Do It Yourself A/C Pro

    I just seen a commercial on TV for a product called AC Pro. Being a    Master Certified Technician and owner of an automotive repair facility I would like to inform my Clients and the public why you shouldn’t add freon to a system yourself.   They say in the chimerical why pay hundreds of dollars for something you can do yourself,  I will tell you why.  1. If the system is low on freon and causing insufficient cooling the freon leaked out.   When the freon leaks out air gets in. Air in a freon system will cause problems.   When you attach the hose of the do it yourself freon can you induce air into the system,  the air that is in the hose before the freon comes out of the can.   The air from the hose and the air that leaked into the system as the freon leaked out,  now you have far more air than the system can handle.   2. The gauge on the do it yourself can of freon is only reading the low pressure side of the system. How accurate is that gauge.   What is the high side of the system reading?   That number is of equal importance.   3. If stop leak is induced with the freon and this stop leak contacts any moisture it turns into a slurry and plugs the evaporator and condenser.   The air we talked about allows moisture in the form of humidity.   4. Over charging or under charging a system can damage the compressor.   When a professional charges the system they vacuum the system dry with a pump.   They replace the freon charge to the manufacture specifications without inducing air or stop leak into the system.   You may think you are saving a few bucks by doing it yourself, but you take the risk of damaging the system and costing you thousands to repair it to operating condition again.

Sludge

How many different opinions or recommendations have you heard concerning changing the engine oil. One fact for sure, if the oil is not changed frequently enough it will cause a sludge build up in the engine. Oil change frequency varies depending on the driving conditions. This sludge can cause restrictions in the flow of the engine oil and ultimately damage the engine. The illustrations above are two different engines the black looking pictures are the sludge build up and the lighter is an engine that had more frequent oil changes.

 Engine exchange is a term used for replacement of the engine.

At some point the engine in a vehicle may wear out or have a mechanical break down that

 out ways the cost of repairing the engine. Should this happen to you there are some options. 

The term re-manufactured engine means that the engine has been completely rebuilt.

Rebuilt means that all the major components have been either replaced or reconditioned.

All gaskets and seals have been replaced. These engines carry a warranty of three years

 unlimited miles. When you replace an engine with a re-manufactured unit you can expect

 to get many more years of use out of the engine. 

The other option is a used engine. Used engines are extracted from salvaged vehicles.

 Salvaged vehicles are vehicles that were damaged in an automobile accident.

 The used engines are tested and the odometer reading is recorded.

 It is very possible to get an engine with low mileage to replace the worn out or

 defective engine in your vehicle. An example would be your vehicle has

 198,652 miles on it and the engine failed. A used engine has been located

 with 54,378 mile on it. The used engine is installed in your car and it is running great

 with much lower miles on it. With proper maintenance you will get several more

 years of use out of the vehicle. 

Re-manufactured engines are more expensive than the used engines.

 The warranty on the re-manufactured engine is much longer than that of the used engine.

 The decision will be up to you.

This is an Automobile Air Conditioning freon pump.    As you can see this one has been over worked to the point of explosion.    During the course of deterioration of this unit, the operator of the vehicle would have noticed signs that something was wrong.    They would have been hearing a knocking sound and the engine idle would have been very poor.    At idle the engine would have been shaking the car.

It this problem would have been checked by a professional when the operator first noticed a change in the sound and operation of the engine,  this problem could have been repaired long before this state of repair occured.  Because the problem wasn’t addressed in the early stages the damage is clearly more complex.  The destruction of the compressor has contaminated the entire air conditioning system.  What could have been $700.00 repair turned into a $2,000 repair.