why does the heat in my car work, but the air doesn't?
because they are both types of heat exchangers but completely different.your heater system works by passing hot coolant(water/antifreeze mixture) through a heater core(kinda looks like a mini radiator) under your dash that then heats the air in your air vents and then gets blown onto you. you air conditioning system has more to do with the way your refrigerator works. it compresses freon and then allows it to rapidly expand inside a special component under the dash, thereby cooling the air in your air vents which then gets blown into your face on that hot summer day. there are many problems that can arise to make your air conditioner not work. take it to a mechanic to have it diagnosed. they may have to add freon just to find out what is wrong with it and then take it back out to change the part to make it work again and then put freon back in it so it blows cool air again. EDIT: Diggle you are an idiot. its not hot air from around your engine
A car has a separate compressor for air conditioning, it could be that the compressor is shot, or more likely you have a freon leak. It may just need to be checked and recharged.
the heater is just air being blown over your hot engine into the passenger compartment. really hard to break that. the air is a compressor and condenser (just like a fridge, or home a/c). one of those two breaks, and your a/c is gone. either one will run you a couple hundred. have a mechanic put some UV reactive dye in your a/c system and see if he can find the leak. then he'll know what needs fixing.
Yeah, sounds like your compressor is either out of freon or is broken. You can get it recharged if it's out of freon for about $70+ parts and labor, or you can try and do it yourself with a kit.
They're two different systems connected to the same air vents. The air conditioner compressor is probably out of gas.
