What are the symptoms of a faulty car condenser?
2 Answers
Signs of a faulty car condenser include: 1. Clogging by dirt. 2. Refrigerant leakage, resulting in the car air conditioner not cooling. 3. Leakage from the condenser, such as scratches or punctures, with oil traces seeping from the leakage points. Solutions are as follows: 1. Repeatedly flush with nitrogen or dried compressed air. 2. Clean dust and debris from the condenser surface. 3. Conduct pressure testing by pressurizing. The car condenser is a component of the refrigeration system and a type of heat exchanger, capable of converting gas or vapor into liquid and transferring heat from the tubes to the surrounding air quickly. The entire process is exothermic, so the condenser temperature is generally high.
Last summer during a long-distance drive, the air conditioning suddenly stopped cooling, and the air blowing out of the vents felt like a fan. Later, it was discovered to be an issue with the condenser, with very obvious symptoms: the radiator fan at the front of the car was spinning wildly non-stop with huge noise, and after parking, touching the high and low-pressure pipes of the AC revealed the high-pressure pipe was so hot it was untouchable. The most annoying part was during traffic jams when the dashboard's temperature gauge would suddenly spike, scaring me into turning off the AC immediately. The mechanic explained that this was due to poor heat dissipation caused by a clogged condenser, leading to the entire cooling system shutting down. To prevent this, I've learned my lesson and now regularly clean the radiator's front of willow catkins and insect remains.
