In some parts of the country, the LAST thing your customers may be thinking about right now is their air conditioning system. Bring on the heater, please!

It may seem natural to just turn off the car’s AC until that one warm day next March – but experts say that not a great idea.

Let your customers know that running the air-conditioning in their car during the colder months of the year prolongs the life of the system, and can prevent issues from happening when the weather turns warm again.

A car’s air conditioning system is made up of parts that are meant to move, and filled with liquids and gases that need to be circulated to keep those moving parts lubricated. If the refrigerant and oils just sit there for a few months, the lubricant can’t reach these parts, and that can cause seals to leak more expensive repairs to be needed.

Customers can be reassured that, yes, it’s okay to run both the heater and the air conditioning at the same time. In fact, doing so helps to remove moisture from the air. This will help keep the windshield and windows clear of steam and frost. Drier air also preventing mold and bacteria from growing in the air vents.

This also allows the parts of the cooling system to move and run, lubricating the system while drying out the air.

Here’s something else your customers might not know – the refrigerant used in their cars may be different from what they’re used to. They may simply know it as “freon,” an incorrect generic term often referring to any kind of refrigerant. But over the past 10 years, automakers have been slowly phasing in R1234yf to replace the older R134a. The new stuff is better for the environment and required of almost all cars 2022 and newer.

What does this mean to your shop? To handle R1234yf, a shop will need a new recycle and recovery machine. The new machines are able to do two things some older machines could not – First, new machines can detect the type of refrigerant that is in the system and it if is a blend. This is very important because R1234yf is more expensive than what it’s replacing. Second, new machines can test the integrity of a system without wasting refrigerant. 

The machine will permit only a 15% charge of R-1234yf to enable the technician to use an electronic detector to pinpoint the leak. The purpose of this test is to ensure that the system is reasonably leak-free prior to a recharge, both for environmental benefit and to avoid wasting the expensive refrigerant.

Of course, there are still millions of vehicles out there using R134a as well, so your service advisors and techs are going to need lots of information to make good recommendations to customers and repairs to their vehicles. Luckily, leading suppliers like Global Parts Distributors provide access to many different technical resources to make their jobs easier.

Note: gpd 65 series compressors (e.g., 6511414) are prefilled with the correct amount of oil specified for the system. Replacement compressor design and oil requirement may vary from original design. Refer to manufacturer specifications for vehicle and replacement compressor.

Visit GPDtechtips.com to learn more – and help your customers keep their cool.

This video is sponsored by the Group Training Academy.