So, as an update, the air-con was still only cool, not cold, after 10 mind of driving, unlike our Mazda which is an icebox.
As I've explained in my Members Rides thread, but will also mention here, I had a chat to the local air-con guy Darren at Jay Kay's Auto Electrical and Air Conditioning in Moss Street at Slack's Creek.
He said a lot of Queenslander just bypass their heaters because they are redundant in a hot tropical climate.
So today I got them to fit a valve in the hose carrying hot coolant from the radiator to the heater valve, so stopping hot water from reaching the heater. Cost was $179.
Fitting a valve with a tap means I can block the hot coolant, but if I ever go south in winter I can just turn the tap to reopen it for heating. So best of both worlds.
A couple of points to note:
Ordinary plastic valves are not good enough to handle hot coolant, so this is a Pirtek metal valve.
The original coolant hose was not cut, but an extension was added. This means if the Pirtek valve is ever removed the original coolant hose will still be long enough to reach.
So far I've only done a 40 minute drive but the air-con stayed cold so that's promising. Next week we drive Brisbane - Sydney so that will be the test.
It's interesting that Land Rover thought a generic Fiat Peugeot Citroen plastic heater valve would cope with 100 degree coolant until the 100,000 km warranty expired, but
Pirtek says plastic is not good enough. Sounds like cost-cutting to me.
Here's a pic:
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