Freelander 1 Help again! Dash removal and beyond! SOLVED

I was pretty proud of myself today, dash removed from the car with only a small-ish amount of pratting about and not too much swearing!
However, it is still impossible to reach the chewed bits of the loom I need to repair.
Car is LHD, so the A/C evaporator and big black plastic housing are in the passenger foot well. The damaged part of the loom runs down the RHS of the evaporator housing, through a rubber grommet and into the engine bay.
I can not get near enough to the damaged wires in the loom without removing the A/C evaporator housing.
Is there a way of removing the housing without de-gassing and disconnecting the A/C pipes?
Thanks again.

Sadly not. The pipes go through the bulkhead and the unit cannot be moved without disconnecting them.

Can't you disconnect the loom from engine compartment and pull it through enough to repair it

damian46 said:

Can't you disconnect the loom from engine compartment and pull it through enough to repair it

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I can see where the A/C pipes come through the bulkhead and enter the black plastic housing in the footwell. I just wondered if I split the housing, various 6mm screws and a couple of 10mm bolts, is it possible to at least remove the top of the housing so I have room?
I have unclipped the harness in the engine bay but can't get enough slack to push it back through the bulkhead grommet to gain enough length so I can get a soldering iron in.
And what's with there being same coloured wires in the loom?
Pulling my hair out, an 'accidental' electric fire might be on the cards!

Jonny H said:

I can see where the A/C pipes come through the bulkhead and enter the black plastic housing in the footwell. I just wondered if I split the housing, various 6mm screws and a couple of 10mm bolts, is it possible to at least remove the top of the housing so I have room?
I have unclipped the harness in the engine bay but can't get enough slack to push it back through the bulkhead grommet to gain enough length so I can get a soldering iron in.
And what's with there being same coloured wires in the loom?
Pulling my hair out, an 'accidental' electric fire might be on the

Click to expand...

Jonny H said:

I can see where the A/C pipes come through the bulkhead and enter the black plastic housing in the footwell. I just wondered if I split the housing, various 6mm screws and a couple of 10mm bolts, is it possible to at least remove the top of the housing so I have room?
I have unclipped the harness in the engine bay but can't get enough slack to push it back through the bulkhead grommet to gain enough length so I can get a soldering iron in.
And what's with there being same coloured wires in the loom?
Pulling my hair out, an 'accidental' electric fire might be on the cards!

Click to expand...

Maybe only way is to remove AC

damian46 said:

Maybe only way is to remove AC

Click to expand...

I feel like I've done most of the hard work, only to fall at the final hurdle!
I'm going to struggle to find someone to come to the house to de-gas the A/C, I'm very rural and of course the car can't be driven now.
I'm not sure what to do next!!

I had a similar problem with my shogun a few years ago with the loom some of the wires were broken but not enough room to fix so what I did was strip the sleave of the loom then cut the separate wires from engine side were I could easily re solder them , then cut inside the car also were it was easily repaired basically cut more off than you need to even with wires being the same colours it was easier than trying to just replace the 2 inches of damaged wires (just do one wire at a time) hope this helps

damian46 said:

I had a similar problem with my shogun a few years ago with the loom some of the wires were broken but not enough room to fix so what I did was strip the sleave of the loom then cut the separate wires from engine side were I could easily re solder them , then cut inside the car also were it was easily repaired basically cut more off than you need to even with wires being the same colours it was easier than trying to just replace the 2 inches of damaged wires (just do one wire at a time) hope this helps

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Cheers. I think I had resigned myself to that being my my only option. The thin wires of the loom, are they 0.5mm squared do you know?

Not sure on wire size I had a spare loom and just removed what I needed ,( just remember to do 1 damaged wire at a time)

Jonny H said:

I feel like I've done most of the hard work, only to fall at the final hurdle!
I'm going to struggle to find someone to come to the house to de-gas the A/C, I'm very rural and of course the car can't be driven now.
I'm not sure what to do next!!

Click to expand...

What would happen if you disconnected the ac without degassing it.
I know it's not ideal but every car that ever had even a minor bump in the front did the same.

Just another small hole in ozone layer. Also, beware of pressure.

Alibro said:

What would happen if you disconnected the ac without degassing it.
I know it's not ideal but every car that ever had even a minor bump in the front did the same.

Click to expand...

It's actually illegal to intentionally allow refrigerant to escape to the atmosphere. If it comes out due to an impact, then it's not illegal as there wasn't intention to do it.
In reality who's going to know the system wasn't already empty when a pipe was disconnected.

There's not much static pressure in the system, about 30 PSI IIRC. The system only gets high once the pump is running, then it's only high on the high side of the system.

It has been raining here for the last few days, so no progress, I'll let you know how I get on. I don't want to disturb the A/C if I can help it, I think I'll cut and solder the damaged wires under the bonnet and pass them through the bulkhead.

So, all soldered up and back together. You can imagine my disappointment when the three amigos remained on the dash! I drove it 10 yards, stood on the brakes and they went off! Hopefully that's the end of it, I do not want to take the dash out ever again, it's taken years off my life. As always, thanks for all the help, advice and support.