Air con 'fusion'

[John.T.]

I have air con fitted to my Chimmy 400 however i do NOT know how it operates as the handbook doesn't cover it.
Does anyone out there know how the controls work for the aircon.

everytime i leave the car parked for 5 mins the screen mists up, i have to put the blower on to clear it, is it because the cockpit is so small that it happens or is my aircon causing it??

Thanks.
John

[Cider Andy]

Turn the heater control fully to the right (cold) and you'll hear a microswitch click. It's mounted on the heater control dial.

If there's no pressure in the system it simply won't work: the compressor won't start, this is the same for any car with air con.

The switch on the side of the centre console operates a motor in the passenger footwell that opens/closes a flap to recirculate the cabin air.

[John.T.]

I bow to your superior knowledge..............fast response too ;-)

I was thinking it worked like climate control as i had in my Mondeo Ghia, i guess its just a big fridge then for when i go to Spain, nice one.

John

[The AJP Griff]

The a/c will prevent misting,rather than cause it!I'm not sure,but i think in the Chim it's activated by turning temp wheel to fully cold which operates the appropriate microswitch?If this is so then it's a bit of a crap idea compared to the griff set up(switch on with any temp),as you don't really want it set to cold in winter!It should however be pretty easy to fit a seperate switch so that you can have a/c with all temps.

[s5tuart]

Misting up can be caused by water leaks not drying out. You may not know you have one til you look!!
Check under the carpets in the footwells for damp.

[John.T.]

Stu,
Your theory is correct.. Its wet under the passenger side carpet.
I would expect they all leak to some degree though. I shall get it booked into Track V Road and get them to have look over it.

Thanks

[AirconAde]

Hi
The misting up that you mention does it occure after you have been using the aircon then stopped the car with the a/c still on?

It's just that the a/c evaporator will still have a lot of condensation on it when you stop the car, this moisture will then evaporate and sit in the heater box and ducting till you start up the car/heater fan it then condenses on the windows in the first few seconds of driving and can be quite disturbing.

Another thing to check for is that the condensate drain tube from the heater box is not blocked and is allowing the water to drain off outside the car.
It's quite common for the tube to get knocked off then the water drains into the footwell. A good working system can condense several liters of water per hour on a humid day and this can make quite a mess in the footwell!

It's a shame that the system only works when set to minimum heat as you can not get the full potential from the system. As suggested a simple mod to allow the a/c to work at any temprature setting on the heat dial would then allow you to use the system for demisting in the winter and you would be amazed at the speed with which it works.

Do make sure that the recirc/fresh air switch is set to fresh air as running with it on recirc even with the a/c off will cause the windows to mist up badly.
Cheers Ade