Car air conditioning system: diagnostics, repair, flushing, cleaning, system pressure. How to flush a car's air conditioning system?

2024 Author: Erin Ralphs | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-19 11:42

The warm season is accompanied by frequent requests from car owners to service shops for such a service as diagnostics of the car's air conditioning system, as well as troubleshooting. Consider the reasons for this phenomenon.

External factor

For the effective functioning of any system, there is one important condition - it must work constantly, without being subject to long downtime. This axiom is relevant for the air conditioner in the car, as well as for all its main components. Russian conditions are such that this system does not work during the entire cold period of the year, which affects its serviceability in the most negative way. Most often, the seals dry out, which leads to the loss of their tightness. That is why diagnostics of the car's air conditioning system are often required.

To avoid forced downtime of the system, you need to regularly perform a very simple procedure - turn onair conditioning every week for about 10-20 minutes.

Difficulties

Happy owners of large foreign-made jeeps equipped with an additional rear circuit of the air conditioning system have a fairly weighty argument in favor of a regular spring inspection. The refrigerant enters the rear circuit through pipes and hoses that run along the bottom of the vehicle. Usually one or two of our winters is quite enough for them to go into a completely terrible state. And in order to constantly maintain the entire structure in working order, it is required to pay increased attention to it, as well as regularly inspect the highways.

What are the causes of malfunctions?

Repair of the car's air conditioning system may be required as a result of the impact on it of many factors that the driver usually feels the hard way. Cooling may not be available for a variety of reasons:

• The most common case is a low refrigerant level, the amount of which must strictly correspond to the level indicated in the instruction manual. To do this, the pressure in the car's air conditioning system is checked, after which the problem is fixed.
• The operation of the cooling unit may be severely affected by engine overheating.
• Technical failure resulting in lack of fresh air supply to the condenser due to many different reasons.
• Variouselectrical problems, which are most often easily fixed by changing the fuse, but there are cases that are “harder”.
• Compressor failure is usually caused by prolonged seasonal downtime, as the internal surfaces tend to rust without circulating oil.

Troubleshooting

It is immediately worth noting that it is quite problematic to fix such malfunctions on your own. This is even fraught with the appearance of even greater difficulties. This requires professional equipment and special tools, and much more.

Even a simple freon leak diagnosis can turn into a complex and lengthy process. It is generally unrealistic to pump refrigerant at home, since this requires a special filling console. With its help, proper tightness is ensured, and the pressure gauge needle shows the current pressure level in the line, etc. The volume of refrigerant to be charged is also strictly regulated. If it is less or more, then this can cause quite serious troubles. The system may not turn on at all, or fail due to lack of oil, and high pressure often causes compressor failure, rupture of lines and other problems.

That is why it is quite reasonable to trust qualified specialists in this case. This will save money and time in the future, since the occurrence of complex breakdowns as a result of self-intervention is a fairly common occurrence.

Another case

The car's air conditioning system works almost constantly in hot weather. That is, when the car is just starting, the work of all elements is already beginning, as well as active cooling of the air. Condensation is formed in all pipes and air ducts, that is, a certain amount of liquid. While driving, a very large amount of plant pollen, sand, dust, small particles of automobile rubber, and much more enter the car interior along with the air. And all these notes are hardly useful.

How is it going?

Most of all these impurities are retained by the cabin filter, that is, they do not get directly into the car, but remain in the air duct and air conditioner tubes. When you reach your destination, and then turn off the car engine, all the bacteria, pollen, fungal spores, and other things that the car's air conditioning system has had time to fill with are in the most favorable environment for them. It is there that they interact with the condensate, as well as very active reproduction. The next trip is accompanied by the fact that you inhale all this with air, which is harmful for the body, and for children it can even serve as an allergy catalyst. The cabin filter saves some time, but gradually it gets wet from condensate. After that, the process of germination of spores of plants and fungi begins in it, mold forms, which makes the filter itself a new source of he alth hazard. This causes dampness in the cabin, unpleasant odors, as well as a feeling ofshortness of breath and dustiness.

How to deal with it?

The main advice is this: whenever the trip ends, do not turn off the engine. Turn off the air conditioner for a couple of minutes. And then you can turn off the engine. This is enough time for the temperature emanating from the unit to evaporate the condensate, and the pipes become dry, which makes it very difficult for bacteria to grow inside.

The car's air conditioning system needs a filter to be changed twice a year. It is best to do this in the spring, even before the active flowering of plants begins, and also in the fall, before the roads are treated with various reagents. The cabin filter is best to use carbon. Its main advantage is that a dense layer of activated carbon retains and absorbs many of the smallest particles of pollen, dust and metals, which allows you to keep the air in the cabin as clean as possible. This filter is replaced once a year.

Alternative options

It happens that unpleasant smells of dampness appear and do not disappear in the car, and the effect of dustiness in the cabin does not go away at all, while changing the filter does not give any result. This says only one thing - the car's air conditioning system is captured by mold. In this case, cleaning with a special antibacterial composition is necessary. itcan be done in a certified center, where qualified specialists will provide all the necessary services in this area. You can do the work yourself, for which there are special spray cans on sale, which have detailed instructions for use. With the help of them, in just half an hour of work in the garage, the car's air conditioning system can be cleaned. Such remedies are very effective.

Other issues

Flushing the car's air conditioning system is required due to the fact that the main lines and equipment nodes are located in a special way. Many of them are placed under the bottom of the car, that is, where there are special pollution. The risk of accumulation of dirt in the system can be significantly reduced by constant monitoring of its condition. But it is almost impossible to avoid pollution, which is why regular flushing of the car's air conditioning system is required. Using this procedure, you can prevent the formation of corrosion, which is usually caused by moisture and dirt. Corrosion causes intensive wear of elements and parts, as well as the formation of holes through which freon can leak. If its level drops below a certain allowable rate, the equipment will overheat and fail.

How to flush a car's air conditioning system?

The process takes place in several steps. First you need to pump out the refrigerant from the system. When all the connecting parts of the system are disconnected, the sealingrings and never use them again. Next, the expansion valve is dismantled for further flushing or replacement. The pressure gauge valves must be closed. Then the R-11 is pumped into the lower filling port of the evaporator until the substance flows out of the outlet port. The interior of the evaporator must be completely filled with liquid, and when a large amount of it begins to flow through the top, the valve must be closed. After a five-minute wait, you can release the R-11. These manipulations should be repeated several times in a row.

Cleaning the car's air conditioning system from R-11 is done with the help of R-12. To do this, the temperature of the components of the equipment must be 24 degrees Celsius or more. If pressure remains in the vehicle's A/C system as a result of fully releasing R-11 from the system, the releasing process should continue after thirty minutes.