Is Your Car Ready for Summer?

By Dave Trux

Summer is here and so is the heat. You may be able to withstand the heat but can your car? If you haven’t done so yet, take your car to your trusted auto service center and make sure they thoroughly inspect your entire AC system.

An AC service starts out with a function test to make sure that the fan operates at each speed setting and the temperatures of the air vent is also measured. In cases where we don’t get adequate temperature, we perform a vacuum test and draw all the freon out of the system. The vacuum test is our way of making sure that the system is not leaking. It is against EPA regulations to put refrigerant into a system. Basically you are just pumping it back out into the environment.

It’s more important nowadays with new refrigerants because they are not as efficient, they have to operate at much higher pressures. We find that because of the higher operating pressures, it’s even more important to make sure the system is sealed and working. Refrigerant is not the only thing in the system; there is also oil. Oil is used to lubricate the pump. If you just keep adding refrigerant and not drawing it down, making sure it’s not leaking and doing a proper service, you could burn up your pump because you don’t have adequate oil in your refrigerant system.

Make sure your mechanic does a comprehensive function test. If the system doesn't function properly, the next step is to go back and perform a vacuum test. If they don’t do that test and merely add more refrigerant without adding additional oil, then you will likely end up with a system that will fail because the pump could burn up.

We offer a free basic function test and inspection. Based on the results, we’ll determine whether we will move forward with a vacuum test. If we do see a leak, then we will add dye to the system and use an infrared light to see where the leak is located.