CC:
I’ve got a diagnostic conundrum for you. Customer comes into your shop. They are saying that they broke off their passenger side mirror and now their air conditioning is not working. So what’s the connection between the side view mirror and the air conditioning? Well, the answer is ambient temperature. Many of these have an ambient air temperature sensor located in the mirror. Some vehicles will have it at the front behind the grill. With the sensor, it determines the ambient temperature around the vehicle. These are positioned in front of the radiator, or in this case, on the mirror where it’s outside of the vehicle, so it’s not being affected by engine temperature, solar loads. And this way, it can determine the accurate ambient temperature outside. If the sensor’s damaged, it may prevent the air conditioning from working. In other words, it’s not going to engage the compressor. If the compressor’s not engaged, the air conditioning’s not going to work.
So part of your diagnosis on a vehicle, yes, use a scan tool. And if you have any codes for the ambient air temperature sensor, it’s a good idea to replace the sensor. Also, make sure that you’re looking at the vehicle and where the sensor is located. It’s common for one behind the grill to be damaged by, let’s say, hitting a parking block, a snow drift, and it could be damaged, and they’re not noticing it now until May when they need their air conditioning. So the diagnosis for these vehicles, don’t just look at the pressures inside the system, but also look at the sensors on the vehicle. I’m Andrew Markel. Thank you very much.
This video is sponsored by Auto Value and Bumper to Bumper
