Is Your Car Air Conditioning Keeping You Cool This Summer?

Oh my goodness, how hot has this summer been? If you live anywhere in South East Queensland there is little doubt you have been sweltering away through January and February as we experience one of our hottest summers on record, and that’s saying something for SEQ!

Air conditioners in homes and cars have been working overtime trying to keep all of us from blowing our collective tops as the thermometer has crept near and past 40 degrees.

Have you experienced the terrifying realisation that your car air conditioning is suddenly blowing hot air out at you on one of those 40 degree days?

There is very little you can do, other than wind your window down and hope the hot air from outside is cooler than the hot air coming out of your broken air conditioning.

There can varied reasons as to why your air conditioning is not keeping you cool.

Trying to work out the best way to find out what’s going on is not always easy unless you are a professional,

but let me try and give you a few ideas into what might be going on:

1. Firstly make sure you’re not just over-reacting and that your air conditioning is working but the excessive heat outside makes it seem not as cold as usual. Put your hand right in front of the outlet and if you feel cool air, just give it time to cool your entire car down.

2. If you have a leak in one of your lines, you may be out of refrigerant which will require a re-gas (as a quick-fix) or you will need to locate the leak, I will go into further detail below about this. This is one of the most common reasons as to why your air conditioning is not performing at its optimum.

3. If your car is not quite as young as it used to be, you may find that there is a build up of dirt or moisture inside your air conditioning unit which is affecting it’s performance capabilities. Flushing the system is the best way to clean the unit and ensure no debris remains and your air conditioning can return to keeping you cool.

4. Air conditioning units require many parts to keep them operating, if you find you have an issue with the compressor, evaporator, condenser, drier or thermal expansion valve you can be certain cool air will not be flowing through into your car.

In most of these cases, unless you have knowledge of how your air conditioning unit works you will need assistance from a professional.

Your air conditioning unit is not something you want to just “play around with” as you could cause expensive damage to the unit.

As you are driving around, try and be aware what is going on with your air conditioning temperature.

One of the best ways to work out exactly what is going wrong is to know whether your air conditioning started blowing hot air quickly or whether it happened over a period of time.

This information can be vital to the reparation process of your air conditioning unit.

As mentioned above, one of the most common issues with air conditioning units can be leaks. In most cars the refrigerant used is a gas at atmospheric temperature, which under pressure will find even the smallest opening or crack to leak out.

With the constant movement and vibration experienced by vehicles, along with the road debris and general elements it is no surprise that hoses and lines can work their way loose over time.

It can be extremely difficult at times to work out exactly where the leak is coming from as there are hoses and lines winding throughout your engine bay.

One of the more intriguing ways of finding the specific leak is to purchase an ultraviolet dye, an injector to get it into your air conditioning system and an ultraviolet light.

Once you inject the ultraviolet dye into the air conditioning system and let it run for a few minutes, you can move your car into a dark area (garage) and ensure that all lights are turned off, making the room as dark as possible.

Using your ultraviolet light to work your way around all of the hoses and lines of the air conditioning system you should be able to locate exactly where the leak point is, and which component is damaged and needs to be replaced.

In any case, your best course of action would be to get a professional to look at your air conditioning unit as they know what they are looking for and should be able to fix most issues quickly and without fuss.

I know that’s what I will be doing to try and stay cool this summer!

If your air conditioning is shot and you want a car that is super-cool, talk to me, I can buy your old hot car and watch you drive away in cool comfort! Call Paul on 0411 362 229.