Can you drive your car with Low Freon?

Can you drive your car with low Freon? Welcome to Mercie J auto care, where compassion and craftsmanship come together. I’m Rick Smith, master certified technician. Now when a vehicle comes into our shop, we always do a courtesy inspection on it and part of that inspection is the AC quick check. What we do is feel the larger line that is coming from the inside of the car. That line should be ice cold. If it’s only cool but not cold then we know it’s a little bit low on refrigerant. Now here’s what happens, Yes you can be low on refrigerant but it will still be very cold out of the vents. What you need to know is that the refrigerant carries oil in it and it also helps cool the AC compressor. So the problem is when we drive around with the defroster on or the air conditioning on and we’re low on refrigerant, the compressor is not getting enough lubrication and it’s running hotter than it should. So we end up shortening the life of the compressor. That’s why it’s always important if it’s a little bit low to get it serviced and charged back up to the proper level. I hope this has been informational to you. Until next time, safe travels and blessings to you.