How to Tune-Up Your Car’s Air Conditioning System for Hot Weather Driving

After a really tough year and along winter, we are all looking forward to a fun and active summer, full of escapes and travel. With a lot more cars on the roads, you can expect some slow spots and that means you could be in the vehicle longer than expected. That’s ok, as long as you’re comfortable and cool as temperatures rise across North America . Now’s a great time to make sure your vehjcle’s AC system is ready for short and long-haul trips,

What does that mean, how can you get your AC ready to perform (doesn’t it always perform?). The AC system doesn’t have fluids that need to be changed frequently like oil and brake fluids, but it does have an active refrigerant fluid in the AC unit. Most modern vehicle AC units really only start to fail when it collects debris and then causes a clog. Clogs drive up the pressure which can cause a leak. If the refrigerant leaks out it can cause serious issues and you’ll be very warm!   It pays to have a professional auto shop give your vehicle a tune-up before the heat arrives and it will likely save you a lot of money in the long run.

Air Flow: Once you have the AC unit working well , you want to make sure the cool air is directed where you and your passengers want it . Do a simple inspection of the vents across the front dashboard and sometimes in the back center console. Make sure each vent properly directs the louvers (the plastic blades). If the vent tab (the plastic piece which you use to direct the air) or the louver is broken, missing or dis-connected you have an issue .Most times , the problem is the vent tab is broken or warped or missing , and that’s the key element that controls the air flow. If that happens, you can easily replace the vent tab (or vent clip) for about $15 each . You can find them on Amazon, eBay, CARid and other car part sites. The category inventor and largest catalog is venttabs.com, a company based in California.

Don’t risk an AC failure on road to Vegas when it’s 104 degrees at 11AM . Get it handled now and enjoy traveling across the country again very soon.