Air Conditioning

[TerraHawk]

Hi all,

I have an odd one here, my air con stopped blowing cold last week & started blowing anything between coolish to outside temp/warm. The compressor seemed to be going OK, so i assumed it needed a re-gas etc.

Booked it in & she was looked over today, the garage said gas was fine,compressor was running but wasn't firing up properly...an electrical fault they said. They said they checked all fuses & connections etc, but without a wiring map they cant do anymore.

So, does anybody have any clue where I should start before she ends up at the main dealers? Or does anybody know where I can get a copy of the wiring map etc?

Thank you for any help & answers. :thumbs

 

[Lazy-Ferret]

There is a whole section on the AC in the service manuals, in the "HA" section.

On my Volvo, when it did something similar, it turned out that there was a clutch that needed adjusting in the drive wheel on the pump. Luckily the AC guy, who was a mobile one, knew what it was straight away, and half an hours work, and £30 later, it was all fixed.

 

[solarman216]

if it has gas and the compressor is turning, (easy to see) and it is not cold then no other electrics involved, the compressor is bad, there are no electric valves etc on these, but do make sure the compressor is spinning at the same rate as the drive pulley, Rick

 

[AlexD333]

Dunno I these have heater taps in relation to the a/c? :nenau

 

[solarman216]

Dunno I these have heater taps in relation to the a/c? :nenau

No not at all, select AC and all that happens is the AC compressor clutch kicks in till pressure/temperature reach max then it kicks off, to be repeated as pressure/temp alters, Rick

 

[Madmark]

Can the clutch assembly be swaped or adjusted as I've had to remove belt as when ac is off the inner part touches outter spinning bit and makes a hell of a racket or is new pump time

 

[solarman216]

Can the clutch assembly be swaped or adjusted as I've had to remove belt as when ac is off the inner part touches outter spinning bit and makes a hell of a racket or is new pump time

no adjustment as far as I know, I just removed and binned A C compressors as being gay, not sure if I have any about but if have they will not be in serviceable state as once opened to atmosphere they deteriorate very quickly, but it will/should be possible to swap electric clutch, I will look tomorrow/week end to check, Rick

 

[Madmark]

Thanks bud mine is v belt type with both pipes at back of pump just swapping clutch would be great as just had it all gased

 

[solarman216]

my two have pipes front and rear so may be different pump, but you need a purpose made extractor to remove the pulley, the bearing that has failed is a generic part available from any bearing supplier, post a pic of the front of the pulley and I will advise, Rick

 

[Madmark]

This is same pump I found on ebay but will try and get pic of my pump today if easier

 

[TerraHawk]

Thanks for the replies so far folks.

Got my hands on the print out from the garage! It reads as follows:

Attempt to carry out an air conditioning service - Gas still present within system on car. Suspect electrical fault causing compressor to not engage. Checked all fuses & relays - all ok. Check wiring -Unable to check all wiring as unable to find wiring diagram for car. Suspect possible air conditioning ECU failure causing no power to be sent to the system. Will require specialist auto electrical diagnostic and repair.

 

[solarman216]

Thanks for the replies so far folks.

Got my hands on the print out from the garage! It reads as follows:

Attempt to carry out an air conditioning service - Gas still present within system on car. Suspect electrical fault causing compressor to not engage. Checked all fuses & relays - all ok. Check wiring -Unable to check all wiring as unable to find wiring diagram for car. Suspect possible air conditioning ECU failure causing no power to be sent to the system. Will require specialist auto electrical diagnostic and repair.

So not clear as in your first post you say compressor was running but not firing up properly, so it must be getting power to the clutch, maybe it is slipping? Rick

 

[TerraHawk]

So not clear as in your first post you say compressor was running but not firing up properly, so it must be getting power to the clutch, maybe it is slipping? Rick

My first information was that the compressor was OK. It was tested I'm told & was running OK but they thought it was an electrical fault as it seemed no power was getting through to it. Confused.com

 

[solarman216]

My first information was that the compressor was OK. It was tested I'm told & was running OK but they thought it was an electrical fault as it seemed no power was getting through to it. Confused.com

if the pulley is running and you turn on the AC is there a clunk and the centre part turns with the pulley, if so then either it is low on gas or the compressor has failed, there has to be gas in it for the electrics to operate the clutch but if it is running then there might not be, you cannot just look at the pressure and say it is full, think about a LPG liquid tank, the pressure will be the same full or nearly empty, how do you know it is empty? you can tell by its weight, not so easy with AC, Rick