Want to see a very unhappy driver? Have a look at a parent in them iddle of summer with a heap of kids in a car where the air conditioning isn’t working.
Hoo-aah. ‘Hot under the collar’ doesn’t even go close to describing it.
It’s a fair bet the outfit which serviced the air conditioning unit won’t get any repeat business from that driver, and, worse, word will spread through the driver’s social contacts about how the air conditioner ‘pooped itself’ and how the people who serviced it mustn’t have known what they were doing.
It’s an interesting phenomenon, because air conditioning is a non-essential system that won’t contribute substantially to safety of the passengers, but a failure often causes way more aggro than deficiencies in far more important parts of a modern vehicle.
And closely allied to cabin-temperature control is maintaining safe engine operating temperatures. Where a malfunctioning air conditioner can cause serious friction with a customer, a poorly maintained or incorrectly serviced engine cooling system can be a serious and expensive disaster. Engines and auxiliary systems can be destroyed, and no customer is going to be happy about that.
With many gaskets and hoses being regular service items on modern vehicles, and with operating tolerances being so incredibly tight, it’s imperative workshops and technicians make a conscious effort to have the very latest information and workshop hardware available. But just finding that information and equipment, and ensuring it’s up to date, can be a time-consuming and never-ending task…except right here and right now. ACM has done a fair percentage of that research for you.
Here are a few of the industry’s best providers of air conditioning and coolingsystem tools and technology.