It can soon get pretty uncomfortable in your car if the car’s air conditioning stops working. Having air conditioning in your car is now considered a standard feature on most available makes and models, despite it being such a familiar option for driver and passenger comfort. Many of us don’t know where to start when it comes to figuring out what to do when it stops working.

When searching for a new vehicle, searching something like car dealerships Salt Lake City, will reveal a host of suitable used cars to choose from. When you drive away with your chosen car, you will no doubt enjoy perfect air conditioning, as that will have been checked beforehand. But what about some time later? Where do you start and what do you check when your air conditioning system stops working?

Here’s a quick troubleshooting guide to help you find out what the problem is and what to do to get it working again.

Why is warm air coming out of the vent?

One of the most common issues with your car’s air conditioning is when you turn up the dial to get a nice cooling blast of cold air to bring the temperature down and all you get is warm air coming out.

Getting warm rather than cold air coming out of your vents is probably the most common air conditioning fault of all. It’s a scenario that can be caused by a wide variety of potential issues rather than being just one thing.

The most obvious place to start when trying to find the reason for the issue is to check the vents to see if anything is blocking it. Debris like leaves can easily block the interior air vents, having been drawn in from outside. Carefully check each vent to see if it looks clear and nothing is blocking it.

If you can’t find any obvious obstruction, another common reason for getting warm air instead of cold would be if you have a coolant leak. Or, you could have some sort of mechanical problem with the car’s air conditioning unit itself.

If you suspect it might be a coolant leak or some sort of mechanical issue, it’s advisable to take your car to a suitable repair shop so that their technicians can check your air conditioning unit and fix it for you.

What’s that smell?

Another common complaint when it comes to air conditioning faults is when you start to notice a fairly strong musty or mildew smell filling your nostrils when you turn your A/C unit on in the car.

It might be an unpleasant odor, but at least it is a reliable indicator of what is probably wrong with your air conditioning unit. Invariably, this strong musty or mildew smell is telling you exactly what is happening. It usually indicates that you have mildew growing within your car’s air conditioning system.

The good news is that this is one of those A/C faults that you should be able to fix at home without having to take your car to a repair shop. Order a replacement air filter and cabin air filter for your make and model of car and you should find that the smell disappears once you have got new filters.

It is quite common to suffer this problem at some point, especially as your car ages. The filters become clogged and saturated over time, meaning they can’t do their job of filtering the air effectively.

Bear in mind that the perfect growing conditions for mildew are darkness, heat, and moisture, and you have the perfect setting in your air filter. By replacing your filters you are instantly giving your A/C unit a new lease of life.

If this simple at-home fix doesn’t work, it is plausible that you might have another more substantial issue with your unit. If changing the filters fails to provide a solution to a musty smell, you will probably have to take your car to a repair professional so that they can see what the issue is.

Is your air conditioning system noisy?

When your A/C unit is working perfectly you should really only be aware of a level of noise that is equivalent to a whisper, unless you have the cold air blasting out with the fan turned up high.

The bottom line is that your air conditioning system shouldn’t be very noisy. However, if you are getting a symphony of different sounds coming from your unit, this could be a warning sign that something is wrong.

Typical sounds to look out for would be a noticeable whining noise, or maybe even some banging or rattling. Either way, any sort of loud or unpleasant sound should not be happening.

Unfortunately, these sorts of loud, unpleasant, or unexplained noises are often a strong indication that your air conditioning unit has a major fault. This sort of problem is not something that you can fix at home. When you can barely hear yourself think over the noise of your A/C unit or you are struggling to focus on driving because of the distraction of a terrible whining noise, that’s the time to take your car to an air conditioning repair professional.

It is worth remembering that despite all the incredible engineering and technological advancements that make modern cars so pleasant and easy to drive, some things haven’t changed that much over the years. Your air conditioning unit is one of those things. Your heating and cooling system still operates in much the same way as it has done for years.

That’s why these common issues highlighted make it fairly easy to troubleshoot what the likely problem is and what you need to do to fix it. As you can see, some issues might be fairly easy to solve, such as clearing a blockage to the vent, or changing the filters, but anything more complex will likely require a trip to your local repair shop.

If you want to stay cool in your car, make sure you check out any issues with your air conditioning unit as soon as possible.

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