(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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