Back to all

Does My A/C Need To Be Serviced?

In the winter you don’t need it, but depending on where you live, starting in the spring, you can’t live without it.  Air conditioning can be considered more a necessity than a luxury for most car owners today. 

Anyone who’s entered a car that has been baking in the sun has experienced first-hand the powerful “greenhouse effect” caused by the sun’s radiation becoming trapped by the car’s windows.  Spring is the ideal time to get your car’s air conditioning maintained.

Problems you may notice such as reduced cooling capacity or complete malfunction could be caused by any number of reasons, but perhaps the most typical cause are leaks in the system.  Another common cause is the refrigerant, which carries away the heat, and could need topping off or a complete recharge (replacement). 

The compressor draws in the refrigerant, compresses it and then moves it along, but if the serpentine belt, which powers the compressor isn’t working your air conditioner won’t work either.  More extensive repairs may be necessary if the condenser needs to be replaced, which expels the heat just like a car’s radiator. 

The last fail points could be expansion valves, which regulate flow or vent/drier/evaporator failures, which would prevent the hot interior air from circulating through the system to be cooled down by all the components above.  Save yourself further troubles, by checking your air conditioning today.

More articles from Southside Garage

Mean Green 66

September 18, 2018

More

GM V-8 Oil Consumption

September 15, 2016

Several of our customers with late model GM vehicles notice that between oil changes, the engine oil level is low. Several of these customers even have to add oil between changes because the oil level drops below the "ADD" line on the dipstick. ... More

Ethanol Fuel causing "Check Engine Light"

September 15, 2016

Recently customers have visited our shop with a "Check Engine Light" with no performance complaint. When the vehicle was scanned for codes the codes were for a "Lean Exhaust" condition (P0171 & P0174). We checked all the normal lean exhaust code p... More