The air conditioning system in your car is vital for your comfort while out on the road. Whether you commonly take long journeys or are more likely to stick to just short trips, having properly working air con can make a big difference. Helping with everything from staying cool in the summer months to demisting the windscreen in the cold, we rely on air-con more than we realise.
It is not uncommon for car air conditioning to develop issues, leading them to be less effective or even emit unpleasant smells. There are a number of reasons why your air con could be having problems and being able to identify and fix them yourself can save some serious money in the garage.
Most Common Air Con Problems
To help you identify and understand what’s wrong with your air-con, we’re sharing the most commonly found issues;
- My Air Con Smells: If you are experiencing a less than fresh smell when you turn your air-con on, then it could be caused by a range of problems. A damp, mildew smell is usually because of a build-up of mould and bacteria. It is common in old cars that do not use air-con very often.
A chemical or sweet smell can be a sign of a leak in the hose, pipe, heater core, radiator or coolant unit. Gas leaks can also be recognised from the air-con if the smell of gas appears when you switch the system on.
- My Air Con Won’t Blow Cold: Faulty air conditioning can lead to only being able to blow hot air and not cold and is very unpleasant in warm times. This common problem can be caused by damaged cooling fans, internal combustion, a blocked or broken condenser, low refrigerant levels or an electrical fault.
- My Air Con Won’t Turn Off: Many people experience an issue where their air con system won’t switch off. In extreme cases, this can mean it runs even when the engine is off and can lead to a flat battery. This problem is often caused by a faulty or loose ribbon cable, broken dials, broken selector switch or a shorted circuit in the system.