How To Maintain Your Vehicle’s Air-Con

We at CMH Nissan Hillcrest are here to help you with your Nissan’s air conditioning maintenance. Today’s vehicles practically come standard with air-conditioning, and, on a hot summer’s day, it is one of life’s great pleasures to feel a welcome breeze of ice-cold air blowing through the vents.

How an Air-Con works

An air-conditioner operates in a closed system with a refrigerant as the working fluid. This means that the incoming hot air never actually touches the refrigerant but is cooled indirectly by an evaporator/radiator in the airstream.

The compressor is powered by the engine’s auxiliary belt and compresses the refrigerant gas that now heats up above atmospheric temperatures. The hot, compressed refrigerant is then passed through the condenser, where the excess heat is expelled, and the gas condenses and passes through the fluid container. The liquid refrigerant then evaporates through the expansion valve, cooling the gas dramatically and passing through the evaporator in the climate-control system’s airstream, cooling the incoming air. The refrigerant now continues back to the compressor, where the whole process starts again.

What could go wrong

Your vehicle’s air-con should provide ice-cold relief within five minutes, and it is best to evaluate the air blowing from the vents using the back of your hand. If the air is not cold by then, immediately switch off the air-con and get the system inspected.

Many things can go wrong with the air-con system, including gas leaks and failure of bearings and seals, as well as blockages in the pipes or sensor failures. You can take some comfort with the fact that the last component to fail is likely to be the expensive compressor itself. A lack of lubrication is the main reason an air-con compressor fails, when the gas leaks out, so does the oil and thus lubrication qualities are lost, leading to failure.

Vehicle air-con care

To prevent expensive breakdowns, it is important to run your vehicle’s aircon for at least 30 minutes a week. This action lubricates the system and prevents the bearings on the compressor from corroding at touching surfaces.

To avoid air-con odours, change the pollen filter regularly because the fungus that grows on the evaporator can cause bad smells. You should also service the air-con once a year now that the summer temperatures are setting in and it’s getting hotter. Book your Nissan in for an air-con treatment and service at CMH Nissan Hillcrest service department to prevent compressor replacement.

Proper air-con operation

When a vehicle is parked in the sun, the cabin air is usually hotter than the ambient temperature. First, open all windows and switch the fan speed to the maximum to expel the hot air. Then close the windows and allow the air-con to do its job. When the cabin air is cooler than the ambient temperature, the process can speed up by employing the recirculation function to recycle the cabin until the cockpit is at the desired temperature.

Come into CMH Nissan Hillcrest and let us assist you with accurate vehicle care. Contact us on 031 763 3121 or visit www.nissanhillcrest.co.za for more details on our brand, accessories and monthly specials.