Author: S K Gupta
Source : http://www.indiacar.com/infobank/car_ac_part1.htm
Source : http://www.indiacar.com/infobank/car_ac_part1.htm
Know Your Car A/C System Part - I | |||||
It’s that time of the year when Car AC’s are just about being switched in – even in North India. They perhaps never got switched off ‘down south’ of Nagpur!
Considering the fact that most motorists face problems with their Car AC’s sooner than later, it’s worthwhile to get the hang of it all – coz ignorance in such matters can cost one dear – in more ways than one. The System All Car A/C Systems are basically similar, with a cooling capacity of almost 1-1.5 tons (!), in the sense that they essentially comprise:
How to get the best out of your Car A/C. Let us consider the M-800 System, being most omni-present and ‘Edgy’ by design, by virtue of the Engine itself being < 50Bhp. This exercise can be divided into two parts:
(I) Your Garage:
(IV) Yourself:
(V) What can go wrong!: Perhaps the most common ‘complaint’ of most Car Owners is that either the AC is not cooling well enough OR when they use it, the engine over-heats. Here are some tips to equip you against being taken for a ride by who so ever you choose to have it fixed by:
i) Not Cooling enough:
The main reasons for this, assuming that your System is physically in good shape, can be – a) Under OR over Gas Charge, b) Dirt-clogged front-end AC Condenser, c) Choked ‘Receiver-Drier’, d) Faulty ‘Expansion-Valve’, e) A dirt-clogged ‘Cooling-Coil’, f) Faulty ‘Anti-Frost’ Thermostat on the Cooling Coil, g) Loose AC Compressor Drive Belt OR its faulty ‘Clutch’.ii) Engine Over-heating: Likewise - a) Dirt-Clogged Engine-Radiator, b) Engine ‘Out of Tune’, c) Jammed II-Butterfly - especially in Carb type M800’s, d) Driving in a gear higher than what the engine demands, e) ‘FICD’ engine speed being much higher than recommended, f) Car not ‘free rolling’ enough for whatever reason – as covered above.
Conclusion:
Once you have got the hang of it as to what makes it tick and keeps it ticking, there is no reason why it should not deliver satisfactory performance even through the peak of our North Indian summer. I have personally driven an M800 through Rajasthan in the month of May with outside temperature being 48*C, Cruising speeds up to 100kph, Cabin Temp. around 25*C, and the Engine Temp. not crossing the halfway mark! In Part–II of this Article to follow, we will see how the next/present generation Car ‘HVAC’ Systems work.
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Dear Sir,
ReplyDeleteMany thanks for this informative post on how car AC works. Particularly the two FAQs as they are very much in everyone's mind about car ACs.