Intermitant Xantia Air-Con ?
Moderator: RichardW
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Mandrake</i>
I think I may have cracked it here [:D]
Nice hot 27 degree day today, so I grabbed my can of LPS 1, unplugged the plug in the compressor cable near the bottom of the radiator, gave it a good squirt on the contacts, plugged it back together and apart a few times to clean the contacts, and did the same on the connector to the pressure switch on the top of the drier (?) bottle as well for good measure.
Started up the engine, and with a cold and idling engine pressed the A/C switch, and presto, very cold air within 10 seconds. [:D][:D]
I notice that it's behaviour has changed compared to before - previously when it did seem to be working there would be a brief and very small drop in engine revs when the compressor tried to start, and then it would rise again.
Now, there is a quite considerable (100rpm) drop in engine revs that stays that way the entire time the A/C is on, and there is a very audible "CLICK" at the same time that can even be heard from inside the car with the doors closed, that I never heard before.
I switched it off and on at least 5 times to confirm it really was working, each time I turned it on I got the 100rpm drop in idle speed, a loud click, and cold air within 10 seconds or so.
Assuming it keeps working over the next few days I think it might be fixed [:D]
My theory is that there was a high resistance connection on the feed to the compressor clutch which would have caused a voltage drop under the load of the compressor clutch solenoid, so that the clutch would have sometimes not engaged at all, and other times only engaged partially.
In the partial engagement state it may have been turning the compressor, but only slowly due to the clutch slipping a bit - thus not much change in engine revs, and less than 100% effective cooling.
The "CLICK" will be a good sign of the clutch snapping into action solidly, which it wouldn't have been doing before.
I'll post an update in a week or so to let you all know if its still working...
Thanks for all the suggestions and information...
Regards,
Simon
PS I gave the same LPS treatment to the plug going to the Hydractive 2 control block solenoid as well - as it is the same type of connector and it may partly explain some of the intermitant harsh ride problems I've been trying to chase down...
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
Glad to hear that. Sometimes the solution to a problem is so simple that you can't avoid smiling at tht thought of how much money you saved by not sending it to a "specialist".
I think I may have cracked it here [:D]
Nice hot 27 degree day today, so I grabbed my can of LPS 1, unplugged the plug in the compressor cable near the bottom of the radiator, gave it a good squirt on the contacts, plugged it back together and apart a few times to clean the contacts, and did the same on the connector to the pressure switch on the top of the drier (?) bottle as well for good measure.
Started up the engine, and with a cold and idling engine pressed the A/C switch, and presto, very cold air within 10 seconds. [:D][:D]
I notice that it's behaviour has changed compared to before - previously when it did seem to be working there would be a brief and very small drop in engine revs when the compressor tried to start, and then it would rise again.
Now, there is a quite considerable (100rpm) drop in engine revs that stays that way the entire time the A/C is on, and there is a very audible "CLICK" at the same time that can even be heard from inside the car with the doors closed, that I never heard before.
I switched it off and on at least 5 times to confirm it really was working, each time I turned it on I got the 100rpm drop in idle speed, a loud click, and cold air within 10 seconds or so.
Assuming it keeps working over the next few days I think it might be fixed [:D]
My theory is that there was a high resistance connection on the feed to the compressor clutch which would have caused a voltage drop under the load of the compressor clutch solenoid, so that the clutch would have sometimes not engaged at all, and other times only engaged partially.
In the partial engagement state it may have been turning the compressor, but only slowly due to the clutch slipping a bit - thus not much change in engine revs, and less than 100% effective cooling.
The "CLICK" will be a good sign of the clutch snapping into action solidly, which it wouldn't have been doing before.
I'll post an update in a week or so to let you all know if its still working...
Thanks for all the suggestions and information...
Regards,
Simon
PS I gave the same LPS treatment to the plug going to the Hydractive 2 control block solenoid as well - as it is the same type of connector and it may partly explain some of the intermitant harsh ride problems I've been trying to chase down...
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
Glad to hear that. Sometimes the solution to a problem is so simple that you can't avoid smiling at tht thought of how much money you saved by not sending it to a "specialist".
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