Motor Vehicle Maintenance and Repair Stack Exchange
Motor Vehicle Maintenance and Repair Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [ac]

Questions about Air conditioning systems - other Heating and ventilation questions should use 'hvac'

Air Conditioning System

enter image description here

706 questions
20
votes
2 answers

What are the dangers of refilling your air conditioner yourself?

Both of the Haynes manuals for my cars list refilling the refrigerant in your car as a do it yourself procedure. Both vehicles use R-134a refrigerant and the manual shows them being recharged with a simple hose without a pressure gauge on it. I…
Robert S. Barnes
  • 15,708
  • 69
  • 148
  • 239
18
votes
6 answers

Why is car A/C typically less reliable than fridges/freezers?

I just had the A/C in my car die on me again; air coming through the vents with the A/C is just as warm with it turned on as off. However, my fridge/freezer is something I've had for over 5 years and it just keeps trooping on, cooling the food…
Jez
  • 283
  • 1
  • 2
  • 6
11
votes
3 answers

What is involved to recharge the Air Conditioning System?

What is involved to recharge the Air Conditioning System? I believe you need a machine to do it, so I am guessing you can't do it yourself.
Paul C
  • 460
  • 2
  • 6
  • 17
10
votes
8 answers

How do you detect and deal with a refrigerant leak?

My heat works great, but my AC is nonexistent. Just blows out normal air, which in this weather is quite hot and unpleasant. I had the refrigerant refilled two years ago, but I haven't used the car in over a year so I don't know when the AC stopped…
temporary_user_name
  • 1,917
  • 10
  • 27
  • 39
9
votes
4 answers

Does turning fan speed down affect AC compressor load

When I have my AC running, and I turn down the fan speed, does this also change the load the AC puts on the engine? Since the compressor puts load on the engine, and reduces fuel economy, I am wondering if this varies with fan speed. If it does not,…
Scorb
  • 378
  • 4
  • 12
7
votes
2 answers

Why does the Air Conditioner compressor cycle on and off even when it is hot in the car?

I have a 20 year old Subaru wagon, and the A/C seems to work fairly well except when it is extremely hot outside (> 100 F / 40 C - which happens a lot in the summer here). What I wonder about is that the compressor cycles on and off regularly even…
user15009
6
votes
2 answers

What's wrong with my intermittent air conditioner?

When the weather first starting getting warm last month, I turned on my A/C and it didn't work. The air coming out of the vents was warm and humid. A few days later it started working just fine and has worked fine ever since. I noticed that it has…
Stainsor
  • 339
  • 2
  • 4
  • 8
6
votes
3 answers

1998 Dodge Ram AC clutch won't engage

When I call for AC on the dash the clutch on the compressor doesn't engage. I disconnected the clip that connects the wire to the clutch and checked for voltage and there was none. People say that means I "need a new computer". But that seems…
tooshel
  • 1,051
  • 5
  • 13
  • 14
5
votes
2 answers

Patch A/C condenser?

I have a small leak at the top of my air conditioning condenser. Last summer, I tried patching it with JB Weld. They do advertise as working with all metals, but I suspect it failed to hold because it doesn't bond well to aluminum. I could get…
Potatoswatter
  • 470
  • 1
  • 3
  • 11
5
votes
3 answers

AC compressor diagnosis - failed or failed with shrapnel?

What is the best way to diagnose if the compressor has simply failed versus self destructed with metal fragment release? I'd like to determine that myself before purchasing parts to make sure I buy exactly what I need before getting started. Also, I…
Captain Claptrap
  • 688
  • 1
  • 9
  • 12
5
votes
2 answers

Cannot pull a "deep" vacuum on AC system

For reference I'm working on a 1986 Corvette at about 5,000 feet above sea level (I'm in Colorado). The outside temperature is about 80 degrees, and humidity is relatively low. The old R12 system had supposedly sprung a leak and the system had…
Andre Nagel
  • 53
  • 1
  • 1
  • 4
5
votes
2 answers

Honda Civic easily overheats with air conditioning on high?

I have a 2005 Honda Civic DX. I drove my car for about 10 minutes, with the air conditioning on the highest/coolest level. I then parked my car in direct sunlight for another 10 minutes, and kept the air conditioning on. After about 10 minutes, the…
Alec
  • 223
  • 1
  • 3
  • 5
4
votes
1 answer

Mist coming out vent and water leaking under dash

When I turn on ac after a while a mist starts coming out and I have a leak under dash for about a month now. What can it be? Please help
user13741
  • 41
  • 1
  • 2
4
votes
1 answer

Am I getting ripped off by my mechanic?

We've been taking our cars to a local mechanic for years. Always been treated right, they've charged us fairly and everything was great. This year, though, we've had to take one of our cars in three times for air conditioner problems. At least the…
Lanny Heidbreder
  • 143
  • 3
4
votes
11 answers

Should I insulate the air conditioner pipe in my car?

I got my refrigerant re-filled and observed that the pipe going into the compressor gets very cold on the operation of the AC. IF it is getting cold it means that there is a possible heat loss and the compressor has to do extra work in order to…
shabby
  • 749
  • 6
  • 11
  • 22
1
2 3 4