from any place in your car to another place outdoors.
2. Familiarize yourself with the major components of auto air conditioning. Here they are:
o The compressor – responsible for compressing and circulating the refrigerant or Freon gas in the system;
o The refrigerant – responsible for carrying the heat;
o The condenser – responsible for changing the refrigerant phase and expelling the heat removed from the car;
o The expansion valve – responsible for simultaneously dropping the refrigerant liquid pressure metering its flow, and atomizing it;
o The evaporator – responsible for transferring the heat to the Freon gas from the air being blown across it; thereby cooling the car;
o The dryer/receiver – responsible for filtering the oil/refrigerant and removing the moisture as well as other contaminants.
3. Make sure you understand the AC process. The compressor places the refrigerant under extreme pressure and sends it to the AC unit’s condensing coils. Generally, these condensing coils are located just in front of the radiator. Gas compression makes it hot and in the condenser, the added heat as well as the heat the refrigerant gathered from the evaporator is expelled or excreted to the air flowing from outside the car. When the refrigerant reaches its saturation temperature, it will change its phase from gas back to liquid which then passes via the expansion valve going to the evaporator. This changes the liquid to a low-pressure gas as the remaining liquid cools down.
4. Check if all the R-134a has leaked out.
5. Try turning the compressor. Start the car, turn on the air conditioner, and look under the car’s hood.
6. Check other things in the car that can possible have gone wrong: bad fuses, bad switches, broken fan belt, broken wires, or seal failure in the compressor.
7. Check if your car starts cooling. If it cools but is still not enough, it could possibly be low pressure and you can fix this by topping up the refrigerant. You can buy refilling kits from most auto supply stores and these kits usually come with instructions. Be careful not to overfill it. Adding more than what is required will certainly not improve the performance of your car’s air conditioner, but will actually decrease it.
There you go – the 7 steps to fixing car air conditioning. If you have done everything but it still does not work, call for professional help!