Air Conditioning

In your car, however, the refrigerant lines are made so they can be removed to gain access to other parts of the engine that need repair or replacement. Each aluminum line is made with a flange that mates with the next section of line. An O-ring is used to seal each section to the next to keep the refrigerant in and air and moisture out. These joints start out, refrigerant tight. As your vehicle goes down the road the entire frame flexes and moves causing these flanges and the O-rings sealing them to flex as well. Over time, the O-rings are exposed to heat and chemical fumes under the hood, no longer seal and refrigerant begins to leak into the atmosphere. Somewhere between three and six years from manufacture, you will notice suddenly that the air conditioning doesn’t cool as well as it did, especially when you slow down in traffic.

Many people attempt to recharge the air conditioning system with a bottle of R-134 from an auto supply store. Under certain conditions this may work. If the air conditioning has been used, undercharged or without charge for some time, the system can have air and moisture in the lines.  ASR uses a sophisticated air conditioning charging system that first removes and saves what is left of the refrigerant in your system.  It then pulls a vacuum on all the refrigerant lines in your vehicle for up to 30 minutes.  This removes all the air and moisture that reduce cooling efficiency. The system then returns any R-134 that was in your system originally and fills the remainder of system with new refrigerant to the system’s capacity as recommended by the manufacturer. During this process a green dye is injected into the system. This allows a technician to find refrigerant leaks by viewing lines, connections and the condenser with a black light and special glasses.

Other issues can cause reduced air conditioning efficiency. These include a failed air conditioning compressor clutch, the compressor itself, damaged expansion valve, evaporator, condenser or clogged orifice tube (a device that acts to filter the refrigerant). ASR always performs a complete air conditioning service during the recharge process.  If returning your air conditioning system to like new cooling efficiency will take more than just a recharge, we will let you know what needs to be done and give you our lowest possible estimate.