I know I am stating the obvious, but it is hot out there folks! When I moved from Alabama to the Carolinas I thought one of the biggest perks would be milder seasons, but it looks like the heat has just followed me here. And because I am a self-professed city girl, I require the air conditioning to be in working condition at all times. So you can only imagine the meltdown I had a couple of weeks ago when the AC in my car started to fizzle.

I noticed the problem when I got in my car after a long and particularly hot day. There was plenty of air flowing through the vents, but it was lukewarm. That’s right, lukewarm: the cruelest scenario imaginable in 100 degree weather. So right there in the parking lot, I preceded to have my meltdown.

After I got through with my tantrum, I rolled down my windows and drove to the closest Car Care Center. There, they performed an AC check to determine what the problem was. Turns out, Honda’s are prone to moisture build up which can cause the expansion valve to freeze up. Lucky for me all it took was an Air Conditioning Evacuation Service to remove the moisture and get that icy air blowing again.

Steve, who worked on my car, decided to give me a little lesson on this to pass along to my readers. My situation was a best case scenario for air conditioning problems. It cost me less than $100 and it didn’t require a lot of time to fix. But as Steve pointed out, that’s not always the case with other vehicles. With smaller cars like mine, there’s not enough room for the moisture to move and as a result, it builds up. In some cases, more extensive work is needed and your car may need to have the receiver dryer replaced to fix the problem.

The most important action you can take with any problems with your vehicle is to take it to your mechanic as soon as possible. Continuing to drive around with the problem could potentially make it worse and cost you big time dollars in repairs. The best preventative measure for your air conditioning system is to have it checked out before the hot temperatures arrive so that you can avoid a meltdown like mine!

Oh, and another tip Steve wanted me to pass along during these excruciatingly hot days is that when you have high temperatures like we’ve had the past few weeks and the humidity is close to 100%, your air condition system will only cool the car down to around 60-65 degrees. So don’t fret when you can’t see icicles hanging from your rearview mirror, your air conditioning is not necessarily broken; it’s just doing the best it can in this climate.

Enjoy the rest of your summer and stay cool!

As always, I love getting questions from readers. If you have a car problem or just wish you knew more about cars in general, please feel free to email me. I look forward to hearing from you.

If you have any tip and tricks, or there is something you want to know about, email me at girlsgarage@mailaaa.com