How often does car AC need to be recharged?

Last Updated on May 10, 2021 by

The answer is: it depends! There isn’t a manufacturer or car industry-recommended timeframe for recharging your car A C. It’s more about whether your car’s air conditioning system is still giving you nice, cool, odor-free air when you need it. A car’s air conditioning system can go for years and years without needing to be recharged or, in some cases, it can have problems like refrigerant leaks very early on.

Chances are, if you’re asking the question “How often does my car ac need to be recharged?” you are beginning to suspect or already know that your car’s A C is not blowing as cool as it has in the past and you may be wondering if there is a schedule you should keep to for recharging or, most likely, looking for information on what to do about it!

If you are a DIYer and want to potentially save some money then first you should try to top-off your car’s air conditioning system yourself using an A C recharge kit with all the right components that you will need for your vehicle ac system top-off.

Here’s why:

During the process of adding refrigerant yourself you might discover a larger, more serious issue that requires professional air conditioning system service. These issues could be:

• Blocked/clogged condenser
• Broken condenser
• Electrical issues
• Faulty cooling fans
• Bad compressor

However, it’s most likely that you will successfully top off your air conditioning system for a fraction of the price instead. By doing it yourself initially, you will actually know if you needed the services of an expensive professional technician or if you could have done an ac recharge yourself for significantly less money. Better all the way around!

If you want to know more about recharging your cars air conditioning check out our article on it here.

If not, check out our tutorial with everything that you need to know on recharging your cars air conditioning system here.