Cars are awesome, until they’re not. I call it the absence of malice problem: I only notice something is wrong because I take for granted how often everything is right. Turn the key and go; it’s what we demand of today’s cars, and it’s what we overwhelmingly get. When things do go awry, it’s always interesting to see how people cope. When your brakes go from spongy to making that funny grinding sound, you call your mechanic or drive straight to the dealership. If the engine suddenly starts cutting out, or a tire blows and you thwap to a halt by the side of the road, same thing. But if your air conditioning starts blowing hot air, you do other things. You punch the dash; you adjust the little vents. You jam away at the settings. You turn it off and turn it on again. Then you leave the car in the driveway overnight, and go out the next day and actually believe it might be OK, like it just needed a little rest so it could become air conditioning again. My Dad didn’t believe in air conditioning, so we stuck to the plastic seat in the back of the station wagon, our small legs requiring skin grafts when we tried to move.

There was a choice, of course. We could sit on a blanket instead; the temperature at sweltering levels, and we could pick between itchy wool and molten plastic. We’d fight over the windows and stick our heads out like puppies, which was fun until Mom and Dad did up their windows and my father would yell “buffeting!” and make us close them. I liked that sound, the suction of air that whumped around the interior of the car, making me think this was what outer space must sound like. Children without air conditioning develop excellent imaginations. If your car is older and blowing hot air, you might want to give your next steps a hard think. The voyage to the root of a dead air conditioning system can be exasperating, exhausting and expensive. Your coolant has leaked out, and you can’t just top it up. It’s illegal to add a gas to your system that depletes the ozone (in Canada, usually R134A); you have to find the leak, and this is where the fun begins. Very basically, your car’s air conditioning system is made up of three major components: the compressor, the evaporator and the condenser.

There are lots of hoses, tubes, valves and sensors connecting them all. A technician has to figure out where the leak is occurring, and will pressurize the system with nitrogen to find out. This diagnostic isn’t the expensive part. Several shops told me it’s about an hour at shop rate to tell you what’s going on. Find the leak, fix the problem, easy. These are expensive parts and systems, and one of them – the evaporator – is usually behind the dash which requires a lot of rip-apart work. When the kids were small, I had a 10-year-old car. The air conditioning went, I foolishly let an eager young mechanic talk me into letting him fix it. I committed to Phase One believing it was Phase Done. While the 600 bucks was huge to me at the time, having the A/C working again seemed like a necessary one. Until a week later, when I once again had vents blasting hot air. I slammed back into the garage with no good grace, demanding that he fix the fix. And that is when I learned the most valuable lesson, ever, about old cars and air conditioning.

All of the parts of that system are the same age, which means if one goes, why shouldn’t the others? Finding the leak and replacing one is zero guarantee that you can’t develop another leak in another part in a week or a month. Auto Repair Shop For Sale St LouisWas I prepared to go perhaps $1,500 dollars in to get back my arctic air? Best Bath Shower SealantOn a car that was maybe worth $2,000? 1920s Wedding Dress DesignersI told the kids we were now driving like in olden times. I’ve watched mechanics explain this to a customer. I’ve witnessed the truth of the term “shooting the messenger” more times in places that specialize in auto air conditioning than just about anywhere else. My theory on expensive mechanical repairs to older vehicles is pretty simple: if a car you trust has cost you little in recent years and needs a couple grand to keep it going for another year or two, that’s cheaper than new car payments while you take some time to consider your next purchase.

My theory on air conditioning? It’s a nice-to-have, not a need-to-have for most of us. Drop the windows, find a nicer blanket and stick your head out the window. Besides, this is Canada. Snow is just around the corner. Originally published July 30, 2015post #1 of 8 (permalink) AC was cold yesterday, hot today. I hear some hissing sound. post #2 of 8 (permalink) I know this thread is a year old but I have the same issue except I have the dual zone set up because it is a C . The AC was working fine a few weeks ago when we used the 300 on a weekend trip. After the past week of rain here, we had our first sunny & warm day yesterday. Got in the car started driving, turned on the AC and it did not work. The air will not get cold in either the auto or manual settings and there is a " Hissing sound " coming from behind the dash that comes and goes in a cyclic fashion. My wife said that the car began making this noise about two weeks ago, however she realy has not had to use the AC much but one evening on her drive home the dash began blowing "clouds" of vapor for a minute when she put the air on, but it still worked fine for the rest of her drive.

Gonna try to get the car into the shop tomorrow. I'm not well versed in AC systems, I know how it works, just dont work on them. I'm hoping its a software fix and not something like a blown evaporator. 2011 Sapphire Crystal Metallic 300C 2006 Magnesium Pearlcoat 300C post #3 of 8 (permalink)Hissing sound is a pressure valve making noise because of the decreased amount of refrigerant. System holds vacuum for 15 minute test indicating no major leaks, Dye and 1.65 lbs of refrigerant placed into system. AC now blows ICE COLD. Gonna bring the car back in a week and put a black light under the hood to check for small leak, if detectable. Hopefully it holds or that its such a small leak that it will take another 5 years to get back to this point. Guess I'm good to go for now. post #4 of 8 (permalink) post #5 of 8 (permalink) Thanks for the info Frankie - That is exactly where I suspect that the leak may be discovered. I realized last evening that I had completely forgot that the condenser was replaced ( along with a new hood, fender & facia ) about a year and a half ago after my wife had struck a deer.

post #6 of 8 (permalink) Two weeks later and of course the AC quits on a one hundred degree day ! Brought the car into the shop and checked for leaks. The condensor itself is a mess. The Black light & goggles revealed at least a dozen small leaks all over the front of the condensor, seemingly from corrosion, not from impacts caused by road debris. New OEM condensor coming this afternoon, should have the car back by lunchtime tomorrow. In the meantime I called the body shop that installed the new condensor 15 months ago to find out if there was a warranty on this part and why it may have corroded in such a short amount of time. According to the body shop, the part is an OEM Chrysler part, warrantied for 12 months, but none the less, should not have failed. Once the repair is done the body shop wants the part back to insure that the part that was billed for was the OEM, to see if and what defects caused this issue, and to possibly get his Chrysler parts distributor to pick up a portion of the bill and make good on this bad part.

The winter here in Jersey was a nasty one, and this state does use ALOT of salt on the roads. If for some reason the condensor rotted out because of the excessive salting it wouldn't surprise me. It sucks, but what can ya do. Just gotta make a point to hose out the grille area more often. post #7 of 8 (permalink) The car is back and the AC is icy cold again. Below is a pic of the bad condensor sitting up on the tailgate of my truck. It may be hard to see but the dye shows leaks all up and around the upper right corner. It doesn't seem to be corrosion, just failure. Alot of road bugs stuck in the lower portion - not unusual and no indication of leaks there. The dryer unit to the right has Chineese writing on it. Anyone know about this ? I'll see what the Body shop has to say on Monday or Tuesday. condensor1.jpg (164.1 KB, 2972 views) post #8 of 8 (permalink) Originally Posted by fm1 You have probably low in coolant, might check it on a New Jersey auto repair shops, I put a mechanic on a set of gauges on it and see if it is empty first, the more it is the cheapest part.