How good should the air-con be on a 2005 Freelander?

I bought it late summer last year but as it was not that warm then, I did not have ideal conditions to test the air con. It certainly works by blowing cold air and clearing the windows in winter.

But in this weekends heatwave - it didn't seem to be as icy cold as I expected and certainly not as cold as our old Disco TD5.

Does the air-con system on a Freelander work well, or is it an average system in which case mine is probably fine

Seems to work best with lh dial turned to left [not screen] and all vent open [blue mark] and its not a great system,but good enough ,and like any other motor you should switch it on for at least 15 mins once a month. . . . . .i re prime mine every year, easy to D I Y [BUT I'M A ROCKIT ENGINEER UN CLEVER]

Yeah - I've driven cars in the US (where a/c is really needed) and the system in my 04 TD4 seems very weak in comparison. Having said that, there's about 10 days a year in the UK where it's really needed and we've had 4 of em already!

I worked with a guy who was part of the Freelander design team responsible for cabin conditioning.

Even he said it was poor. Too many 'more important' requirements placed ment the a/c was never very good and was very noisy.

Aic con isn't very good, make sure your pollen filter isn't blocked as this seriously restricts the air flow and makes the air con seem even worse than it is.

Thanks for the replies

Looks like mine is probably fine then - I might get it in for a check and re-gassing as the local garage have an offer on! Will check the pollen filter as well

Hi:welcome2:

Mine (a 2001 my so a bit more tired than yours) seems to work best when it is blowing out of dash vents on recirculation and on number 2 fan setting even in the recent " heatwave" we have just had


Regards

Gordon

Took our Black 2006 HSE to Morocco and through the Sahara September last year.
Had the aircon "serviced" before we went, worked fine even when it was above 40 in the shade - not much shade where we were.

Gordonthornton said:

Hi:welcome2:

Mine (a 2001 my so a bit more tired than yours) seems to work best when it is blowing out of dash vents on recirculation and on number 2 fan setting even in the recent " heatwave" we have just had


Regards

Gordon

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That's exactly the way we act as well with our MY01 Td4 except we close the recirculation after about 5 mins to have outside air come in, and the same settings for the heating in winter as well, again with the recirculation off after some minutes to avoid the windows start getting steamy, and at our age people would start backbiting when they see these steamy windows..... (At least if you expect to get some result of the heating system..)

Mantamad said:

I bought it late summer last year but as it was not that warm then, I did not have ideal conditions to test the air con. It certainly works by blowing cold air and clearing the windows in winter.

But in this weekends heatwave - it didn't seem to be as icy cold as I expected and certainly not as cold as our old Disco TD5.

Does the air-con system on a Freelander work well, or is it an average system in which case mine is probably fine

Click to expand...

Good enough for our 3 days of summer and more widows to open than your average motor. I bought mine in Winter and was happily surprised to find the a/c worked months later and continues to work to this day. Has anyone tried the diy top up kits for the ac - do they wrk???

DD3 said:

Good enough for our 3 days of summer and more widows to open than your average motor. I bought mine in Winter and was happily surprised to find the a/c worked months later and continues to work to this day. Has anyone tried the diy top up kits for the ac - do they wrk???

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I only have read bad reports of the DIY kits, would be nice if it were balanced with some good ones as well.

DD3 said:

Good enough for our 3 days of summer and more widows to open than your average motor. I bought mine in Winter and was happily surprised to find the a/c worked months later and continues to work to this day. Has anyone tried the diy top up kits for the ac - do they wrk???

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Tried one on a Rover 75, seemed to work ok, tried one on an Alfa 156 and it didn't work....mixed views. Best bet I think is probably quikfit £45 for a whole re-gass with a 10% cooler guarentee The DIY top up jobbies are about £30 IIRC

Rob

Does anyone just bang the roof off and be done with it?

Billy-g said:

Does anyone just bang the roof off and be done with it?

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No can do with mine - its a 5 door. Besides I have my MGF for that

Air con systems all lose pressure over time, had mine regassed with a die added last month £50 it was almost empty. The fella said he had changed the air con radiator matrix on a freelander last month, ( a common fault) some cars have this "radiator" made of a brass fin construction, but now they are mainly aluminium which corrodes at the seams and then springs small leaks, adding the flourescent green die will show any "weeps" on the system. Its worth having this done to check alls o.k. Al

I just topped my 2000 freelander up with R134a and with outside temp 24c the face vents open only (best setting) I had 3c at the vents. You can also get the temps down with the blower on setting 2 or 3 and recirc switched on so it doesn't drag warm air in from outside.

KEVIN.H said:

I just topped my 2000 freelander up with R134a and with outside temp 24c the face vents open only (best setting) I had 3c at the vents. You can also get the temps down with the blower on setting 2 or 3 and recirc switched on so it doesn't drag warm air in from outside.

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Thanks for that - an ideal test figure to aim for.