Automotive Tips and Info

Air conditioning time is near

It is not to far away, the days of waiting for the inside of our vehicles to cool down to make the commute to work, home, school, etc. are right around the corner. Air conditioning systems in today's cars are quite advanced from thirty or even twenty years ago. Vehicles now will hold less refrigerant and due to that they will exhibit less cooling in the car if the system loses a small amount. The big issue with loss of refrigerant is that the oil in system also is leaking out. This is what can cause extensive damage and costly repairs. The oil is designed to travel with the refrigerant and lubricate the compressor. When the oil level gets to be too low you can sometimes hear the compressor making noise, which is not a good sign. While the compressor is starving for lubrication it will start to wear and cause particles of metal and other debris to work their way through the system. In order for the cooling process to work correctly the system needs to be free of any debris. Eventually the compressor will wear enough to quite doing its job and the debris could restrict the cooling condenser and need replacing. Each situation is different but condenser replacements are becoming more common.
 
There are products out there that are being used to attempt to seal the system by simply installing this agent into the system. I personally DO NOT recommend them and will not work on a system that has had this installed. These products will cause extensive damage to expensive machines used to recover and recycle the refrigerant from vehicles.
 
If you have not needed any air conditioning system work done in last couple of years and just want the performance tested then I recommend to add a small amount of the correct oil to your system. Some oils will have a dye mixed into the them. This makes future leaks easier to locate if one would happen to appear.

- Jeff Powers