2pintsplease
New Member
- Posts
- 22
Hi all,
The air conditioning on the '97 300tdi I have just sold has never blown cold in the 3 months I have owned it. The blower works fine and when the A/C button is pressed a slight drop in revs can be heard from the idling engine, consistent with what I'd expect from all the electrical and clutch components working. "Easy fix", I thought, "it needs a regas". So with the deposit paid and a promise to the buyer that I would fix the A/C as part of the purchase price, I trotted off to the local auto electricians who are doing a special promotion on regassing.
But the life of a Landy owner is never so simple. Two hours later the shop called and said "the gas is fine and should be blowing cold, but we've done some electrical tests and there's a problem with the wiring inside the compressor". So I head off running around the country in search of a replacement compressor, which annoyingly is completely different to the two spare 200tdi ones I have lying in my shed. $200 later I have a replacement compressor, but also a bit of advice from one of the parts suppliers I called that it is possible to replace the front unit of the compressor without losing the gas inside. With Lord Haynes dictating that "Thou Shalt Not Interfere With The Air Conditioning", I have no idea how to achieve this.
Does anybody have any advice as to:
1) The validity of the diagnosis provided by my auto electrician? (The drop in idling speed casts a shadow of doubt over this...the only thing I can think is the clutch activating thingy works but the magical bits between the clutch and the cold air have a problem).
2) The practicality of replacing the front half of the unit without the gas escaping from it in order to fix this issue? :scratching_chin: Should I just bite the bullet, replace the whole unit, and pay for the regas? (this will cost $180, which equates to about 100 pounds sterling).
The air conditioning on the '97 300tdi I have just sold has never blown cold in the 3 months I have owned it. The blower works fine and when the A/C button is pressed a slight drop in revs can be heard from the idling engine, consistent with what I'd expect from all the electrical and clutch components working. "Easy fix", I thought, "it needs a regas". So with the deposit paid and a promise to the buyer that I would fix the A/C as part of the purchase price, I trotted off to the local auto electricians who are doing a special promotion on regassing.
But the life of a Landy owner is never so simple. Two hours later the shop called and said "the gas is fine and should be blowing cold, but we've done some electrical tests and there's a problem with the wiring inside the compressor". So I head off running around the country in search of a replacement compressor, which annoyingly is completely different to the two spare 200tdi ones I have lying in my shed. $200 later I have a replacement compressor, but also a bit of advice from one of the parts suppliers I called that it is possible to replace the front unit of the compressor without losing the gas inside. With Lord Haynes dictating that "Thou Shalt Not Interfere With The Air Conditioning", I have no idea how to achieve this.
Does anybody have any advice as to:
1) The validity of the diagnosis provided by my auto electrician? (The drop in idling speed casts a shadow of doubt over this...the only thing I can think is the clutch activating thingy works but the magical bits between the clutch and the cold air have a problem).
2) The practicality of replacing the front half of the unit without the gas escaping from it in order to fix this issue? :scratching_chin: Should I just bite the bullet, replace the whole unit, and pay for the regas? (this will cost $180, which equates to about 100 pounds sterling).
