The air conditioner in your automobile is almost like a refrigerator. It is the job of your air conditioner to remove warm air from your car while pushing in cool air. Although every make and model is different for cars, understanding the basics of air conditioning systems can help you repair your car’s air conditioning system when it seems to be working incorrectly.
Step One-Understand Which Part Is Not Working
If you can understand the basics of your air conditioning system, you may be able to figure out what is wrong with your car’s air conditioning system. There are five major parts to your system. The compressor has the job of circulating and compressing the coolant. The condenser changes the phase of the coolant while simultaneously removing heat from the air conditioning system. The expansion valve regulates the pressure from the coolant. The evaporator has the job of transferring all of the heat from the car to the coolant. Lastly, the dryer has the job of filtering the coolant. The dryer removes moisture and any other contaminants from the coolant in your air conditioning system.
Step Two-Test the Hoses for Any Leaks
In order to test the hoses for leaks, you will need to create a type of solution. You can make this with liquid detergent and water. Put it in a spray bottle. After you have done this, soak your air conditioning hoses and any other connections. Make sure that the system is actually running because the coolant has to be under pressure in order for it to reveal any leaks. If you see any bubbles while you are spraying your hoses, then you have a leak in that area. Do not add coolant to your system if you do not see any leaks. It is illegal for you to release Freon gas into the atmosphere.
Step Three-Clear out The Condensing Coils in The Air Conditioning System
It may be smart to clear out the condensing coils in your car’s air conditioning system because unwanted items may gather around the condensing coils. If this happens, it will prevent the heat in your system from being expelled from the air conditioning system. While you are doing this, you should also look for broken wires, bad switches, a broken fan belt, and burned out fuses. It may also help if you look for any seals that may have broken around the air conditioning compressor.
Step Four-Top off Your System’s Coolant
If the air conditioning system feels a little cool to the touch, but not that cool, then you may be missing a little bit of coolant. However, before you add any coolant to your air conditioning system, make sure that you completed step two and checked for leaks. Adding coolant may fix your air conditioning system because it raises the pressure in your air conditioning system. This increases your system’s ability to perform cooling actions for your car.
Step Five-Flush out The Air Conditioning System in Your Car
In order to flush out the air conditioning system in your car, you will need to access your system’s expansion valve and evaporator. When you have access, remove your air conditioning system’s evaporator. Clean out the evaporator with water. When you are cleaning the evaporator, make sure that you are only scrubbing lightly. You do not want to cause any damage. In addition, make sure that water is not getting into any pipes that may have Freon in them. You do not want to mess with the Freon and you do not want to release Freon in the air. In order to clean pipes that may have Freon in them, you can simply use an air conditioning system flush kit. You can buy this from many different stores at an affordable price. Clean out the Freon pipes with the air conditioning system flush kit. You can also use compressed air in order to clean the pipes that have Freon in them.