“Hey, Hey!!” yells Jack Brickhouse over the car radio as Willie Smith slaps a three-run, 3rd-inning homer to help propel the Cubs to another division-leading victory. It’s July 12, 1969, and the temperature is nearing 90-degrees here in the Chicago area. Of course, you have your car windows down. Rolling the windows up on a day such as this is just crazy. Inside the car would quickly turn into a sauna.

There are some folks driving around with their windows up. At one time, that was the Lincoln and Cadillac crowd. On this hot day in July, 1969, however, more than half the people with new cars have paid extra for the optional auto air conditioning. A few others have gone to Sears to install an after-market auto air conditioning unit that fits under the dashboard. Still, many folks simply roll the windows down and sweat it out.

Today, in 2013, auto air conditioning is standard equipment on virtually every car. We don’t have to roll the windows down and dab at our sweaty necks with a handkerchief. We drive through the heat in the comfort of an air conditioned car that makes the hottest days as potentially pleasurable as a mild day in May. When the temperature goes up, the windows go up, too, and the air conditioning comes on.

Auto air conditioning is so common and reliable these days that we generally take it for granted. The last thing we expect is for the car’s AC to fail in its task of cooling the inside of our cars. While it doesn’t happen often, it can happen.

If a car’s air conditioning suddenly stops working, the first place to look for a solution is the fuse. If the fuse is blown, replace it with the recommended fuse (using a fuse rated for a higher amperage could cause serious problems and, possibly, a fire). If it blows again, bring it in to your trusted auto repair shop to have the auto air conditioning checked out.

If the fuse is not the problem with the car’s AC stops working, something else has gone wrong. For instance, the compressor could breakdown. But, most of the time, the problem with auto air conditioning is not something that happens all of a sudden. It’s a more gradually diminished capacity of the car’s AC to cool the air inside the car.

This happens because the auto air conditioning begins to lose its charge of Freon. This is a natural process overtime. It’s not even a bad idea to have your car’s AC checked and recharged each spring.

“Recharging the car’s AC is the way to keep it operating at peak performance,” said Denny Norton, owner of Ringwood based Performance Unlimited. “While we recharge your air conditioning, we also check it out to make sure there aren’t any apparent leaks and that the compressor is operating correctly. Any qualified auto repair shop will do that.”

Norton said that seals, valves and hoses can develop leaks but that usually isn’t the case. Usually, it’s just time for a recharge.

“At this point in the summer, as the days are getting hotter, if you didn’t charge you car’s AC earlier and it’s a little low, you may notice the air conditioning has to work harder or doesn’t quite cool the car the way it used to,” Norton said. “That’s not a problem. We can have your air conditioning working like a charm in no time.”

To have your car’s AC checked, or for more information, call Performance Unlimited at 815-728-0343 or visit www.4performanceunlimited.com.