Good News/Bad News: Air Conditioning Class

Checking pressures, refrigerant. and oil on a Lexus. 

Good news: I started Air Conditioning class and have learned a lot of the basics of how automotive AC systems work. 

Bad news: It's been the hottest week of the year, and when you're diagnosing an AC system, you should be doing this with the car out in the sun to really test it. SPOILER ALERT: being in the sun is hotter than being in the shade!

AC machine getting a refill of R-134a from the blue tank, working on a Nissan. 

Good news: The AC machines that can recover, recharge, and handle the refrigerant and oil and inject dye for testing for leaks do all the work!

Bad news: You better know what you're doing and operate the machine the right way or you'll be having some problems! At the end of this class, we will take the test to be certified on handling refrigerant and these machines. 

New belt on the AC-less 350Z

Good news: There is a rating scale for how different refrigerants pollute the air, and over time, the auto industry standards for Ozone Depletion Levels on the 100-year Global Warning Potential scale have vastly improved from R-12 rated at 10,900 to R-1234yf rated only 4. I don't know what those numbers mean, but 4 is a lot more than a cheeseburger's worth less than 10,900. Speaking of big numbers, I remember comedian Mitch Hedberg said something like "I like rice, when I want to eat 1,000 of something!"

I recovered the refrigerant and removed the AC system on this NMS-South Z car, so I just crimped off these no longer needed AC lines. To remove them and the evaporator would have required enrolling into the dash removal program, so we voted "no" on that proposal. 

Good news: So far, I've worked on multiple cars, like a Scion, a Ford Escape, a Ford Explorer, a Lexus SUV, a Nissan Rogue, and a 91 BMW 325i that had a 99 M3 motor in it. On top of that, I've observed plenty of other cars in the shop!

Bad news: In one car that my group charged up with refrigerant and then test drove, the low gas warning came on, and was flashing! We returned to the shop and let the instructor know that we were done testing. So, my tip of the week: If you're having work done on your car that might require a test drive (like AC or brakes, suspension, etc.) make sure you've got some gas in there! On the other hand, if your car needs a new fuel pump that is INSIDE the gas tank, maybe try and get it to the shop with very little gas if you can. 

Consider this your Change-The-Cabin-Air-Filter-Reminder of the day!

Kind of bad news: On the 1991 model year car with the 1999-year engine, we had to keep in mind that while it originally used R-12, the 99 engine uses R-134a. The challenge was the low and high side fittings, because one was for R-12 (so we couldn't use it) and one was R-134a, so we used that one for the R-134. Still tracking down a leak on this one.