The air conditioner does not turn on. look for the reasons
The most serious breakdown is the compressor jamming. It is manifested in different ways:
- there is a grinding or rattle from under a cowl, sometimes even a smoke starts blowing;
- The compressor drive belt, which drives it from the engine, breaks or comes off;
- Safety plates break on a pulley, thus a silent “click” is heard, the air conditioner simply stops working.
There are several causes of compressor failure. often it breaks as a result of long work with a clogged radiator. high pressure and high temperature greatly reduces the life of the compressor. That’s why the radiator needs to be cleaned every year.
HOW TO FIX YOUR CARS AIR CONDITIONER IN MINUTES!
Other common causes of compressor malfunction are lack of lubrication and dirt. This is the result of leaks in the system. a burst tube, cracked casing or worn gasket results in the ingress of humidity from the atmosphere. As a consequence, there is corrosion and dirt which leads to the unit failure.
The most common cause of an air conditioner not turning on is a clogged radiator
Keep in mind that the compressor can break down if you eliminate the defect after the depressurization of the system and refill it with coolant. This is especially the case if the car has been operated for a long time with a depressurized system. The thing is that after any depressurization it is necessary to flush the system, as any dirt is pernicious for the compressor.
It is forbidden to use air conditioner without flushing it after long idle time, because it also can cause compressor failure.
Bad cold of air conditioner in a car. the source of trouble
In addition to the air conditioner, the sources of the malfunction can be:
- The radiator-condenser, which is usually located either in front of the main radiator or directly in front of its decorative grille. It often gets clogged with dirt, fluff, or insects and the air conditioning system stops getting enough air.
- The radiator fan does not switch on, but it not necessarily means that it is broken.
It often happens especially in hot days when the car has stood in the sun, and then the conditioner sharply stopped working. After it has traveled a certain distance and has slightly cooled down, it turns on as if nothing has happened. It happens because the system overheats, the pressure in the circuit between the compressor and the thermoregulation valve increases. The safety mechanism automatically shuts off the compressor, and it only starts when the system cools down sufficiently.
Often after air conditioner normal operation is restored, the car owners forget about this episode, but it should not be neglected. In order that such emergency system shutdowns do not lead to serious damage in the near future, it is necessary to flush the radiator of the condenser and the radiator of the engine cooling system.
It is quite difficult to perform this operation by yourself, because it is not possible to wash radiators with a normal water jet. most often special compounds are required. Poor quality flushing will have no effect and the problem will quickly reoccur. over, if you choose a wrong force of a jet and the angle of its fall, it is possible to damage a radiator honeycomb, therefore, it is better to entrust this work to professionals.
In order to avoid such problems in the future, you should protect the radiators with special nets, which will become a reliable barrier to dirt and dust.
Five reasons, why the conditioner blows with warm air in a car
The young drivers may not even remember how it is possible to drive in summer heat in the car without air conditioner. A cooler in a car used to be a subject of chic, but today it is even in base complete set of many inexpensive models. But any breakage of air conditioner, and we roll back 20-30 years in terms of comfort. As well as other components of a car, conditioner by the law of meanness breaks down when it is needed most of all. in the hottest heat. We have found five reasons, when conditioner blows out warm air inside a car.
Not enough refrigerant
This is the undoubted leader in the number of problems with the air conditioner. It is badly cold or does not work at all? First of all you need to check freon level. Alas, it will not be possible to do it without special equipment, however, feeling demand of similar services, shops for autoconditioners maintenance began to open everywhere. What about workshops, sometimes you buy a compact charging unit and services are rendered on the roadsides and parking lots. We mean that it is not difficult to find a place for check and refill of freon. The only exception is very old cars that are intended for freon R12, it is not easy to find a shop today that works with it, but the equipment for R134 is everywhere, and one can check the level and fill it up without any problems. Such service costs 1000-2000.
Another question is where did the old refrigerant disappear to? If the last time the conditioner had to be recharged more than two years ago, most likely you should not look for any additional reasons. It is either natural evaporation or the leak is so microscopic that nobody will ever find it. It is quite another matter, if the filling is not enough even for a year, then there is definitely a “hole” somewhere in the system. This is detected at the service, the system is filled with Freon with additives that glow in the ultraviolet. Then it is necessary only to look under a hood with the special “flashlight” to understand from where “siphonit”, well and further on results of diagnostics, or to weld (argon welding is required) or to change pipes.
Weak cooling of the condenser
If everybody, who even in general outlines represents a work of autoconditioner (and not only auto, the principle of work of all cooling devices is the same) understands that without freon cooling there will be no coolness in the interior. In a car, cooling takes place in a condenser, which in slang is usually called an air conditioner radiator. It is located before the main radiator and is the first to receive the incoming air stream that helps the standard fan to cool the freon.

There are two reasons why the cooling will be insufficient. Either there is some problem with the fan or the condenser is clogged. As with any electrical device, there are many possible problems with the fan. It is a breakdown of the motor, and problems with wiring, and insufficient pressure, and absence of “ground”, and the burned-out fuse. in general, the diagnostician has a place to turn around. It is true that the fan itself easily detects itself. At the beginning of work of a compressor of the conditioner, the fan should necessarily start on so-called first speed. If it does not happen, then you can not look further, as long as the fan will not work, the air conditioning system is useless. And further either go to an auto electrician, or arm a tester and start to wire everything to determine the reason. we pay attention that exactly the first speed is necessary, the fan can be switched on at the second speed, for example, but it will not help without constant work at the first speed.
With a clogged condenser is easier on one side, but not on the other. It’s easier in the sense that you don’t need to diagnose anything, you just need to mechanically clean it. The complexity is that the layout of many cars for this procedure would have to dismantle half of the “front”, at least take off the bumper. you can not just put the hose of Kercher and blow it out, moreover you can damage the honeycomb. But in any case the problem of clogged condenser can be solved independently and without specialized equipment.
Compressor malfunction
If checking the level and cooling freon did not give anything, then it’s up to the heavy artillery. causes that are more difficult and more expensive to fix. At the top of this list is a broken compressor. It often happens that the trouble does not come alone, the compressors just fail because of the lack of refrigerant or its poor cooling, because they also do not work in normal mode and get little lubricant (grease is added to the freon, little freon. lack of lubrication). Repair of the compressor is a thankless task, it is quite a complex device, it requires both skill and spare parts. If the compressor is out of order, it makes sense to consider to buy a second hand model at a salvage yard. Compressors in most cars have a decent life, so even a sample bought with a hand can serve for a long time, though in any case is a pig in a poke that can only be checked by installing it on the car, so don’t try to agitate for this solution.
Besides the compressor itself, problems can be with the electric clutch and pulley. The clutch has electrical and mechanical damage, and repairs are usually complex and expensive, and the clutch is rarely repaired. The weakest point in pulleys is the bearing, which can fail at any time. The saddest is if it gets blocked, then the drive belt almost inevitably tears and the car owner gets a pile of additional problems, but the squeak and rattle, which accompanies, for example, water penetration, is also a very unpleasant thing. Just a bearing in a pulley on many cars can be replaced without any problems, and even with your own forces, you need only pullers and press. And you also need to be careful, if during pressing and crimping slightly damage or bend the pulley, then the compressor will not work.
Damaged wiring
Breakage of electric circuits is banal, but very nasty, and the main thing is that nobody is insured from it. There are a lot of electric components in air conditioning system, each of them has a wiring, plus control pressure sensors, and one cannot expect coolness in the interior without their correct indication. The traditional diagnostic problem of electrical breakdowns is a huge number of potential diagnostic points. As they say, to buzz and to buzz. Fortunately, according to reviews of mechanics, who deal with conditioners, the electrical problems occur not so often, that is why it is necessary to make an inspection of half of wires in the automobile only in case of great need. But it can happen also, and then the repair can be very unpredictable in terms of time and duration.
Flaps and controls of a heater
Formally this reason does not concern an air conditioning system, but it completely corresponds to the conditions, which we have put in a heading. the warm air can blow from an air conditioner even if it is completely normal. Even in a simple, manual car heater there is a mixing of different flows by closing some air channels and opening others. In the systems of climate-control, where all works with the help of servo mechanisms, and moreover, under the control of electronic “brain” this “maze” can be very complicated. And irregularities in operation of the system lead to unpredictable consequences.
As regards detection and malfunction correction, electronic systems are more convenient, first of all because any, even the most ancient climate-control has the system of check and self-diagnostics. If a climatic block is in order, then with a high degree of probability it will be able to prompt which chain is broken and where to look for a jammed flap. Telling the truth, repair and replacement of the block itself can go for a penny. With mechanical conditioners one should take off a fore-body, disassemble the furnace and look for a torn cable or jammed baffle by oneself. Almost always this procedure turns out to be more time-consuming. Really, you don’t need much skill for such work. it is enough to read in the Internet how to take off a torpedo and to disassemble a heater on concrete auto model, to put around tools and to find a problem. You only need time.
It is better not to postpone for a while the repair of a conditioner system. Every day in heat is a blow on comfort, and the later to decide the problem of wrong air temperature from nozzles, the longer we will have to suffer. There is no sense to repair a conditioner by winter, if you have not managed to do everything before the season is over it is better to start a new round in the spring.
As to possible reasons and technologies of repair, everything is the same as with other elements of the automobile. We analyze the reasons by popularity from frequent to rare, we exclude variants and by the enumeration method we come to the true culprit of breakage. To repair or to replace a spare part? Do it yourself or go to the service? Alas, it is impossible to answer these questions unequivocally for all drivers. too different input data. But comprehension of a problem and independent diagnostics of a breakage is already half an achievement on a way of return of coolness in a car, even if to address to service with a problem then.
The conditioner does not work: how to avoid a global warming in your car
In summer trips by an automobile with the left elbow stuck out of a window and the other windows open for total airing of the salon are a thing of the past. The majority of drivers today are equipped with air conditioning systems in their cars, making their trips in hot weather comfortable. However, automobile climatic installations are difficult and vulnerable in difficult conditions of road movement. Is it possible to define quickly the faults which have appeared in auto air conditioner and is it worth trying to remove them by oneself?
The air conditioner in the car does not work: reasons
Every year it becomes more and more difficult to imagine a car without air conditioner. It has become habitual to travel in comfortable conditions irrespective of season and air temperature outside the window.
But everything changes dramatically when the air conditioner fails.
Why it happens? What prevents this, almost immobile unit, from being eternal?
Let us consider the main points that make it stop working.
Why the air conditioner is not cooling, if you have climate control
If you want to know why the air conditioner in the car does not cool, it will be useful to know what is climate control.
Many modern cars don’t just use air conditioning, but a climate system that combines warm and cold air streams for maximum driver and passenger comfort. Thus, everyone present in the car can adjust the optimum temperature of the air blowing for themselves.
Modern climate control can consist of such components:
air quality sensor outside the car;
device for autocirculation of cabin air;
The filter that cleans the air in the cabin, it may involve the presence of activated carbon cartridges or ampoules of liquid that give the air a pleasant smell;

car windows that do not change their temperature;
The electronic unit for controlling the climate in the passenger compartment and more.
If you have a car with climate control, there are many reasons why the auto air conditioner does not cool. In this case it is better to take the car to service station for professional diagnostics, it will be very difficult to identify the problem independently.
Fully sealed climate system loses up to 15% of its total refrigerant volume every year. Even correctly working conditioner of a new automobile should be inspected once in 2-3 years. It has to be checked annually for a car older than 6 years. as connection gaskets wear out with time and microcracks appear in pipes. There are some kinds of freon, depending on year of automobile release. There is usually a sticker somewhere under the hood that tells you the type of refrigerant. The refrigerating oil is renewed together with freon.
- If you buy a car with used car, do not believe the tales of a seller about temporarily taken out freon, as if “the conditioner does not operate in the car, because it is not necessary”. If the compressor is not connected, it should alert.
- Protect a radiator of an air conditioner from the dropping debris from a road with an additional grid on a bumper. It is especially actual for owners of cars with large honeycombs in the grill of a false radiator.
- Turn on air conditioner regularly, even when the car is seldom used. At least for 10 minutes 1-2 times monthly. it will help to avoid a drying out of connecting elements.
- Turn off a conditioner in a few minutes before the end of the trip, leaving a working heater for this time. Warm air will dry the air ducts, depriving the germs of a breeding ground.
- Do not forget that the best repair is prevention. Regular maintenance will help to prevent a break-down in time.
Bad air conditioner works in a car in hot weather: what to do
To answer the question, why the auto conditioner compressor does not turn on, you should begin with consideration of the device of cooling system in a car.
Checking the performance of the car compressor
To check whether the compressor works, you can use a manometer, but the check should be carried out in a specialized service center on special equipment:
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Connect the unit to the car air conditioning system, start the engine;