Diagnosing and Fixing Your Auto AC

Doing maintenance and repair work on your automobile can be a rewarding experience, and it will likely save you considerable money over time. It will also allow you to develop an increased familiarity with the machine that you frequently depend on. If you are having trouble with your cooling unit and are looking for a cheap way to repair your AC, you might want to undertake the project yourself. To do so, you may need a few helpful tips.

Evaluate Your Skills Accurately

If you have a problem with your AC unit, you may be tempted to fix it yourself. This may be possible, provided you have the necessary skills and equipment. However, you should not overestimate your abilities, as this can lead to increased damage and higher repair costs in order to restore your AC to optimal condition. If you think that you have accurately assessed the problem and are capable of handling it yourself, by all means, do so.

Perform a Freon Check

This will ensure that this essential component of your AC system is at adequate levels. You need to know that the expected Freon level and temperature will vary, depending on your car. Accordingly, you should know what your car’s level is supposed to be in order to make a proper diagnosis. Improper levels could be the result of lack of Freon or obstruction and debris in the lines.

Flush the System

If you have discovered or suspect that your AC system is clogged or otherwise hindered by unwanted debris, you may want to perform a flush. This should get any unwanted materials out of your system. In order to complete this process safely, you will need to first take the drier, compressor, and expansion valve out of the system. Then you will want to administer a compound designed to flush ACs to the Freon pipes and then flush with air.

Replace Your Compressor

It’s possible that your AC’s poor performance isn’t related to lack of Freon or debris in the system lines. If you find that your compressor is losing Freon, you will likely want to swap it out. Of course, this requires a replacement part, but provided you know what you are doing, this will be a relatively cheap AC repair. You may also be able to get your compressor repaired if you do not wish to purchase a complete replacement.

Change the Dryer

If you’re doing work on your AC unit, chances are good that you may need to change the dryer. This is because it’s important to change this part whenever the AC system is opened or pressure is lost in the system. Before you put the replacement dryer back in your system, it’s important that you empty the oil from the old unit and refill the new dryer unit with a similar amount of oil. From here, you will be able to perform further maintenance on your AC unit.

Fixing the AC in your automobile can be tricky. That’s because it’s not always easy to tell what’s wrong with the device. Accordingly, the tips above will not help you solve every problem with your air conditioning unit. However, they should provide you with a little guidance on how to do some cheap AC repairs on your car.