
Your car or truck's AC system is under extreme pressure and the thermal expansion valve or orifice tube monitors the amount of pressure and the temperature of your A/C system. It calculates the precise amount of refrigerant that can safely go into the evaporator. A failing expansion valve or orifice tube often causes a vehicle's air conditioner to blow hot air.
Replace or Repair
- Expansion Valves: Too much refrigerant causes your evaporator to get too cold whereas too little refrigerant would result in inadequate cooling. The expansion valve is a complex valve that regulates refrigerant flow. This process of metering the refrigerant adjusts the flow according to the temperature of the refrigerant in the evaporator coil. Talk to one of the pro mechanics at Auto Performance Center, as this part can be replaced on its own and does not require the entire replacement of the AC assembly.
- Orifice Tubes: Unlike the expansion valve, the orifice tube is a simple fixed device with no moving parts. It therefore cannot vary the flow of refrigerant into the evaporator, but rather causes a permanent restriction in the system. However, like the expansion valve the orifice tube regulates refrigerant flow through the system and filters debris which may come through in its screen. Often fixing a "bad orifice tube" requires replacing the entire evaporator assembly.
More AC Repair Services:
Truck and Car AC Repair Services
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What our clients are saying about us
We have established longterm and stable partnerships with various clients thanks to our excellence in solving their automotive needs!
I've visited this business several times for regular maintenance and repair. The service has always been fantastic. The wonderful woman in the office is friendly, knowledgeable, and very easy to work with. The mechanics are thorough, extremely knowledgeable, and straight forward without trying to up-sell you at every turn. This is the type of garage I grew up around. The money seems to go toward hiring highly qualified people, and not toward making the garage look trendy or sporty. If my mom lived in this area, Auto Performance Center is where her car would go. I can't give any higher praise than that.

Garner, North Carolina
Great service! I've been a few times now and they've been incredibly friendly each time. They have been very helpful; they fixed a check engine issue for a fair price. They're also very quick with the repairs. They diagnosed my check engine issue and fixed it that same day. I also had them look into another problem that my car has been having, and even though we haven't found a definitive answer, I greatly appreciate that they were willing to look at it as much and as in-depth as they did. They're great mechanics and don't give false info - other shops before them had diagnosed my car incorrectly, but once they looked at it, my issues were actually getting fixed. I definitely intend to keep using their services and highly recommend them to others. Update 6/16: I wanted to add to this about the issue we were unsure of - turns out it was as simple as replacing the gas cap, which they managed to figure out and fix for me!

Garner, North Carolina