It’s spring and the flowers are out. So are the thieves. Be aware.

With the new technology and things like electronic starting, you would think that it would be difficult for thieves to steal a car these days. No such luck. The thieves are become more tech savvy.

You always have teenagers roaming the neighborhood checking for open cars to take whatever is inside. These days, thieves are taking Catalytic Converters. If you hear a car going by the sounds abnormally loud, that may be the reason. Fortunately, that situation is probably covered by insurance. The repair cost will depend on what parts are missing in addition to the Catalytic Converter itself.

You need to be proactive. Of course, it goes without saying that you should always lock your car. You should get one of the new LED motion detector outside lights. They are very bright and a very effective deterrent. You should also consider a motion detector outdoor alarm system. While the alarm goes off inside your house, if you sleep with your car keys nearby, you can trigger the panic alarm on your car to scare the thieves off.

Lim’s Auto Body is a full service auto body and mechanical repair shop locally owned and operated in Largo, Florida. For more information, go to our web site www.limsautobody.com or call (727) 422-3232.

Very often when your car’s air conditioning system is repaired, it is necessary to replace your refrigerant.In order for a vehicle’s air conditioning (or almost any air conditioning, period) to work, a substance known as refrigerant is necessary. Air conditioning refrigerant is a substance, usually a liquid, which undergoes transition from liquid to gas, then from gas back to liquid as part of the air conditioning process.

For many years, the refrigerant known as Freon 12 or R-12 was the refrigerant of choice for vehicle AC systems. It was developed in the 1930s and was seen as a perfect refrigerant. It had no odor, taste or color, and was both nonflammable and nontoxic. From the earliest vehicle AC units into the 1980s, R-12 was the refrigerant of choice.

However, researchers and scientists began to be concerned with the impact of R-12 use on the earth’s ozone layer. R-12 is a CFC (chlorofluorocarbon), and compounds in that class have a strong negative impact on the ozone layer. In 1987, a majority of nations ratified the Montreal Protocol, a global treaty aimed at reducing the use of chemicals that deplete or harm the ozone layer.

As per the treaty, in 1994, developed nations like the U.S. were required to phase out the use of Freon R-12 in automotive air conditioning systems. The refrigerant replacing R-12 in U.S. automotive AC systems was R-134a. R-134a has many of the same positive traits as R-12, but doesn’t have the same ozone-depleting effect as R-12.

R-134a was used without major controversy well into the 2000s, but as more attention has shifted toward global warning, concerns have been raised about R-134a too. While not damaging to the ozone layer, R-134a was shown to contribute to global warming by its presence in the atmosphere. The European Union mandated discontinuing the use of R-134a in 2011, and the U.S. and other auto-manufacturing nations have been following suit since.

The currently favorable AC refrigerant is R-1234yf. R-1234yf, also known as CFO-1234yf, is considerably less significant in contributing to global warming, but its properties and how it functions is different than an automotive air conditioning system that uses R-134a. Car manufacturers are creating new vehicles using R-1234yf, but it’s not possible to convert an existing R-134a system to R-1234yf. As a result, R-134a will likely be around for a while, as any vehicles made before the mid 2010s will still be using R-134a.

In simplest form, an automotive air conditioning system uses a refrigerant (the stuff we were just talking about) to pull heat from the car’s interior and then dissipate the heat out through your car’s exterior, releasing the heat into the air. Refrigerant is cycled through a closed loop, starting under the hood and passing around the vehicle’s interior before returning back for another round

It’s important to understand that a vehicle’s AC system is a sealed system. What this means is that the refrigerant is used over and over, and that ideally no refrigerant is lost during the process. Any leak within the air conditioning system will result in refrigerant levels dropping over time, as would any issue causing refrigerant to degrade or break down. Many problems AC systems experience stem from issues with the integrity of the sealed system, not the refrigerant itself.

Lim’s Auto Body is a full service auto body and mechanical repair shop locally owned and operated in Largo, Florida. For more information, go to our web site www.limsautobody.com or call (727) 422-3232.