Have you climbed into your car on a recent sweltering summer day and turned the A/C on full blast, only to ask yourself a minute later: why is my car air conditioner not blowing cold air?! Well, you’ve come to the right place.
There are a variety of reasons why your car might not be blowing cold air, or might not feel like it’s blowing cold air, and some are an easier fix than others.
Low refrigerant often leads to warm air
Freon is the chemical refrigerant that helps cool the air circulated by your car’s air conditioner. If your car’s refrigerant is low, it can keep your air conditioner from functioning properly. The compressor won’t cycle if the amount of pressure in the system is low. In most cases, this is the cause for the lack of cold air. Over time, the level of refrigerant in your system decreases (albeit very slowly), but refrigerant can also be low because of a leak or another failed component.
If your refrigerant is low, you can try adding more, but if you find that you need to top it off again in a few weeks, that could be a sign of a more serious leak.
Other signs of a leak can include an audible click when the air conditioning is turned on, hissing sounds from the air conditioner when the engine is off, oil residue around the air conditioner’s pipe fittings and hoses and the air conditioner cycling on and off frequently.
An auto repair facility can quickly and easily diagnose if you have a leak and where it’s occurring. If you suspect your system has a leak, it’s best to take it to a repair shop and have it properly diagnosed and fixed.
Blocked or broken condenser
The condenser in your car’s air conditioner, much like the one in your air conditioner at home, is key in circulating cold air. If the condenser is blocked up or damaged, your air conditioner won’t be able to blow cool air. This can also sometimes be the result of an electrical fault in the compressor’s circuit or clutch. In today’s modern cars, the air conditioner is sometimes the first thing that’s turned off by the computer when it senses an engine problem or that the car is overheating, in which case, you’ll definitely want a professional to diagnose the issue.
Restrictions in the cooling system
If something’s blocking up the system, like leaves, bugs or dirt, it could prevent the AC from blowing cold air. Dirty or clogged air filters can also cause your air conditioner’s air to feel less cold. If your A/C is blowing cool air, but not cold air, even though you have it set to the max cool setting, this could be an issue with a restriction or a dirty filter.
On the other hand, if your air conditioner is producing cold air, but it’s not blowing at you, this is likely an issue with the system’s fan, which can occasionally be caused by restrictions.
A car’s air conditioning system is complicated, as we’ve probably made clear so far in this post. While there might be a thing or two you can do to fix your air conditioner yourself, you’re better off taking it to a place that can look at your system holistically and determine the problem. Air conditioning issues are typically fairly quick and easy fixes for a repair facility, so there’s no sense in suffering through the rest of the summer with a faulty air conditioner.
