Mission accomplished.

tomsheppard · Post by **tomsheppard** » 28 Jun 2004, 18:38

After the obligatory glitch: (arrive home at midnight, run aircon electrics with the engine off to hear fans cut in before leaving at 6:30 to get gas. Zip. Nothing.)
A tweak on the pot mounting lugs where the slider wasn't being slid fixed that.
Then off to Citronics. I'd thought of nearly everything but I expected them to have the R12 to R134a adaptors. Craig took the one from his Dad's car and put them on the BX. His dad's car is a mint XM v6 which might be up for sale after 9 years service. Vacuum went on and R134a went in. Then on startup, no clutch and fast fans. Drat! I had plugged the pressure switch up incorrectly which I fixed in a moment and cold air came out. So much cold air that the car's paint went instantly from red to blue. OK so I'm exaggerating, but with a vent temperature of 22 being reduced to 4, (using the recirc) in about three minutes, I conclude that it works.
Citronics are an ok outfit, they did the work well and cheerfully and charged very reasonably. I'd use them again.
So I owe a lot of people thanks for all the help on this project. Woman belong Me is delighted and she thanks you too, especially Jon for materialising obsolete but vital bits. to Alan for staying sober for long enough to answer all my damfool questions with patience and detail. To DLM for the logistical support and at least one of the hangovers and everybody else who offered help and advice. Jane and I are grateful to you all, even jono who advised me to give up and buy a Xantia, advice I will freely pass on to anybody daft enough to try converting a BX to aircon!

paranoid · Post by **paranoid** » 28 Jun 2004, 18:42

Congrats.........Wish i had the patience!!!!
[img]
<img border="2" src="file:///C:/WINDOWS/TEMP/FrontPageTempDir/IMAGE0004.JPG_small.JPG" xthumbnail-orig-image="file:///C:/My Documents/CITROEN FILE/IMAGE0004.JPG.JPG" width="100" height="75">[/img]

Post by **Jon** » 28 Jun 2004, 19:56

Good work!
Are you any good on ZX's too? Mines ill.

tomsheppard · Post by **tomsheppard** » 28 Jun 2004, 20:50

What's up with it Jon?

Post by **Jon** » 28 Jun 2004, 22:14

Well the clutch was a bit knacked, so I bought one and booked this Friday off to do it. Fair play I got the car at 70k and its now done 145k, so I can live with that. This morning I could smell coolant so pulled over to find my radiator has a large hole in it. Left car to cool down, went to collect it later, in my rage I then popped one of the gear selector rods off because I forgot about the clutch being mashed.Temper temper! Bad day!
I'll fix it all on Friday. Using the Blingo instead, wife and children condemmed to buses, walking etc. Good for them.

tomsheppard · Post by **tomsheppard** » 28 Jun 2004, 22:37

Merde Alors! Sorry to hear it. Still at 145k, a new rad will save you a HG.

alan s · Post by **alan s** » 29 Jun 2004, 04:56

Well done Tom.
You'll find now that you have possibly one of the most efficient air/con systems in the car industry. As you can no doubt guess, we can tend to try them out pretty harshly out here with the combination of both heat and humidity and my sons TZi is the only car I've ever seen that can literally form ice on the windscreen on a hot summers day. We had a few 40+ degree days last Summer (in the shade) and it was our main form of transport....magic; passengers complaining about it being too cold.[:D][;)]
Incidentally, I usually try to stay sober <i><b>before</b></i> breakfast..[;)][}:)]
Jon, mate, waddya doin' to yourself? I don't know about over there but out here it's almost mandatory that when things go wrong, they do so in threes, so look on the bright side; there's your three all at once. Clutch, radiator and gear linkage.[:(!][:(!]
I suppose when you consider that not all that many years ago, a small 4 cylinder car was considered a marathon worker if it had managed to survive for 50K miles, they don't do too bad do they?[8D]
Alan S

Roscoe · Post by **Roscoe** » 29 Jun 2004, 05:08

Good work Tom - glad to see a BX with decent aircon. Alan, one for you...my 16V aircon wasn't working when I bought it - knew it needed some work. So after a new (not rebuilt)Sanden compressor, new TX valve, new receiver/dryer and recharge with R134a, it works...but very anemically. I get more cold air with the window down that via the A/C. The fans work properly - high speed as soon as the A/C is switched on, doesn't make a lot of difference if the air control is set to recirc or outside....so any ideas?

alan s · Post by **alan s** » 29 Jun 2004, 06:40

Without physically seeing it and putting the gauges on it, it's almost akin to the length of a piece of string, but for suggestions;
Is the new compressor faulty?
Are the components that have been replaced exactly the same as the ones that came off. (ie) Tonnage of T/X and capacity of compressor the same as those they replaced.
Has the system been overcharged with gas; can be often diagnosed by overheating of condensor and icing of suction line. Forget the "bubbles in the sight glass" theory; that doesn't work on 134a. Also, an overcharged system besides showing the aforementioned symptoms, will also put an enormous load on the cars engine when the air/con is turned on.
Are the condensor fans spinning in the correct direction (ie) drawing air from the front of the car & passing it over the condensor duplicating the action of the air passing through when the car is in motion.
Did the mechanic thoroughly evacuate the system; if not possibly air or moisture in the system.
From an electrical point of view; is the thermister operating properly and not just cutting in & then almost instantaneously off again?
That should keep you busy. Who did the work, a fridge mechanic? If so take it back & kick his ass for him. It should freeze you with practically no load on the engine. That's based on owning a few and how they've all operated.
Alan S

DLM · Post by **DLM** » 29 Jun 2004, 12:50

Congratulations Tom! I know how hard at least some of that was....and you did nearly all the work on the donor car too, leaving me with the job I always seem to find most difficult - putting it back together again. Maybe the glovebox screws will go back in soon.
I'd also like to offer thanks for diplomatically dealing with my hungover state midway through the dash and heater swap. I am possibly the world's least sentient being at times like this, and definitely no use to man, beast or Citroen (airconned or not). Imagine a befuddled snail, and then think worse. Much worse.

tomsheppard · Post by **tomsheppard** » 29 Jun 2004, 13:41

Roscoe! I reckon your pressure switch is incorrectly wired. The fans start up in slow and when the system gets hot they switch to fast.
For the benefit of readers who are still listening, the presssure switch works as follows:
1. No orlow pressure: pair1 open pair2 open no clutch, slow fan
2. Working pressure: pair 1 short pair2 short clutch can be seen to cut in and fan on slow.
3. Working hot:pair 1 short pair2 open. clutch in fan fast.
4. Too hot. pair 1 opens clutch drops out and pair 2 remains shut to keep the fans on fast until pressure falls to working hot again.
So check between pins 1 and 2 for a short then 3 and 4. (Unplug the switch first.) One pair should be short and controlling the clutch. If the system is started from a stationary engine, the air gap of the clutch should vanish and the fans should come on slow. If this doesn't happen, then I suspect that the pairs are swapped.
If neither is shorted, you are out of gas or the switch is duff.
Relays: There are two that work the aircon. One is pulled in straight away and runs fan slow. The other is earthed through the pressure switch so will only pull in the clutch if there is enough gas.
You should need a charge of 1,000G of R134A.
TDs take 800.

Post by **RichardW** » 29 Jun 2004, 13:50

>I'll fix it all on Friday
The words of a true optimist.....[:D]
Half a life time swearing at Citroens, and he STILL thinks 1 day will do it. Nice one, Jon! Can I come and spectate????
[:o)]

tomsheppard · Post by **tomsheppard** » 29 Jun 2004, 14:36

Richard- don't you know enough bad language already? Clutch and radiator in a day? I reckon that's possible. Good Luck Jon.
Alan: Did you know that Poms drink warm beer because Lucas make their fridges?

Roscoe · Post by **Roscoe** » 29 Jun 2004, 17:50

Alan, Tom - thanks for the input on this - I realize diagnosing a trouble like this is almost impossible. For starters though, the compressor is supposedly the correct replacement for the one that came off the car according to the A/C shop that provided it - they didn't install it though. I had taken my old one in and they couldn't fix it so I bought a new one. The TX valve is also supposed to be the correct one, although it had to be changed again due to my original compressor carking it about two weeks after the system was changed over from R12 to R134a - and when the new compressor was installed there was no cold air at all - the shop figured the TX valve might have gotten plugged from some junk from the old compressor. At least they changed it out at no charge. An observation I made was that even with the original compressor in it, the A/C was nowhere near as cold as my 4 wheel drives was, and hasn't improved with the new compressor. I checked the fans, they are turning the right way, but Tom, they both come on full when I switch the A/C control on, not half and then full. I'll check the wiring as you described it - and see what shows up. Other than that, when it was recharged after the compressor change, they did a dye test and there were no leaks, so I expect it is not a low/loss of gas problem.

tomsheppard · Post by **tomsheppard** » 29 Jun 2004, 17:56

Roscoe: if the fans come on full, check to see if the clutch slams in. It will not if A: plugged up wrong
B: pressure is too high unlikely.
C switch duff.
I'll take a look shortly and expand on the witch wiring a little.