Car air conditioner not working
They refer to the gas in an air conditioner as refrigerant. Over time, refrigerant may leak, and low refrigerant is one cause for an air conditioner to stop cooling. Many other things also cause the system to not cool. Without diagnosing the real problem, adding more refrigerant may destroy the compressor and worse.
What to do when an air conditioner stops cooling
When an air conditioner stops working or does not cools well, we need to learn the problem. Finding the actual cause is not difficult. What we need are a few tools and a little knowledge. To check the refrigerant process, we use a pair of gauges. Understanding refrigerant gauges is straight forward, with a few tips.
Our vehicle air conditioner has two main parts. All problems will be with one or the other, as described in part one of this series. One part is the electrical system and the other is a refrigerant system. These must work together to cool the vehicle. The electric side controls the refrigeration side. We diagnose electrical problems with electrical testing equipment. For problems with the refrigerant-side, we use refrigeration pressure gauges and temperature testing.
The first thing we need is an explanation of how air-conditioning works. Please read the Detailed Topic, How Automotive Air Conditioners Work for a simple explanation. We will need to understand the high and low pressure sides of the system. Reading the pressure relationship between them, is the way we find problems. Briefly, the system has a high-side and a low-side. The relationship of the high-side to the low-side determines cooling. We read these pressures as a guide in finding problems.
