Automotive Heating & Air Conditioning Haynes Techbook (USA) (Paperback)

As others have said, there is a lot of reference to R-12 systems and the different types of expansion valves for various R-12 systems. The book has charts that show hi/lo pressures and capacities for many different old vehicles, but only up to a point. For R-134 system pressures, there is only one graph, and the pressures it claims are normal for a R-134 system are nowhere near the pressures my 2003 Dodge Ram produces, and nowhere near what I have found in other listings online.On the plus side I did learn useful things about pulling vacuum at different altitudes, about the basic operations of the AC systems, about compressor design, about where to add oil, and how to diagnose different symptoms. I was able to fix my truck AC, so that added a star to my rating. 4 stars.

The principals and theory on air conditioning is useful, and the troubleshooting problems using the manifold gages is also very helpful. However, the information is outdated. While the revision is in 2011, the specifications on vehicle oil and refrigerant capacity is until 2007. In other words there is no data for vehicles from 2008 to 2015 or 8 years.I would rather Haynes had focus more on 134a system because manufactures stop using R12 around 1995 or 20 years ago, and this book has a lot of information on R12 systems. I suggest waiting for a new revision or new materials on a new book.

Pros: It covers how AC works, parts, tools, troubleshooting, flushing, charging from empty. Enough for a DIYer with the a few hundred in tools to do an AC overhaul. It has tables for operating pressure, oil capacity and refrigerant capacity of domestic and imports through 2007 model years. The other material is still applicable to newer models, so if you have a newer car (and your AC broke already!) you can find the capacities for newer cars online.Cons: It reads like a combination of books which have been updated many times. I had deja vu several times thinking didn't I just read this chapter as there is a lot of repeated material between chapters.Bottom Line: I would buy it again. For the money it is seems to be the best deal on Amazon. It has given me the information I need to do a compressor replacement.

It provided the information I needed to understand how the car A/C works, but more importantly, what tools to use and how to use them to diagnose my A/C system, find the problem, get it fixed and get it up and running again. I didn't need it for any heating problem, but I'm pretty sure it will come in handy if I ever need the information.

While it tries to cover everything involving heating and A/C in autos, it doesn't go into very much depth for any one system. Instead, it describes the different A/C systems, and how they work, but leave it up to you do figure out which system you have, and exactly how to go about fixing it. A quick reference as to which cars have what system would save a shadetree like myself quite a bit of time, just chasing around which chapters pertain to my car, and which do not.

I did like the book it covered everything very well. I was hoping to see an article or chapter on the modern climate controll dash operations and how that affects the operation of the AC unit/ heat controls.

The book was not very helpful. Found more detail info on Utube.

I went through this book after taking a 4 month mobile air conditioning course.It is in need of a serious update. It will spend pages on the R-12 systems, for instance Chapter 5, titled Service and Repair will spend many, many pages on R-12 service, - flushing the system, sight glasses - service valves - leaking testing - evacuation , and then they mention this new system called 134A.The 134A system has been around since the 1992-1995 time frame and your chance of running across a R-12 system is pretty slim. But, unfortunately auto a/c books are few except for some textbooks - as far as I can find. (I would welcome leads on 134A real world non-textbooks).So I kept it but it needs a rewrite.

This book is heavily accented to the North American market. Generally, that is not a problem as regards to understanding how air conditioning in cars works, but it does limit things in respect to sections of the book, at the later parts, giving information such as oil levels for compressors - the majority of that section covers American cars.The paper quality is of low grade; certainly not up to the usual standard of Haynes manuals.An interesting read - said from the viewpoint of being a highly skilled commercial air-conditioning engineer of many years and qualifications.It is limited in some respects but no book could possibly cover all aspects of the trade. If you are new to the subject then I'll stick my neck out and say that you will have made a good start if deciding to buy this book.

Very good detail and fully explained, what we require now is a updated EU/GB version

quite informative but missing some information on diagnostics.