Car air conditioning repair: When to do it yourself

Repairing a car air conditioner doesn’t always have to be a case for the garage. We explain how you can repair a faulty car air conditioner yourself.

Repairing a car air conditioner after intensive troubleshooting

If the air conditioner in your car stops working properly, you can start by troubleshooting it yourself.

• The air conditioner in the car works in a similar way to a refrigerator – only the other way round.

• The fault in the unit can therefore be in one of the components of the car air conditioning system, i.e. the compressor, the condenser or the evaporator.

• After some time, the coolant used must be replaced, which should rather be done in a specialist workshop. This is because the coolant evaporates quickly outside the closed system of the car air conditioning system, which is an unnecessarily costly burden on the environment.

• If the expansion valve of the air conditioning system is defective, the proper pressure inside cannot be maintained – there will then be a loss of climatic function in the car.

• A clogged filter is often the most common cause of a noticeable decrease in heating or cooling function in air conditioning systems.

• Be sure to also check your coolant tank under the bonnet if the air conditioning system can no longer be operated reliably: If there is too little coolant in the tank, the functions of the car air conditioning system are severely limited! This can be easily remedied yourself.

What repairs you can do yourself on your car air conditioner

In any case, you can do it yourself to look for leaking valves or defects in the air conditioning hoses in your car.

• If the defect is in the compressor of the car air conditioning system, you can replace it yourself with a little manual skill. The air conditioning system must be completely drained and refilled after replacement. A defective compressor is difficult to repair, even from the car workshop a new spare part is ordered.

• In many air conditioning systems in cars, the condenser is one of the most frequently wearing spare parts. Without the necessary technical background knowledge to properly disassemble your air conditioning system, it is better to have the A/C condenser replaced at a specialist workshop.

• The evaporator of the car air conditioning system ensures that the air can be cooled on hot days. By repairing the car air conditioner on your own with evaporator replacement, unpleasant odours that an unclean air conditioner typically emits into the passenger compartment after some time of operation will disappear.

• The expansion valve of the air conditioner is the accumulator. Synthetic filter materials, usually made of silicates, are located in this area. Regular maintenance helps to maintain the cooling capacity of the air conditioner. This can easily be done by yourself.

• Mould spores, germs of all kinds that are hazardous to health and countless microorganisms collect in the pollen filter of air conditioning systems in vehicles. You should therefore change it regularly, but at least once a year. You don’t necessarily have to go to the garage to do this.