A Guide to Identify and Solve the Car AC Blowing Hot Air Problem

You are driving in the middle of the hottest day of summer. Naturally, turn on the AC in your car to fight against the heat. But, what happened then? Instead of cold and fresh air, it blows hot air. This incident ruined your trip. You can’t enjoy it and it could be dangerous because it can lower your focus when driving. Why is car ac blowing hot air? This article will reveal everything about this car’s AC problem and the solution for them.

The Cause and Solution for Car AC Blowing Hot Air Problem

So, why is my car ac blowing hot air? Many factors can cause this car’s AC system problem, such as:

Leaking Car Refrigerant

A refrigerant is the core of the car AC system. This liquid circulates through the car’s AC system removing heat and humidity from inside the car. A car’s AC system can only work properly when it has proper refrigerant levels. Therefore, if it drops its level or decreases because of the leak, the AC system won’t work. Instead, the car AC system will bring in and blow out the hot air because it didn’t cool down by the refrigerant. And then, the car ac blowing hot air all of a sudden problem is happening.

It happens a lot on old cars or cars without proper maintenance. Mostly, it causes the problem, like car ac blowing hot air when stopped. When your car is in idle mode, the engine will increase the temperature of the air around it before entering the AC system. That’s because the hot air comes out from your car’s AC system.

Solution: How to fix car ac blowing hot air because of the refrigerant leak? The first thing you should do is detect whether or not the leaking refrigerant is the cause of your car’s AC problem. Unfortunately, it is not easy to detect this problem. Most car owners don’t realize this because they miss one spot to see, which is under the car. You can easily spot this problem when you see a puddle of liquid under the car. That is one of many signs of a leaking refrigerant problem.

To fix this problem, simply bring your car to the car workshop. Let the expert repair car ac blowing hot air problem and diagnose your car AC system. In most cases, they will inject the dye liquid into the AC system to track the leak. They can find the location this way, then fix and patch the leak. After that, the car’s AC system will work properly, blowing in cold air like what you want.

Faulty Condenser

Another factor that causes the car ac blowing hot air problem is the faulty condenser. As mentioned earlier, the refrigerant will absorb the heat and humidity from the air the AC system bring in. But, it can’t work continuously because the temperature of the air affects the refrigerant. This is where the condenser shows its important role. The condenser will keep the refrigerant cool enough to do its job properly.  

When the condenser can’t work well, the problem will occur. Therefore, it is not surprising if you find the car ac blowing hot air after recharge problem. Even if you recharge the AC system, it still can’t work properly because it can’t cool down the refrigerant, so it keeps blowing hot air.

A faulty condenser also can happen because of dirt or debris. You can find this part in front of the car, right between the grille and the radiator. The condenser uses the airflow from the grille to help the cooling process. When something or debris blocks the condenser, it gets no air for cooling function. That makes it unable to cool down the refrigerant and causes a problem.

Solution: To identify this problem, look through the grille to see if there is any debris. Or, if the hot air problem occurs after you bump into something and bend the grille or fender, it also could be a sign of a faulty condenser. The solution is cleaning the condenser of debris. If it is damaged, you might need to replace it with a new condenser. Take it to the car workshop to get the new condenser. The car ac blowing hot air cost is not that expensive. It is around $150 to $300.

Broken Compressor

The compressor is responsible for circulating the coolant or refrigerant to the whole AS system and passing through the condenser to lower its temperature. So, if this part is broken, the refrigerant won’t be able to cool down the air. Thus, it causes the car ac blowing hot air when idle problem.

Why is this part broken? As usual, poor maintenance is the main culprit. However, it also could happen when you use no AC for a long time, such as in winter. Therefore, the latest car has a defrost mode that keeps the condenser and compressor active for the entire year.

Solution: How to identify that your car has a broken compressor problem? There are two signs you can notice, which are car ac blowing hot air and making noise. In some cases, it can cause the car ac blowing hot air on driver side problem. It means that part has the worst problem because of the broken compressor.

The solution is replacing the compressor with the newest one with better durability. You can fix it, but it will break easily, which costs you more money to fix it. It would be better to replace it with the new one that works for a longer time.

Conclusion

Those three are the common cause of the hot air problem in the car’s AC system. Other factors also cause this problem, like electrical system problems, broken cooling fans, and more. You can find more accurate information by asking for help from the expert at the car workshop. That is everything you need to know about the cause and solution of car ac blowing hot air problem. tinpan