How cool is your car
Technicians have been sweating to keep up with a 76% rise in demand for air conditioning services over the summer.
The spike since May has been reported by Autodata, a UK supplier of technical automotive information.
It found that the first six months of 2016 were the hottest on record globally, with temperatures hitting 30°C in the UK in July. Immediately following the UK’s first ‘flash heatwave’ this year, UK workshops reported and an influx of customers requesting AC servicing and repairs.
Autodata has encouraged bodyshops to be proactive on the back of this by suggesting customers add air conditioning services to their annual services.
It’s top tips are: if an air conditioning system is completely empty, then it highly likely that there is a leak. Add a small amount of dye to the gas when re-gassing to find the leak; too little or too much gas (R134a) will cause the AC refrigerant pressure sensor to stop the AC compressor from working to protect the system. Autodata’s service air conditioning module provides the correct air conditioning refrigerant quantity for each vehicle and illustrates how and where to find the low and high AC service connectors to connect a gas test gauge.
