What happens to your car’s A/C when you don’t take good care of it?

Having a car in a tropical country such as ours can surely provide us with lots of comfort and convenience. It can bring us from home to work or work to our favorite R & R place quickly while maintaining our office or party look.

One of the reasons why our car provides us with utmost comfort and convenience is because of our car’s air conditioning system – cool air, right in the comfort of our own seat, regardless how long or short our travel time is.

Car A/C provides us with the comfort and convenience that we highly need in our everyday lives

With the responsibility it has on its shoulders, our car’s A/C system surely deserves its own quality, pampering time too. If not, it may rebel on us, making us pay for more due to damages it can incur, if not taken care of properly. Not only that, it can even make us pay by not functioning at all, taking away all the comfort and convenience it usually provides us when they were still in good condition.

Now, we don’t want that to happen right? So it would be best if we know what’s going to happen to our car’s A/C when we neglect it. Once we know these facts, we would probably do our best to properly maintain our car’s A/C accordingly. Let Philcarnews.com helps you now. 

I. What Happens When You Don’t Maintain Your Car’s A/C?

Besides the fact that it could be a total devastation, not maintaining our car’s air conditioning system properly could also cause us financial trouble in the future. Rather than addressing the concerns right away, we may just choose to procrastinate because it’s still working just as fine, however, when the trouble piles up it could cause more damage, therefore needs to have more detailed repair and more money down the drain.

If we don't take care of our car's A/C, it will lead to heat inside our vehicle and stress to us as well

Therefore, when you see one of these signs of car A/C trouble, make sure you address them immediately or better yet, maintain your car’s A/C to avoid experiencing these effects:

1. Freon or Refrigerant Leaks

This might be the first thing we all want to avoid. Why? Because when our car’s A/C has refrigerant or Freon leak, there will not be any cold air coming out of your A/C. Common causes of leaks in car air conditioning system are age and moisture.

Although most of your car’s A/C system is made up of metal, there are parts that are still made up of rubber – these parts include rubber O-rings, grommets, lines, etcetera. These parts made of rubber wear out too and become brittle over time as it gets exposed to heat and moisture, which can further result in a part failing to perform its task properly. For example, a worn-out O-ring can definitely cause a major refrigerant leak.

Consequently, once your car’s A/C has leaked, moisture will start coming into the system. Once it entered the A/C system, it will mix up with whatever refrigerant that’s left and create some form of acid which can adversely affect other important parts such as the receiver/dryer and accumulator. Once these are damaged, they will require a replacement.

2. Condenser Blockages

The function of a condenser is to make a hot refrigerant cool again once it has been compressed – this is through the use of the air coming from the front of the vehicle while we are driving. If there is a debris that blocks the car’s condenser, it will not be able to perform its task properly of cooling the refrigerant. If the refrigerant is not cooled properly, your car’s A/C vents will only let out warm or hot air.

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Car A/C condenser is also important to maintain as it is responsible to make the refrigerant cool

Since in most cars, the condenser is located in the front part, it should be easy to check if there’s anything that blocks it. Once you feel that your car’s A/C works as a heater rather than a cooler, come to a halt and check the condenser and see if there are any blockages – these should also be easy to remove.

3. Broken Condenser

Once you have checked your car’s A/C condenser, and it doesn’t have any blockage, it is possible that the entire condenser might be broken. This can be caused by punctures brought about by the debris going through your car’s grill, causing damage to the condenser. If this is the case, the condenser needs to be replaced as soon as possible.

4. Broken Compressor

The compressor’s role is to keep your car’s A/C working continuously by keeping the refrigerant circulating inside the car’s cooling system so cold air can come out of the vents. If the compressor is broken, you can guarantee that your car’s A/C will not function properly, giving out hot air.

Usually, the cause of broken compressor is lack of frequent use – so if you haven’t used your car’s A/C for a long time then you suddenly decided to turn it on – the system goes into a shock that can break the compressor.

So, regardless of how cold it is, try to use your car’s A/C at least once a week to keep your compressor healthy.

II. How to Maintain Your Car’s A/C Properly?

To avoid the above-mentioned car A/C problems, the best that we can do is to properly maintain and take care of our car’s A/C system. Here are some simple tips to do that:

1. Regularly use or run your car’s A/C

If you’re the type of person who’s not a fan of the cold environment, therefore you don’t use your car’s A/C that much, or possibly, not at all. As you now, if left idle for a long time, this damages your car’s compressor. At least, try to run your air conditioning system for full ten minutes once a week.

Use your car's A/C regularly to maintain its health and running condition

This is to ensure that all the parts of the cooling system would still work properly.

2. Clean air filter

Another vital thing to give your attention to is your A/C’s air filter – once it becomes dirty, it will not bring the much-needed air to the engine and the cooling system, therefore making it hard for the A/C and the engine to run properly.

A clean air filter also makes a good air conditioning system work properly

Just check online or through your car’s manual to locate your air filter. Also look for instructions on how you can remove it so you can clean it. It should be pretty easy, however, if you don’t feel comfortable doing it yourself, seek the help of a professional auto shop.

3. Go to your preferred auto shop

Although it’s always a part of your periodic car maintenance, it won’t also hurt to have your car’s A/C system check whenever you feel there’s something wrong with it. Prevention is better than procrastinating and cure.