How To Maintain Your Vehicle’s Air-Con with CMH Suzuki Hillcrest
CMH Suzuki Hillcrest is here to help you with your Suzuki’s Air-con Maintenance. Today’s vehicles practically come standard with air-conditioning, and on a hot summer 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 engine’s auxiliary belt powers the compressor and compresses the refrigerant gas that now heats up above atmospheric temperatures. The hot, compressed refrigerant then passes through the condenser to filter the excess heat, 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 continues back to the compressor to restart the whole process.
What could go wrong
Your vehicle’s air-con should provide ice-cold relief within five minutes. 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.
A lot can go wrong with the air-con system, from gas leaks to failure of bearings and seals and 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
Run your vehicle’s aircon for at least 30 minutes weekly to prevent expensive breakdowns. 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. Also, service the air-con once a year, now that the summer temperatures are setting in and it’s getting hotter.
Book your Suzuki for an air-con treatment and service at CMH Suzuki Hillcrest service department to prevent compressor replacement.
Proper air-con operation
The cabin air is usually hotter than the ambient temperature when a vehicle is stationary in the sun. 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 Suzuki Hillcrest and let us assist you with proper vehicle care. Contact us at 031 763 3121 or visit CMH Suzuki Hillcrest for more details on our brand, accessories and monthly specials.
