Why did my car’s AC stop working?
Car AC repair is inevitable. One day you’ll likely find the air conditioning in your car has stopped working.
Why? Well, your car’s air conditioning is subjected to a whole lot more heat, motion, and vibration than the unit in your house. Eventually even a system without any problems will lose its refrigerant through the tiny leaks that are present in all automotive AC systems.
Sometimes all your car needs is an air conditioning recharge, sometimes your car will in need AC repair, and sometimes you’ll need both.
If you’re in need of auto air conditioning repair for your car, and you’re in Berkeley or nearby, you’ve come to the right place. Art’s Automotive repairs all types of car air conditioning, including hybrid and cars with the new refrigerant R1234-yf.
How much does it cost to fix Car ac?
This is a question I answer several times a day. People call and they say their car is at another shop and they want to charge $200 just to figure out what’s wrong.
I say we’d start an A/C quote for AC repair at $260, and then I need to do a lot of explaining.
You see, our $260 is less than the other shop’s $200, but you need to understand what you’re paying for for it to make sense. I’m going to do my best to explain it in this article.
Is it easy to recharge air conditioning? Can I do it myself?
Please don’t try to repair AC on your own car. In the best case, the AC will not work as well as it should. In the worst case you can do serious damage and end up turning a small problem into a big problem. “Of course the guy making money fixing cars would say that!”, I can hear some of you thinking. I’m a skeptic as well. Here’s an explanation of the problem with DIY A/C. If you’re bound and determined to do it yourself, at least you’ll be aware of the pitfalls.
Start with diagnosis or and ac service?
Most of the time, like 90% of the time, your car’s ac stopped working because it’s low on refrigerant. We could start with a diagnosis and bill an hour for our time.
“Well sir, we checked vent temperature and it was high. The blower and blend door seem to be working normally. We checked high side pressure and low side pressure and both were about 40 PSI. The compressor isn’t engaging and we suspected that the low pressure switch was the cause so we jumped it and the compressor clutch did engage, so we’re pretty sure that your system is low on charge. We’d recommend servicing the AC system. That’ll be $200 for our diagnosis and another $200 for the service.
If we know that when a car’s air conditioning doesn’t work it’s caused by low refrigerant, why not play the odds and start with a service.
We’re not going to pretend like we don’t know what’s wrong to collect a diagnostic fee
9 out of 10 cars need an AC recharge, what about that 1 in 10 car? Are we just wasting our customer’s money on an unneeded service? Not at all. In 20 minutes, we can check a lot. Does the compressor engage? If so, how much does the AC cool. It should be able to drop the air temperature about 30 degrees Fahrenheit. Are there and oil stains indicating a leak on the condenser, hoses, or compressor? If there’s no reason not to, we then remove the refrigerant from the car and weigh it.
If we weigh it and find the proper amount of refrigerant in the system, put it back in the system and change tack. We’re only 20 minutes in and still have the bulk of an hour for electrical testing or whatever.
We start with the service because it’s what you’ll most likely end up needing. We’re trying to give you a real price up front. It’s pretty likely $260 is the least it will cost to have working AC. If that’s too much, save your money, don’t waste it on diagnosis. The actual car air conditioner repair may be much more.
You may need car repairs in addition to an ac service
So how likely is it that you’ll get out of here with your car’s air conditioner repaired for $260? Well of the 90% of cars that have air conditioning that doesn’t work, about half need nothing other than a service, so I guess your chances are around 45%. So, what if you’re not one of the lucky ones? Well repair costs can range from under $100 for something small like an o-ring, to $2500 for an evaporator (the thing that gets cold; it’s buried under the dashboard). There’s no way to know in advance. Even if you pay the other guys to “diagnose” the AC, there’s no way they can know either. Sorry.
What to expect when you’re expecting (working air conditioning)
So here’s the process:
- Service the AC system
- See if it works normally with refrigerant in it. If it does,
- Check for leaks. If the AC works and there are no leaks, it’s good news, but you’re not out of the woods yet.
- Come back in a week for a AC UV dye inspection. We add a dye that glows under black light. It’s great for finding smaller leaks. The cost of this inspection is included with the original visit and we normally recommend you drive and use the AC for about a week, then come back and we’ll check the car while you wait. If there are no leaks, you’re done. Hooray!
The process can derail at any point. We might find a big leak on the day of the service. Or it could be that the AC system doesn’t work even with the correct amount of refrigerant due to a stuck expansion valve or bad compressor. You can’t test this stuff with an empty system. And it’s also possible that you’ll drive around enjoying your newly functional air conditioning for a week, only to have us tell you have a leak during your one-week visit.
Here are some other articles you may enjoy:
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Should you pay extra for nitrogen when you buy new tires? Quick answer, NO, but you can read more about why if you’re curious.
Do the DIY air conditioning cans work? They might, but don’t do it! Click here to find out why.
Are you having trouble finding a place to service your newer Toyota, Honda, or Subaru with R1234yf refrigerant? We service R1234yf air conditioning, so if you’re in Berkeley, Oakland, Emeryville, Albany, El Cerrito, or anywhere in the East Bay Area, give us a call.
We are serious about performing proper air conditioning repairs. That’s why we became certified through MACS (Mobile Air Conditioning Society Worldwide) and use only high quality modern equipment when servicing your car air conditioning system.
