See DetailsClose (X)25% Off Online Orders of Select Parts and Accessories Receive 25% Off Your Online Purchase. Use promotional code 25PEP at checkout to receive discount. Not valid in combination with any other discounts or promotions. Not valid on gift cards, special orders, installed merchandise, commercial or fleet purchases. Excludes the following categories: Tires, Wheels, Batteries, Powerstop Brake Kits, Oil, Antifreeze, Refrigerant, Truck Boxes, Vent Visors, Bug Shields and BRANDS: Razor, Traxxas, Superchips, Hypertech, Edge, Bully Dog, Diablo, Edelbrock, Holley, NOS, Proform, Specialty Auto, Thule, Autometer, Accel, K&N, Kenwood, Pioneer, Sony, JVC, MSD and BBK Performance. Valid online until 2:59 am EST on 10/6/16. Online orders scheduled for in-store pick up must be completed by closing on 10/5/16 for discount to apply. Why Your Car Air Conditioner is Blowing Warm Air When it is working properly, your cars’ air conditioner is a wonderful thing. When it is not, which of course occurs on the most brutally hot day of the year, the A/C suddenly becomes a cruel joke, blowing warm, stale air into your vehicle.

If your air conditioner is blowing warm air, or just not working properly, it is best to schedule a service ASAP to maximize your comfort. Schedule Your Next A/C System Service Automotive A/C systems have certain intricacies in their design that render them difficult to repair without the proper equipment and knowledge base. On top of that, there are certain environmental concerns involved with refrigerant that require special attention. We’ve identified three common A/C System issues to help supply you with information on what may be going on with your vehicle. Three Common Occurrences that could Result in your Vehicle’s A/C not Working Properly:Refrigerant Leak A refrigerant leak is unique in the sense that refrigerant evaporates instantly into a gas once it isn’t under the pressure of your closed loop A/C system. A/C systems are sealed and therefore don’t require refrigerant top-off’s. If the refrigerant level is low then there is a leak that needs to be addressed Leaks in your A/C don’t result in the normal tell tale puddles of fluid under your vehicle like those of an oil or antifreeze leak.

Our certified technicians are trained to search for much less sinister signs of leaks like the oily residue which might be found on or around A/C hose units or connections. A refrigerant leak can also occur in the A/C compressor, condenser, and/or evaporator - essentially all of the components of your air conditioning system. We employ state of the art leak detection methods including UV dyes and specialized test equipment to ensure that your car is properly diagnosed the first time and serviced right, complete with our nationwide warranty. Worn out compressor The compressor is the heart of your vehicle’s air conditioning system. Its function is to circulate refrigerant through a series of stages that allow it to remove heat from your vehicles cabin. Similar to many other car parts, the compressor can wear out over time. Due to its complicated design, compressor failure can be attributed to contamination or other failed parts within the system. There are some things that you can do to help prolong the life of your vehicle’s compressor.

First, make sure to run the compressor for about 10 minutes once a month in the off season, regardless of the temperature outside. This is easy to in most modern vehicles since they utilize the compressor when the defroster, which is used year round, is activated. ac heat pump units costAnother way is to stop in to Pep Boys for a FREE A/C Quick Check (not available in the state of California) and an associate can give a visual inspection of the compressor to ensure that everything looks in order.ac unit covered in iceProblems with the electrical system The A/C system in your car has a maze of wires complete with fuses, relays and pressure switches that work in unison to provide safe operation under normal operating conditions. are portable ac units worth it

If one of these electrical components fail due to age or defect, the system is designed to shut itself down to prevent damage to itself or unsafe conditions for the operator. Without the proper test equipment and, perhaps more importantly, the experience level of the individual diagnosing the problem, these issues are difficult to isolate. What this Means for You These three common occurrences are by no means a comprehensive list of all of the different things that can go wrong with your vehicle’s air conditioning system. They are also not the only culprits that will cause warm air to blow through your A/C System, but they are the most common. If you have the skills to fix your A/C system yourself, we’re are here to help you with the advice, parts, refrigerants and even the tools needed to do the job. If you rely on others to service your vehicle, do so as soon as possible. Driving in uncomfortable conditions can take your attention off of driving as safely as possible which could result in a potentially dangerous situation for you and your passengers.

Trust Pep Boys to help you keep you cool every step of the way.Cars are awesome, until they’re not. I call it the absence of malice problem: I only notice something is wrong because I take for granted how often everything is right. Turn the key and go; it’s what we demand of today’s cars, and it’s what we overwhelmingly get. When things do go awry, it’s always interesting to see how people cope. When your brakes go from spongy to making that funny grinding sound, you call your mechanic or drive straight to the dealership. If the engine suddenly starts cutting out, or a tire blows and you thwap to a halt by the side of the road, same thing. But if your air conditioning starts blowing hot air, you do other things. You punch the dash; you adjust the little vents. You jam away at the settings. You turn it off and turn it on again. Then you leave the car in the driveway overnight, and go out the next day and actually believe it might be OK, like it just needed a little rest so it could become air conditioning again.

My Dad didn’t believe in air conditioning, so we stuck to the plastic seat in the back of the station wagon, our small legs requiring skin grafts when we tried to move. There was a choice, of course. We could sit on a blanket instead; the temperature at sweltering levels, and we could pick between itchy wool and molten plastic. We’d fight over the windows and stick our heads out like puppies, which was fun until Mom and Dad did up their windows and my father would yell “buffeting!” and make us close them. I liked that sound, the suction of air that whumped around the interior of the car, making me think this was what outer space must sound like. Children without air conditioning develop excellent imaginations. If your car is older and blowing hot air, you might want to give your next steps a hard think. The voyage to the root of a dead air conditioning system can be exasperating, exhausting and expensive. Your coolant has leaked out, and you can’t just top it up. It’s illegal to add a gas to your system that depletes the ozone (in Canada, usually R134A);

you have to find the leak, and this is where the fun begins. Very basically, your car’s air conditioning system is made up of three major components: the compressor, the evaporator and the condenser. There are lots of hoses, tubes, valves and sensors connecting them all. A technician has to figure out where the leak is occurring, and will pressurize the system with nitrogen to find out. This diagnostic isn’t the expensive part. Several shops told me it’s about an hour at shop rate to tell you what’s going on. Find the leak, fix the problem, easy. These are expensive parts and systems, and one of them – the evaporator – is usually behind the dash which requires a lot of rip-apart work. When the kids were small, I had a 10-year-old car. The air conditioning went, I foolishly let an eager young mechanic talk me into letting him fix it. I committed to Phase One believing it was Phase Done. While the 600 bucks was huge to me at the time, having the A/C working again seemed like a necessary one.

Until a week later, when I once again had vents blasting hot air. I slammed back into the garage with no good grace, demanding that he fix the fix. And that is when I learned the most valuable lesson, ever, about old cars and air conditioning. All of the parts of that system are the same age, which means if one goes, why shouldn’t the others? Finding the leak and replacing one is zero guarantee that you can’t develop another leak in another part in a week or a month. Was I prepared to go perhaps $1,500 dollars in to get back my arctic air? On a car that was maybe worth $2,000? I told the kids we were now driving like in olden times. I’ve watched mechanics explain this to a customer. I’ve witnessed the truth of the term “shooting the messenger” more times in places that specialize in auto air conditioning than just about anywhere else. My theory on expensive mechanical repairs to older vehicles is pretty simple: if a car you trust has cost you little in recent years and needs a couple grand to keep it going for another year or two, that’s cheaper than new car payments while you take some time to consider your next purchase.