Well, it’s finally arrived: the heat has come to McHenry – is your car’s air conditioning ready? You may have taken the time to have your car’s air conditioning checked out before the thermometer began climbing. If so, on these warm, muggy days we’ve had recently, you simply rolled up the window and turned on the AC.

If you didn’t take the time to check your car’s air conditioning ahead of time, you may have discovered that only lightly cooled, warm or hot air came out of the vents when you turn on the air conditioning. That’s disconcerting on hot summer days.

In some cases, the car’s air conditioning simply doesn’t work. The air coming out of the vents is hot. It’s not even tempered with a hint of cool air. In these cases, your car may have a more serious problem with its air conditioning, such as:

• A broken condenser
• A clogged condenser
• A faulty compressor
• An electrical issue
• A broken or loose belt running to the pully on the compressor
• A refrigerant leak

If you have one or more of these problems, this probably explains why. However, if the problem is a matter of degrees, such as in the air conditioning isn’t reducing the degrees enough – it’s blowing cool air but the air isn’t cool enough – you probably need to have the system recharged.

It’s not uncommon, after a year or two, that the system will need some additional refrigerant. Checking the pressure in the system will tell whether there’s enough refrigerant or if your car’s air conditioning system needs a recharge.

There’s plenty of hot days ahead here in McHenry. Having air conditioning in your car that works will make the summer all the more comfortable.