During the hot and humid Omaha summer months, your car can become a rather unpleasant place to spend a lot of time. Unless you have adequate air conditioning, you might find that your vehicle is stuffy and claustrophobic. Fortunately, most modern vehicles these days do have air conditioning. The problem is with that other word: adequate.

Why is My Car Air Conditioner Not Blowing Cool Air?

For a lot of us, the experience of a car air conditioner is that it makes little difference to our environment. In some cases, it may even appear to make the environment hotter by simply blowing hot air into your vehicle. So, what is going on here? What can you do to fix your air conditioner? Let’s take a look.

How a Car Air Conditioner Works

A car air conditioner generally works by using an intake at the front of the vehicle to bring in air from outside, and then circling that through vents in the car. Other AC systems work by circulating air that is already in the vehicle.
In very old vehicles, this can sometimes be the entire process: that is to say that there is no additional cooling element to help bring cooler air into the space. That means that if the air is hot outside, then it is going to be hot when it comes in!

These systems often offer heated air by simply running the air through the car’s engine, which heats it up naturally before pumping it into the car. However, more modern vehicles will work slightly differently by using a cooling element. This is usually made from refrigerant. The refrigerant is a liquid designed to remain cold, which can then cool any air that runs over a coil that contains it.

If this is how your car’s AC works, then it should naturally be a lot cooler than it otherwise would be. The problem of course, is that these types of air conditioning systems still only have a limited amount of time to cool the air that is passing in – and that air is still the ambient air from inside or outside of your vehicle.

If it is extremely hot outside or inside your vehicle, it can take quite a long time for the air to cool down – or it may only make a slight difference. The AC does not “create” cold air!

How to Diagnose the Problem

That said, there are a number of issues that may be preventing your AC unit from running as efficiently as it should be, and this can result in the air coming through being warm. The first possibility to investigate for this reason, is that the refrigerant may be running low. If this is the case, then you will need to replace that in order to get your car running as cold as possible.

Another tip is to close the windows where possible. If it is very hot outside, then keeping your windows open can lead to the cold air being circulated actually leaving the vehicle, while new, hotter air enters it through the window!

Other A/C issues

There are other possibilities too. One is that your filter may be clogged. This filter is designed to protect the mechanism and also to remove dust and dirt from the air being circulated. Over time, this can begin to become clogged with dust and dirt, thus making it much harder for the air to pass through. What’s more is that this dust can actually become hot!
To that end, you should clear the filter if at all possible in order to ensure that this isn’t a problem.

Another issue is that the motor or fan could be damaged. The fan spins in order to create a vacuum behind the propellers. This in turn causes air to circulate toward it, and then to be propelled outward into the car. If this should stop working fully, then there won’t be much cooler air entering your car.

You may be able to fix this problem by replacing the fan, or the motor. In many cases, this will be a simple process that you can find instructions for online. In others, you will need to get help from a mechanic or the manufacturer in order to get your car repaired fully.

Dave & Rays Automotive Repair Shop in Omaha, NE

Our team has learned one thing: automotive problems are as varied and unique as the customers who bring them to us. Fortunately, our decades of experience in auto service and repair also mean that our skilled network of professionals is ready to accommodate an impressive scope of automotive issues. Contact us today.

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