Air conditioning

[s p a c e m a n]

The bloke that I bought the car from had no idea why it didn't work, and neither do I. I'm not bothered enough by it to pay someone to have a look at it but it would be nice to know why it doesn't work..

The bible has little in it other than telling you to take it to a specialist so I've been doing a bit of browsing on Range Rover forums and it all seems to be there and plugged in. The microswitch clicks but nothing happens, no relays clicking and the clutch doesn't engage..

Anyone got any pointers on the usual failures, is there a random fuse somewhere that I don't know about. I think that I have all of the right relays although I have seen a couple with jumped pins in the empty socket to power the fans, anything stand out to anyone?



I'm going to have a play with a multimeter and see if anything stands out but can't find any wiring schematics so it's all going to be guesswork. One of the many things that I'm wondering is whether having no gas in the system stops it from engaging the clutch as I have no idea if it's empty or not, I'd rather check all of the wiring etc before throwing £50 of gas at it

[dazee]

All I can tell you is no gas in the system does not stop it from engaging. Mine has never held gas for long, system engages whenever the temp dial is cranked all the way over, just blows hot air. Plan is to take it all apart over the next 12 months and get that working properly. I too have found the bible very light on content for the air conditioning so will track this topic to see what I can learn too.

[s p a c e m a n]

Yeah that's what I was thinking, I'm fairly certain that it's not up to pressure but don't see much point in putting gas in it if that's not the problem. All of the pipes look ok and the condenser has a few stone chips in it but nothing that looks too bad, been thinking about running a live from the battery to the compressor to see if I can get the clutch to engage..

[hoppo4.2]

If there is no gas in the system the clutch should not engage. If the system ran with no pressure the compressor would be toast in a few mins there is a pressure switch to stop it cutting in with no pressure

[s p a c e m a n]

Cool, any idea where it is and if there's a way to bypass it? I take it that this is it, can't remember seeing it anywhere..

[s p a c e m a n]

Cool, any idea where it is and if there's a way to bypass it? I take it that this is it, can't remember seeing it anywhere..

[s p a c e m a n]

Just found out that kwik fit are doing a free pressure test before they fill it up with gas, might try and find one on my way home from work this week

[hoppo4.2]

iv no idea where it is but have never known one to fail on any car. every car ive ever had with no ac it has down to low or no gas

[StarmistBlue400]

I had mine re gassed when I brought it. And it lasted for a while. It blows cool now when I have used it on the motorway but apart from demisting I can't think when I have really used it.

[JimTC]

Yep, if pressure is low it doesn't engage.

I had AC on my old 400 and once gassed with no leaks it worked better than a lot of the forum comments had indicated. Not as good as a lot of modern cars but you could significantly reduce the heat when sitting stationary in a traffic queue. That said, the extra load of the AC does tend to put yet more pressure on the main cooling system!

[dazee]

Well me thinks my air conditioner is really shot then. Not only does it not hold gas for long, but should have apparently toasted itself in the process. So now will be needing to troubleshoot why it still engages with no gas, aswell as its ability to hold gas.

Already had on the list to buy a new unit as detected a noisy bearing in the one I have. Estimate for new bearing and replacing it is more than the cost of a new air conditioner, so am going the easy route there....

[NZ fan]

Mine has AC which was low on gas when I got the car and so clutch wouldn't engage when turned on, had it regassed and all good. They hold a lot of gas 1.2 kg. plus 150ml of lube oil which circulates with the gas to lube things. You can just put 12v straight to the single wire on the compressor to see if the clutch pulls in but only do a short burst if there's no gas cause no gas = no lube. I too don't use the ac very often but it's great when needed. ( I think the pressure switch is down in the r/h front in front of the condenser/radiator and on top of the receiver dryer canister if that's any help).

Edited by NZ fan on Monday 28th July 02:22

[Dr Mike Oxgreen]

Mine needed a new condenser about a year ago, and none of the usual TVR specialists would touch it so I took it to Alpinair in west London, near Hanger Lane. They did a very good job; I was impressed that they were able to remove and refit the condenser without disturbing the radiator, and hence without draining and refilling the coolant.

The system works pretty well, and I try to exercise it regularly to keep it all lubricated. Lack of use is bad for a/c systems.

[JimTC]

When mine needed re-gassing I had a specialist visit my home to do the necessary - this worked out well.

Sometime later I needed a new radiator fitting and my TVR specialist was able to swap things over without having to de-gas the AC, which helped on the cost!

I can PM you details if you wish.....

[nawarne]

dazee said:

All I can tell you is no gas in the system does not stop it from engaging. Mine has never held gas for long, system engages whenever the temp dial is cranked all the way over, just blows hot air. Plan is to take it all apart over the next 12 months and get that working properly. I too have found the bible very light on content for the air conditioning so will track this topic to see what I can learn too.

I disagree, low refrigerant will stop the clutch engaging on the compressor...If you think about it, this is to stop the compressor running without any gas and lunching itself.

I know, because on my 450, when I had it, had exactly this problem. The car went to a mate's dad, who did the full a/c check - evacuate system and hold a vacuum (for 1/2 hour?)to check for leaks, then refilled refrigerant to exact quantity and oil. What a change! Blown air was positively icy. With a decent service, the system works really well.
Nick

[Tri2Tri]

I have the same issue. Relays in but not clicking, micro switch clicks when operated but the system is completely dead. On checking the condenser behind the front grille I found that the trinary switch on top of the condenser had been disconnected and the wires tucked out of sight. Not got round to working out what connects to what,so there is another job in the pipe line! Worth checking your trinary switch has not been disconnected/working.

[Matt99man]

Is it possible to retrofit AC?

[peaktorque]

Matt99man said:

Is it possible to retrofit AC?

Yes.

I wouldn't bother though.

[Dr Mike Oxgreen]

Matt99man said:

Is it possible to retrofit AC?

Although not ideally located for you, I once again recommend talking to Alpinair in west London - they say they can design and retrofit air conditioning systems to unusual cars like ours. It's not going to be easy though - and probably not cheap!

Is it worth it? Well, I disagree with those who say that a/c is a waste of time on a Chimaera. If you use the car for long-distance touring, particularly in hot conditions, you don't necessarily want to have the roof off ALL the time, especially at high speeds for long distances. So IMHO the air conditioning enhances the car as a long-distance GT cruiser.

But like I say, retrofitting probably isn't going to be cheap!