Aircon was iffy - solved now I hope

[Drano]

Hi everyone, ever since I've had the Rangie, its aircon starts nice and cold, but on long trips (or after many short ones) of 45 mins or more the aircon has faded away, just blowing plain air from outside. Uncomfortable..!

I discovered (in the far left lane at a set of traffic lights turning green) that flooring the Rangie would bring back the aircon for a while, until it faded again.

The other day I had a mobile guy (Marks Mobile Aircon) at the house to check and re-gas 2 other cars, so I got him to check the Rangie.

He found it was full of gas, so that ruled out one possible explanation..

Then he looked at the clutch on the compressor, and noticed the gap between the 2 sides of the clutch assembly was wider than a fingernail's width.

So he took it apart, and found a tiny washer between the 2 parts - and when that was removed, the clutch was much closer together. He said he'd found the same problem on a Honda CRV the other day - not sure why the washer was in there, perhaps to slow down wear of the clutch? (the clutch is showing signs of wear.. but works fine.. although will need replacing one day).

So it seems that the clutch - heating up through use - caused it to eventually be just that little bit too wide to engage, and flooring the Rangie forced the clutch to do so.

Anyway, I went for a round trip from Caboolture to Springwood yesterday (through traffic, with stops) and the aircon didn't miss a beat the whole way.

And in other good news, Mark didn't charge me for looking at the Rangie - he just charged for the other 2 cars (and even gave a discount on his advertised rate, for doing 2 cars at once). Can recommend him for Caboolture area..

Anyone else have this washer in the clutch? [bighmmm]

[vk2loz]

Great stuff you found a good bloke to do the job most want to change out the compressor ,
Just to be safe did he look at the bearings in the clutch pack as i have seen many that slip then 6 months later spit the bearing and throw the belt ,
I just did one on a D2 TD5 the guy was stuck in nowra and needed to get home I did it at 8pm on a friday evening ,,, he has become a friend ever since , drops in every time he is coming thru ,,
anyhow its an easy one to check just have a listen if its grumbly in the slightest change them out ,,, Oh enjoy the cool air ,, rangies are hot cars with no air ,,
Rob

[Drano]

Just to be safe did he look at the bearings in the clutch pack as i have seen many that slip then 6 months later spit the bearing and throw the belt

Hi Rob, not sure if he checked that, he did have a good look around - but there are no grumble noises from the system, so hopefully everything will be 'cool' from now on.

[p38arover]

Then he looked at the clutch on the compressor, and noticed the gap between the 2 sides of the clutch assembly was wider than a fingernail's width.

So he took it apart, and found a tiny washer between the 2 parts - and when that was removed, the clutch was much closer together. He said he'd found the same problem on a Honda CRV the other day - not sure why the washer was in there, perhaps to slow down wear of the clutch? (the clutch is showing signs of wear.. but works fine.. although will need replacing one day)

See what I wrote here: P38A Aircon Compressor Clutch (https://www.aulro.com/afvb/p38a-range-rover/84402-p38a-aircon-compressor-clutch.html)