Tech Tip

The right time to turn on—and off—your air conditioner

Summer has returned to Tucson. All of us are turning up the A/C in our vehicles and well… it just doesn’t feel as cool as it did last year.

Every summer when we first begin to use our air conditioning we seem to never cool off. We have not yet made our adjustment to the heat in a lot of cases. A valuable hint that is good for your engine is turn off the A/C blower switch in your vehicle before turning off your ignition. By doing this your engine can restart without the load and constraints of high heat. Once your engine has started and stabilized (about the length of time it takes to secure your seatbelt), turn on the A/C blower switch. Doing this is also easier on your battery.

When you call with an apparent A/C problem, we will ask some questions to further define the problem:

• Is the air blowing hot?
• Is the air blowing at all?
• Did the condition happen all of a sudden or did you notice a gradual failure?
• Did you hear any noises?
• Did you smell anything?
• Has any other facility put anything into your air conditioning system?

We may ask you to stop in and we will test the vent temperature—at no charge—to see if we need to investigate further. All may be just fine. Southern Arizona is hot! Some vehicles have a large amount of window glass resulting in a much hotter interior that takes longer to cool. Window tinting may be an option for you.

Often, we schedule an appointment for you to have an A/C service inspection performed. This service is much more than looking under your hood at the sight glass and pulling on a belt.

At Nippon, the first thing we do is to identify if there is an obvious visual failure. If none is identified, we then test the air-conditioning system for purity. An air conditioning system can only have one kind of refrigerant in it. We then install R12 or 134 refrigerant, add A/C dye into the system and circulate. We inspect all the components related to the A/C system. We record cycling temperature ranges. Inspected also are high-pressure lines and hoses. We record cabin vent temperatures. Providing there are no obvious leaks in the A/C system, we ask you to return in about a week or so. We then test for leaks from the dye we have installed and hopefully there are no further failures.

Should there be a component failure, we inform you with an accurate estimate to repair your air conditioning system. We do not proceed with a repair without an owner’s consent.

Please note that Nippon is environmentally responsible, and complies with all state and federal laws. Nothing is released into our atmosphere.

  
For more information about Nippon Motor Service and our Tech Tips, contact us today.