Automobile Heating & A/C Service in Boulder, CO

A: Air Conditioners use different types of refrigerants to help create cold air. When the refrigerant gets too low, your A/C will shut down and not work. Generally, this occurs when a part has failed and the refrigerant has mostly leaked out. In order to diagnose the leak, the system has to be fully recharged again. Once it’s charged, the faulty part can be identified and replaced. In some cases, leaks are so small that they aren’t detectable and once the system has been charged the problem may not come back for many years.

A: Modern vehicle Air Conditioners not only cool the air but also dehumidify it. This helps to keep your windshield from fogging up when it’s raining outside.

A: Heaters used to operate with a cable opening a valve for the engine coolant to enter the heater core. You controlled it yourself; too cold, open it or too hot, close it. Similarly in the summer you adjusted the A/C temperature with the fan speeds and one knob to control the temperature.
Modern vehicles now have a climate control system that doesn’t use these simple cables any more. Instead, there are electric and vacuum solenoids that control the opening and closing of the heater valve. In addition, there are microprocessors that control the solenoids. All you have to do is set the temperature you want and the vehicle does the rest. Because climate control systems are so complicated, very experienced technicians are needed to diagnose and do repairs.

A: Typically in order to diagnose a failed A/C system you first have to re-charge it before the faulty part can be assessed. It’s sort of like partially repairing it just to be able to diagnose the problem. This generally takes about one hour of labor. Sometimes the failed part is a simple O-Ring which is not expensive and other times the part is very expensive or hard to access so the labor costs are greater. In any event it all starts with the proper diagnoses.