A/C removal

Looking to remove the AC system from my 2.4tdci.

Is there anything that i should be aware of before starting?
Is it worth keeping the compressor for other duties down the line if possible( air line for tyre inflation etc )
Will i need to reprogram anything on the ECu should after the system has been disconnected from the wiring loom or will it be unaffected?

Cheers

Badger said:

Looking to remove the AC system from my 2.4tdci.

Is there anything that i should be aware of before starting?
Is it worth keeping the compressor for other duties down the line if possible( air line for tyre inflation etc )
Will i need to reprogram anything on the ECu should after the system has been disconnected from the wiring loom or will it be unaffected?

Cheers

Click to expand...

Why?
Is it not extremely hot down where you are?
After all, ya just about bordering the tropics down there!!

It gets hot but i dont use it

Anyway off to the highlands over xmas so i need to fund an artic snow suit and a webasto for the truck

Its the one thing many defender owners would like on their car, so I would say keep it whether you use it or not, also a good selling point.

I would not be without my aircon, the cab gets mad hot in summer and I am in North East England.

lynall said:

Its the one thing many defender owners would like on their car, so I would say keep it whether you use it or not, also a good selling point.

Click to expand...

Only if they have the new ones which in land rovers silly quest for a more car like dash necessitated the removal of the old fashion "air conditioning" front vents. As long as you are moving, with the vents open and rear half of the sliding window opened to give you an arm rest you should not over heat. I had no problems in the Moroccan desert with this set up.

Badger said:

Looking to remove the AC system from my 2.4tdci.

Is there anything that i should be aware of before starting?
Is it worth keeping the compressor for other duties down the line if possible( air line for tyre inflation etc )
Will i need to reprogram anything on the ECu should after the system has been disconnected from the wiring loom or will it be unaffected?

Cheers

Click to expand...

I would leave it to be honest, it is good for demisting in the winter, I reckon the AC in my car is worth more to me in the winter than in the summer!

You should really have the system drained using the flush/recharge systems garages is the first point.

Next is that if the AC system loses all pressure if may cause the fan to run at odd times and without rhyme nor reason - if the system shows no pressure it can trigger the fan as it doesn't know if system is perhaps fine and it is just the sensor malfunctioning even with the A/C off because as you know A/C can trigger the fans to run beyond ign. off for the purpose of cooling the system to reduce pressure. There will be a work around I am sure.

What are you going to do about the evaporator? Just leave it in the heater? If not you will need to then rejig the whopping hole it leaves in the heater box!

I appreciate your views, but it's coming out.

It's an uneccessary item which i have no use for, it's value can be used to fund other items that i do have a use for.

However, as disco has pointed out, there may be some areas which require a rethink regarding the fan coming on/off randomly.

As for the evaporator, not sure just yet, if it's a bolt on to the heater then it'll be removal and cover the hole with a suitable plate. If it's an all-in-one jobby then it'll have to stay... i'm not 100% whether the heater set ups are A/C and non A/C versions

dag019 said:

Only if they have the new ones which in land rovers silly quest for a more car like dash necessitated the removal of the old fashion "air conditioning" front vents. As long as you are moving, with the vents open and rear half of the sliding window opened to give you an arm rest you should not over heat. I had no problems in the Moroccan desert with this set up.

Click to expand...

I tried opening the front vents on my Defender once to stay cool but it deafened me, its so noisy with them open, (engine noise) so I have never opened them since.

On a totally different angle, what’s the details on your old English in your avatar scooby?

We have a 3year old floof !

Scooby22 said:

I tried opening the front vents on my Defender once to stay cool but it deafened me, its so noisy with them open, (engine noise) so I have never opened them since.

Click to expand...

You must be more sensitive than me or have a very noisy engine! I have a 200tdi and no soundproofing, the only difference in noise on mine is a slight increase in wind noise.

Badger said:

Anyway off to the highlands over xmas so i need to fund an artic snow suit and a webasto for the truck

Click to expand...

Aye, still get cool in the winter. To you lads, it'll feel freezing.

Scooby22 said:

I would not be without my aircon, the cab gets mad hot in summer and I am in North East England.

Click to expand...

Absolutely, we've had a few plants actually get flowers on this year! That's the power of global warming in action, right there. Everything was in black and white up here until a few years ago. Now, colours are emerging! Unfortunately, with this new clarity of vision we can see that everything is dying through consuming plastic. Just shows that up north every silver lining has a cloud. Moral of that story is don't move North.

dag019 said:

You must be more sensitive than me or have a very noisy engine! I have a 200tdi and no soundproofing, the only difference in noise on mine is a slight increase in wind noise.

Click to expand...

I think its the opposite, I have a TD5 XS, extra sound deadening and carpets in them, (had a few people say its the quietest Defender they have been in), so when vents are open the noise level increases a great deal, there is no sound proofing on the underside of my bonnet. Opening my windows also increases noise level but not as bad.
I'd still not be without my aircon even if noise was not an issue.

My mate has a 1971 series landrover and when I turned up in mine with power steering, servo brakes, central locking, heated seats, heated windscreen, a heater that works (after a while) aircon, part leather seats, carpets, head lining, cd player etc, etc he just shook his head and said "thought you were buying a landrover" and walked away in disgust, pulled his thick wooly socks up pulled his wooly hat over his ears and zipped up his sheep skin flying jacket pulled on his heavy gloves and climbed in his landy, wiped the ice and mist off the inside of the windscreen and the drip of the end of his nose and drove away. His landy its not the easiest to drive or stop and I've been in better environments but it reallly does look great. But I love mine too.

Badger said:

I appreciate your views, but it's coming out.

It's an uneccessary item which i have no use for, it's value can be used to fund other items that i do have a use for.

Click to expand...

...is it available?

Yes it is, as it's still in the truck

We're planning to remove the dash side next week and then move onto the engine side once i've worked out the correct belt & pulley replacement, so it'll be available in the coming weeks

Badger said:

Yes it is, as it's still in the truck

We're planning to remove the dash side next week and then move onto the engine side once i've worked out the correct belt & pulley replacement, so it'll be available in the coming weeks

Click to expand...

Fab! May be out of price range but would appreciate a PM when ready.

Many thanks

On a 2.4, it should be fairly straightforward to remove the AC. The system is controlled by the trinary switch, which will only pass the signal from the AC switch to the ECU if the pressure is within upper/lower limits. So with this unplugged, the ECU will never get an AC request signal. As it's a simple switch rather than a sensor, there shouldn't be any fault codes arising from unplugging it. The compressor clutch can just be unplugged at the engine harness.

The other two terminals on the trinary switch are used to signal the ECU to turn on the front cooling fan when the pressure rises above a certain point. This switch opens as the pressure rises, so you'll need to short the two terminals together to prevent the fan running all the time.

The fan is controlled from the ECU via a relay. Non-AC vehicles don't have the front cooling fan so you could just remove the whole condenser/fan assembly as one. But if you leave the fan in place and connected, the ECU may sometimes switch it on for extra cooling, separate from the air conditioning system.

Thank you Pete,

Do you know the belt set up for a converted non a/c?

Ac version


Non ac



The routing being identical, however it looks like the pulley PQR500230 which acts as a idler(?) would need replacing with PQH500100 which replaces the top loop of the compressor

Do you have any idea if it’s as simple as this?

Cheers

Should be as simple as that. You'll probably need a new belt.

The evaporator will still be in position in the heater assembly, but getting at that is a dash out job so leave it there! The system will still work.

Dash is coming out for other reasons anyway so the whole system will be removed to sell on.