Car Air Conditioning Repairs Queensland
How to avoid costly repairs
Just about every vehicle now driving on Australian roads is equipped with and air conditioning system. More modern vehicles are reliant on a functioning air conditioning system as the vehicles are not designed to be driven with the windows down. If you have lowered one of the windows in your vehicle while driving you may have experienced that terrible buffeting noise within the cabin that is very annoying and distracting. It is not until your air conditioner stops operating that you realize just how important that feature is.
Your air conditioning system is designed to run with a specific level of gas and lubrication oil in the system to keep all the moving parts and special seals lubricated. The air conditioner compressor unit relies on the gas in the system to keep it cool when in operation. If your air conditioning unit starts to run low on gas the compressor will begin to overheat and that is when the problems start to occur. Compressor units will, and do fail if left to run overheating for too long. If a compressor fails it contaminates the rest of the air conditioning system with metal debris. This can mean that multiple components will need to be replaced and of course an expensive repair bill.
Car air conditioning units unfortunately do leach out a small amount of gas every year, it can vary from vehicle to vehicle however 30 grams of refrigerant gas lost over a year is not uncommon. Given that the average vehicle will have a full system charge of between 500 grams and 700 grams of refrigerant gas it doesn’t take all that long before your system is undercharged.
Most people are totally unaware that this is the basics of the system operation and continue to drive with the air conditioner running nice and cold year after year until suddenly one day it doesn’t any more. In a lot of cases this is the day of the unexpected big repair bill to get it all fixed up and working again. A repair range of between $1000.00 and $1500.00 is not uncommon in this situation.
You need to consider that your air conditioning system is not unlike your engine in your car. Your car engine needs an oil and filter change at regular intervals to keep it operating normally and have a long life in service. Your air conditioning system is just the same, changing the gas, oil and filter in the system at regular intervals will ensure the system operates normally and provides you with a long service life without costly and unexpected repairs.
For optimum service life of your air conditioner unit, we recommend the air conditioner gas and oil be replaced in the system every 2 years. Every second time the gas and oil is replaced the filter unit in the system should be replaced as part of the procedure. Such a maintenance plan will ensure that your air conditioning system operates with an adequate charge of gas and oil all the time and should keep expensive repairs at bay.
Regardless of the season you should make sure your air conditioner operates for at least 5 minutes a week. This stops the seals in the system from drying out which in turn will allow gas to leak past them and out of the system.
Stay Cool.
