Why Doesn't My Car's A/C Work?
If you're having trouble keeping cool in your car, you likely have a problem with your car's A/C.
Trying to keep cool during the heat of summer is no joke, especially if you notice your car's A/C unit can no longer keep you comfortable.
So what do you do when you car’s air conditioning starts failing you? Turn to your trusted mechanic. Even if your A/C system loses performance gradually, it can indicate a larger problem.
Recharging your car's A/C unit
One of the most common reasons for failing or diminished cooling in your car is insufficient refrigerant due to an A/C leak in the system. Your car’s A/C, much like your home’s A/C or refrigerator, depends on the thermodynamic properties associated with coolant gases operating within a closed loop under the correct pressure.
If the car’s A/C system has a coolant leak, you may notice your car can’t keep the interior as cool. “If your A/C system is low on refrigerant, it’s obviously leaking,” says Andy Milot, owner of Andre’s Auto & Truck Services in Oldsmar, Florida.
So you should be able just top off the system with some fresh coolant and get your interior back to chilly comfort again, right? Not quite. For starters, if your car is leaking coolant, you’re harming the environment, particularly the ozone layer. Older cars use a refrigerant compound known as R12, or the more common brand name of Freon, which falls into the class of chemical compounds known as chlorofluorocarbons or CFCs.
"A/C systems are pretty much maintenance-free – so they never need a charge until they leak enough refrigerant out," says Bill Coniam, owner of 25th Street Automotive in Phoenix. "If you have a leak, it is your environmental responsibility to try to find and correct it."
If your system does leak, Jones recommends asking your auto shop to perform a pressure diagnostic and leak evaluation, which he says can cost from $80 to $150 in most cases. The technician will top it off with coolant and pressurize it, then look for leaks. Sometimes, an ultraviolet dye may be added to help the technician find small leaks.
Coniam says you should expect to pay a little more than $100 for an A/C recharge and leak diagnostic, but to be wary of extremely low prices for the service. "Advertising something a $19.95 A/C service is misleading. At that price it makes me suspect that they aren’t environmentally friendly and/or they intend to try to sell unnecessary services," he says.
If your car's struggling to stay cold in the summer, there's probably a problem with your A/C. (Photo by Eldon Lindsay)
Can you recharge your car's A/C yourself?
Do-it-yourself recharge kits are available, but may pose some environmental risks. "You have to be very careful," Lucido says. "That’s an advantage to taking your car to a shop: We’re licensed to do this. Otherwise you could be releasing CFCs into the atmosphere."
Lucido adds that although the retail A/C recharge kits come equipped with generic gauges to measure the amount of coolant in the system, they're not as accurate as the gauges a professional mechanic would use. "You really should have pressure gauges if you’re putting Freon into a system - there’s a happy medium you have to achieve," he says. "If you put too much Freon in, it won’t cool; if it's low, of course, it won’t cool well."
Costs for car A/C repair
Consider yourself lucky if your A/C problem originates from a lack of refrigerant due to a minor leak.
“Air conditioning can be terribly expensive to repair,” Milot says, adding that there’s a wide range of repair possibilities and costs. “A leak or a problem with your A/C system could cost as little as $2 for replacing an O-ring to at least $1,000 for something like a compressor failure.”
Symptoms of failing air conditioning components can include loud screeching that's continuous or upon starting the vehicle, coupled with loss of cooling output.
"That can mean you have an A/C compressor about to lock up," Jones says.
Coniam says other symptoms such as rattling or poor air flow from the vents can help indicate the difference between a major repair like an A/C compressor, or a minor one like a bad blower fan.
"Many times the problem lies in the air distribution system under the dash, not the refrigeration system under the hood," he says. "So look for things like air that doesn’t flow or has insufficient flow or doesn’t flow from the correct vents."
Jones says replacing A/C components such as compressors, condensers or evaporators can start at about $800 and can easily cost $2,000 and more.
While the parts themselves are costly, the labor required can dictate higher prices on some A/C repairs.
If you’re shelling out big bucks to invest in new air conditioning components in an older vehicle, don't forget to ask the repair-or-replace question. “You always have to look at the value of the car when you’re doing a costly repair in my opinion,” Lucido says.
Editor's note: This is an updated version of an article originally posted on July 16, 2012.
