Back to all

Busted! Air Conditioning (Air Conditioning Maintenance)

September 11, 2022

Your vehicle's air conditioning is something you count on when the weather heats up.  But there's bound to be a day when you turn it on and one of these things happens:

  • Only warm air blows out
  • Cold air starts blowing out but then it turns warm on its own
  • It's not blowing air at all
  • It blows smelly air out

Some people are tempted to try to make the diagnosis—and the repair—on their own.  They think it's just run out of refrigerant and they can pick up a can at a local auto parts store and re-charge it.   If only it was that easy.

A vehicle's air conditioning system is complex and made up of many parts.  A compressor, evaporator, condenser, tubing, hoses, sensors, valves… the list goes on and on.

Each of these components could be the reason for the problem.  It could be a leak that's letting the refrigerant escape, but simply re-charging the system hasn't fixed the problem. You have to find the source of the leak and fix it. Service facilities have a device called a "sniffer" which can sniff out refrigerant chemicals. And they can use black light to locate refrigerant that has an ultraviolet dye in it. 

But often other components wear out; blower motors go bad, resistors blow, tubes clog, compressors fail. And diagnosing that takes training and special equipment you'll find at your service facility.

One other thing to keep in mind.  It's always better to catch any problems in the air conditioning system before it fails. Ask your service advisor about having

the A/C checked as part of the vehicle's maintenance.  That's the cool way to go. 

Tuffy Lake In The Hills
59 West Acorn Lane
Lake In The Hills, Illinois 60156
847-854-9850

More articles from Tuffy Lake in the Hills

The Little Valve that Could (PCV Valve Replacement)

March 24, 2024

It's easy to get letters like PVC and PCV mixed up. PVC is a plastic that's used in a lot of things, especially plumbing pipes. And PCV is a valve that helps your engine burn off excess fumes rather than having them pollute our atmosphere. PCV stands for positive crankcase ventilation. When y... More

Losing Your Cool (Why is My Air Conditioning System Not Working?)

March 17, 2024

When you turn on the air conditioning in your vehicle, you expect cool air to come out of the vents. You depend on it, especially in hot weather, but it can also be important in humid weather when you need it to help defrost your windows and windshield. The air conditioning system has a lot of p... More

Don't Blow a Gasket! (Valve Cover Gasket Replacement)

March 10, 2024

When you head out to your vehicle after it's been parked and notice oil leaking underneath it, that's something to have looked at right away. Oil leaks mean your oil level is probably low and running a vehicle in that condition can lead to expensive repairs. While there are many reasons oil leak... More