taza
Forum Member
Since starting my apprenticeship I've been learning heaps and asking heaps of questions.
Thought I might mention a few things about your A/C and how to keep it going for years.
Firstly you should use for A/C for atleast 20mins once a week every week. Now I see alot of cars come in to get regassed, both new and old(10 year or more). I would say we have a 50/50 mix of new and old car, some just 2-3 years old that need regassing because they aren't cold anymore.
Now most people don't use their A/C over winter which causes all the seals to harden. This is because the gas and oil in the system isn't circulating around. When the seals harden then obviously the gas seeps out, sometimes fast, sometimes slow. It usually happens with the O-rings that connect the A/C compressor the the rest of the system. Running your A/C once a week will stop the seals harden and allow it to last a long time.
For example I will use my 2001 Forester. 12 years old and the A/C system has never been touched. I use my often, usually in short burst as it takes too much power away from my car.
Now when we(or any Auto Sparky, Aircon place or Mechanic) regas an A/C sytem we check how cold it gets. With your standard A/C System(NOT climate control) your temperature should get down to 4 degrees Celsius(39F). With Climate Control anywhere between 5-10 degrees Celcius (41-50F) is normal.
Getting back to my car, I put the temp gauge in just to see and this is the result.
Yep that's right, 4 degrees C! :biggrin:
Now another tip; with all our offroad we get mud, dirt, dust, sand, leaves and just everything everywhere usually :lol: :iconwink:
Now when I tested my A/C before the run in the pic above I only got 14 degrees C. Which is way off what it should be, I thought it needed a regas but after talking to some of the guys at work they thought the condenser (in front of the radatior/behind the grille) could be blocked. As it needs goo air flow it could be blocked up with dirt, mud and all that ****.
So I took the grille off, sprayed degreaser in there and with a medium pressure spray from the hose nossle I sprayed it throughly on both side. There was tonnes of beach sand, brown dirt and abit of mud that came out. I let it dry for 10min in the sun then instantly after starting the car and A/C it was really cold.
Anyway, a few tips there I thought I'd point out :iconwink:
Thought I might mention a few things about your A/C and how to keep it going for years.
Firstly you should use for A/C for atleast 20mins once a week every week. Now I see alot of cars come in to get regassed, both new and old(10 year or more). I would say we have a 50/50 mix of new and old car, some just 2-3 years old that need regassing because they aren't cold anymore.
Now most people don't use their A/C over winter which causes all the seals to harden. This is because the gas and oil in the system isn't circulating around. When the seals harden then obviously the gas seeps out, sometimes fast, sometimes slow. It usually happens with the O-rings that connect the A/C compressor the the rest of the system. Running your A/C once a week will stop the seals harden and allow it to last a long time.
For example I will use my 2001 Forester. 12 years old and the A/C system has never been touched. I use my often, usually in short burst as it takes too much power away from my car.
Now when we(or any Auto Sparky, Aircon place or Mechanic) regas an A/C sytem we check how cold it gets. With your standard A/C System(NOT climate control) your temperature should get down to 4 degrees Celsius(39F). With Climate Control anywhere between 5-10 degrees Celcius (41-50F) is normal.
Getting back to my car, I put the temp gauge in just to see and this is the result.
Yep that's right, 4 degrees C! :biggrin:
Now another tip; with all our offroad we get mud, dirt, dust, sand, leaves and just everything everywhere usually :lol: :iconwink:
Now when I tested my A/C before the run in the pic above I only got 14 degrees C. Which is way off what it should be, I thought it needed a regas but after talking to some of the guys at work they thought the condenser (in front of the radatior/behind the grille) could be blocked. As it needs goo air flow it could be blocked up with dirt, mud and all that ****.
So I took the grille off, sprayed degreaser in there and with a medium pressure spray from the hose nossle I sprayed it throughly on both side. There was tonnes of beach sand, brown dirt and abit of mud that came out. I let it dry for 10min in the sun then instantly after starting the car and A/C it was really cold.
Anyway, a few tips there I thought I'd point out :iconwink:
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