Heating & A/C
Two different complaints usually land under this heading, and they are the same system. One is the heater blowing cool instead of hot, especially noticeable on cold mornings out here in Graham when the windows won't clear. The other is the air conditioner blowing cool but not actually cold once summer hits. Both run through the same coolant and refrigerant circuits, so the fix for one often turns up when we're looking at the other.
Overheating is a separate problem and a more serious one. If the temperature gauge climbs after 15 or 20 minutes of driving, or the engine makes noise after it's been hot, don't keep driving it hoping it settles down. We see this a lot as a diagnostic job on its own: customer states the truck runs fine cold, then starts running hot on the freeway or after idling in traffic. Sometimes it's a bad thermostat. Sometimes it's a fan clutch, a clogged radiator, or a leak you can't see because it's small enough to boil off before it hits the ground.
A proper diagnosis means checking the whole system, not just replacing the obvious part. We've had more than one vehicle come in after another shop replaced the water pump and thermostat, sent the customer home, and had it overheat again within days. Throwing parts at an overheating problem without pressure-testing the system and checking the fan and radiator flow just means paying twice. We'd rather spend the extra time up front confirming what's actually wrong.
For A/C, the usual causes are a slow refrigerant leak, a failing compressor, or a clogged condenser. A recharge is cheap if the system is otherwise sound. If the compressor itself has failed, that's a bigger job, and on a vehicle already worth very little, it's worth asking whether fixing the A/C is worth more than the car. We'll tell you that straight rather than sell you a compressor for a truck that isn't worth driving next winter.
Bring it in and we'll check both sides of the system, coolant and refrigerant, before we tell you what it needs. Open Monday through Friday, 8 to 5, at 28801 Meridian E.