ACE problem please help

Would like some advice please... ACE amber warning light has come on this morning, then noticed fliud on the floor, then noticed the fluid is empty! Think there is a split in one of the pipes coming down behind the front bumper? Can the car still be driven when there is an ACE fault? Meant to be going on hols tomorrow towing a caravan!

there's not a big danger to drive it without ACE, it will just be a bit floppy in curves... the problem is that if u drive it without fluid u will lose the pump in no time cos it's lubricated by the ACE fluid... and that's expensive... and there is the risk that the unlubricated pump to grip the pulley and u'll lose the auxiliary belt then... u better see what's the problem and do something to fix it. ...if u dont want to fix the ACE and u decide to convert it anyway u can start by buying the idler http://www.google.ro/url?sa=t&rct=j...9vHPDg&usg=AFQjCNGjWtOAxrXWhd7EHlXVOnHi3bVHPQ and a non ACE belt, remove the pump and put them on... u'll be able to drive it in "floppy mode" untill u totaly convert it

or at least as an emergency fix reroute the pump's output to the reservoir and fill it with fluid as to keep the pump safe

Is that easy to do?

Depends on your handiness and on what's really wrong, u have to get hold of a piece of long enough hydraulic pipe and connect the pump's output somehow back to the reservoir's return entry.... it will recirculate the fluid this way and the pump will not fail...unfortunately the ACE is one of the most expensive and hard to fix systems on a D2 ... maybe just the low pressure pipe is leaking and u can replace it then ... u have the procedure attached, the exit from banjo bolt nr.9 must go back to reservoir

I say again driving it without fluid and the pump on u can lose the auxiliary belt too on the road(beside the fact that u ruin that expensive pump) ... if u have a LR shop near you they must have the idler and the non ACE belt on stock and then u can remove the pump and put the idler and new belt instead for the beginning... not that big job

Mine is faulty at the moment, just got a new pipe to fit. I have a smaller fan belt on right now which just misses out the air con and ace pumps. Not ideal in the summer but does save the ace pump!

ben.suffolk said:

Mine is faulty at the moment, just got a new pipe to fit. I have a smaller fan belt on right now which just misses out the air con and ace pumps. Not ideal in the summer but does save the ace pump!

Click to expand...

:clap2: ^^^ now that's a nice one... i never thought that u can find such belt... did u remove the pulleys or u can route the belt as to not touch those pulleys?

Remove nothing, the belt routes just fine.

It's a trick I picked up from an indi a few years back when I first had a problem with the ace.

What belt is it and where can you buy it from?

Hmm, there is the question, i kept it after the last time. I'll be taking it off in the next day or so when I fit my new pipe, so I'll measure it then and hopefully we can find out!

pkr03 said:

What belt is it and where can you buy it from?

Click to expand...

knowing now by ben.suffolk's brilliant intervention that u can run a belt as to avoid the aircon and ACE pulleys, u can try to remove the original belt, untighten the tensioner then take a piece of string or something and put it tight around the pulleys as the belt should go(without A/C and ACE), hold it so, take it off and measure it's circumference... find a same(or very close, rather smaller) dimension belt, put it on and fix the tensioner... IMO it must work then

I have modified the belt routing picture from Rave so you can see how it fits :-



Assuming it does not rain this evening I'm planning on fitting the new pipe and original belt when I get back from work. If not it will be Sunday or Tuesday as I'm working tomorrow & Monday.

:frusty: ... it would be beter we reach an agreement about what engine we are speaking about:lol:.... cos all i said it was for Td5... now i have some doubts if that belt will fit without touching A/C and ACE pulleys on Td5 if u meant V8 m8 :laugh:

Seeing the pic and pulley disposals my doubt becomes deeper

1 Tensioner pulley
2 Alternator
3 A/C compressor
4 ACE pump
5 Idler pulley - V8 only
6 PAS pump
7 Viscous fan pulley
8 Crankshaft pulley
9 Idler pulley - V8 only

i had this fault and at £3grand to fix it was not to happy i was on a mototway doing 70 in crouise taking a slight bend in the outside lane of the 3 lane now the book says imediatly your dash lights come on stop or you will cause damage to the system bit stupid as i could not
as i was 12 miles from home and it was late i thought i would limp home slowly stupid idea the pump was shot the module was shot and the whole sys had to be recalabrated
which is best done by lr
so be very very carefull

Yes, sorry I forget not everybody has a V8, in fact I'm guessing that the majority of people have the TD5, my mistake

For what its worth, and anybody needing to do this on a V8 the belt I just took off is a 7PK 1801, which I think might even be the standard TD5 with aricon belt possibly?