Page Contents
There comes a time in your car’s life, when the once amazing air conditioner starts to blow air that is a little warmer than what it used to. When this happens, the next step is to recharge your AC by adding more refrigerant to its system. Although most people think doing it is difficult, in reality, it’s not. This holds as long as you follow the proper approach and know when to recharge it.
What are the steps to recharge the air conditioning of your car?
Here is a step-by-step approach on how you can recharge the air conditioning of your car.
Step 1: Start your car and turn on the AC to the maximum or highest value.
Step 2: Confirm whether your AC compressor is engaging by looking at the clutch at the end of the compressor. The clutch should be spinning, along with the accessory belt that converts the refrigerant from liquid to gas. Check to confirm that it is engaging, and if it is, there’s really no need to add more refrigerant.
Step 3: Locate the pressure port. Before carrying out this step, turn off the vehicle and check the passenger side of the engine bay. The port usually has a letter L on it with black or gray color.
Step 4: Connect the recharge hose from the kit to the port. To do this, simply place a quick connect fitting (it normally comes with the recharge hose) on the port and push down firmly until it clicks into place. While doing this, be careful not to pull out the trigger, as this will release the refrigerant in the AC system into the air.
Step 5: Restart the vehicle and monitor the gage until the low side pressure is as close to 40 psi as possible.
Step 6: You are to then thread the refrigerant can into the recharge hose to allow you slowly top of the AC system as you undo the setup. Also, ensure you check the pressure gage after releasing the trigger.
Step 7: The final step is to turn on your car, run the AC and check if cooling is much better.
When to recharge the air conditioning of a car?
The best sign to know when you need to recharge the air conditioning of a car is when it begins to cool less than it used to. If you let that prolong for a while, it would eventually stop working. Therefore, inspect it once you start to notice this.
Why is it important to maintain one’s car air conditioning?
It is important that you maintain your car’s air conditioning system due to the possibility of bacteria growing and infecting your air.
Aside from that, the ultimate reason why you should maintain the air condition system is that it could eventually lead to mechanical issues like a failed compressor that could be more costly than routine maintenance itself.