Some of the questions we hear are "How can I tell if I'm low on Freon?" or "How do I know if I need freon?"

Welcome to Mercie J Auto Care, Where Compassion and Craftsmanship come together. I’m your host, Rick Smith, ASE Certified Master Technician.

First, lets talk about how to know exactly how much freon is in your car. There is not much refrigerant in most of our cars unless you have big system like in a van. We only have about 16 to 20 ounces. If we have too much in there, it will damage the compressor, especially here in Phoenix where our summer temperatures get so high and it puts the pressure really high on that compressor. If we get a little low, the deceptive thing is that our air may be blowing cold out of the vents, but there's two problems if we're running low. Number one is the refrigerant carries oil in it to lubricate the compressor so it wont carry enough lubrication. Second, we need enough to go the inside of the car and get a tiny bit out to the compressor to help cool it and make it last longer.

There's one simple test you can do at home if you're comfortable under your hood. There's two refrigerant lines. One is fairly big and one is smaller. The small one will be very hot, so be careful touching it. The big one is going to be cold, especially if you feel it as close to the compressor. If it's barely cold, you're probably low.

In the shop we use gauges, but the best way is we suck it out into a machine. We do not let it into the atmosphere because it is a global warming problem. Then we recycle it, clean it and put back the exact weight that your car requires.

We hope this has been helpful to you, if you have any questions you'd like our next video to cover, please ask us below.

свернуть