P38 AirCon

I took my car to Kwik Fit to have the aircon regassed (the condenser was removed when the heads/cam was done) but the machine broke down about 2/3rds through.
I was told that the system needs 1.3 kg of R131 to be full and when the machine broke down, it had 1.0 kg.

I tried the system to see if it actually cooled things down any but the clutch on the compressor won't kick in and after a few minutes, the handbook symbol shows on the HEVAC display.

What I'm wondering is, would the system still be down on pressure and prevent the compressor from working with just 1 kg of refrigerant and is there a way to bypass a pressure sensor to test or anything else to test operation of the aircon system when the gas pressure might be low.

Cheers.

im no expert however experience suggests that the lower the freon the warmer the air hence a re gas is needed to get cold air. Either way the aircon should still work despite what is left in the system. There is a good write up on rangerovers.net regarding a common fault with the p38 aircon clutch not engaging, something to do with wear.

In my particular case, my HEVAC has a mind of its own, for example if the outside temp gauge registers zero then the aircon will not engage. When a correct outside temp is registered the aircon kicks in. I changed the outside temp gauge because the frost symbol appeared even though it was roasting outside but this did not change the behaviour of my HEVAC. Recently my book symbol came up on the display , drivers side was really cool but passenger side was hot. This indicated a problem with the Blend Motors but now all of a sudden the book symbol has gone away and the vents are doing what they are supposed to do. I have given up with my HEVAC and the Aircon, if it works one day then wonderful , if not then I open my windows. In the winter all I ask for is warm air and thankfully I get that so I have decided not to invest money in that department, HEVACS must be like women, they can do two things at once but this is only becaus ethey are unable to prioritise!!! Good Luck

Low gas will stop the compressor engaging, if the Krap Fit machine broke down you have no way of knowing if it really managed to put anything in the system unless you do a pressure test.

So there isn't a bypass a to see if the clutch engages then?
I have to go back to Kwik Fit next week when the machine should be a goer again.

Problem is, if the clutch won't engage, they empty the system as its illegal for them to leave gas inside a faulty system that may have to release the gas to be repaired and thats just a pain in the arse cos it takes about an hour all in.

Hamster97 said:

So there isn't a bypass a to see if the clutch engages then?
I have to go back to Kwik Fit next week when the machine should be a goer again.

Problem is, if the clutch won't engage, they empty the system as its illegal for them to leave gas inside a faulty system that may have to release the gas to be repaired and thats just a pain in the arse cos it takes about an hour all in.

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You can apply 12 volts direct to the clutch to see if it engages. Just tell them it's a clutch adjustment problem which is mechanical and it needs the gas in to ensure it functions correctly after adjustment

Datatek said:

You can apply 12 volts direct to the clutch to see if it engages. Just tell them it's a clutch adjustment problem which is mechanical and it needs the gas in to ensure it functions correctly after adjustment

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Lol, I'll do that then, ta mate.