Thread: Air Conditioning

Unbelievable .... it's EMPTY again .... And I don't mean, low on gas, I mean 0 psi empty. How in the hell can such a big leak leave absolutely no evidence of oil weapage anywhere.

I whipped the condenser out and re-attached it .... I spend an hours with a bottle of soapy water checking every single connection, the tube ends on the condenser ... But seriously .... a leak that leaks away in less than a week. There would HAVE to be big oily patches on the condenser where it's leaking. The only thing left in the compressor. Every other seal in the entire A/C has been checked, every hose, every connection, the evaporator has been out, the condenser has been out. Talk about bloody frustrating. I reckon if I pull the compressor clutch assembly off I'll find the front seal leaking (most of my cars weep from here, but there IS evidence of oil weepage on the nose of the compressor ................... and by leak, I mean "top up" every 18months type leak. Not 0psi .... absolutely bloody empty leakage. I've never come across anything that leaks away completely before. Even big leaks usually leave a small amount of pressure in there

Oh, to check I put 175psi of nitrogen in there and spent bloody ages with soapy water going over everything. It's loosing about 5psi an hour when pressurised with nitrogen.

Does anyone know if you can replace the seal on this like you can on the Sanden SD series .... this is compressor. Probably Disco I



seeya,
Shane L.

Originally Posted by scarry

A proper pressure test should have been done before it was filled with refrigerant.

Using a trace of refrigerant with the nitro,then a quality leak detecter.

All your doing is lots of guessing,and causing yourself much frustration

Just my 2 cents worth...

Originally Posted by scarry

Using a trace of refrigerant with the nitro,then a quality leak detecter.

All your doing is lots of guessing,and causing yourself much frustration

Just my 2 cents worth...

I'm using Hichill -30.... Now a leak detector set to sense LPG on an LPG car will work really well I reckon

You know, I dragged out my UV light globe, stuck it in the leadlight ............... and it blew when I switched it on ..... Well I got a whole 90seconds use out of that globe !! (I'll order in a UV LED torch, there really cheap these days).

I'll pull the clutch off the compressor and see if I can see oil weepage around the front seal Think how boring life would be if everything was simple!

seeya,
shane L.

Well the forum member that sold me the Rangie, kindly offered me his spare compressor to try (well it allows me to verify it's the compressor without pulling the existing one to bits).



Yep, just hooked up the hose connections and shoved 150psi of nitrogen in there ................................... and the stuff leaked away at the rate of about 5psi an hour like always..... AAARRRRhhhhh....

Well that's everything checked, via substitution or removal and testing

There is one more incredibly vague, almost impossible idea though. The only spot I can't see or check. Where the hoses pass through the firewall.....



SO back out with the bloody dash .... sigh.... And would you believe it they looked perfect....



Then I noticed this behind the engine now I had the hoses twisted up high into the engine bay. Look at that, leakage by gas permeating it's way through the inner hose layer, but no dye or oil leakage. Bugger me, a fridgie would have found that in about 5minutes if they had a quality leak detector

Live and learn right

seeya
Shane L.

well ... I thought I better finally write the final installment .... So people can know how nuts I really am.

So I replaced that hose .............................. And you wouldn't believe it. The damn thing is still leaking




Getting incredibly desperate now .... And have run out of ideas. I begged/borrowed a brand new condensor to try (even though I had checked the old one and was positive it wasn't leaking)...................... 1hour later ......... 5psi down on the gauges.

So now since the begining of this caper, we have all new 'O'rings, every connector checked with soapy water, every hose removed and checked, the evaporator swapped over (they both looked ok, but I used the other one as I was sure it didn't leak ... well not a lot anyway). Also checked and validated by replacement the condenser is leak free. The compressor is checked by exchanging another one ....
















And ............................... and hour later we were down 5psi on the gauges. Now this left only one possible thing I could think of to check.



So I sprayed some soapy water onto my manifold and gauge set. And look at that, this is the first 100% verified leak I've actually found yet, and it's not on the damn car.

So happy as larry, I headed to bed late last night in the knowledge I'd finally found my problem...................

Only I wandered out this morning to find the gauges down 50psi from where I left it last night............... So there is still a leak. A considerable leak

Absolutely no ideas left, I've now ruled out EVERYTHING both by drowning in soapy water AND exchange. The only possibily is *maybe* the 2nd compressor I've tried is leaky, so I have two leaking compressors.



I stipped the nose off the compressor .... sprayed soapy water down onto it's recessed seal and all over it ........................... Not a sign of even the tiniest, crappiest most pathetic weep. ................. UUUUUmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm I think the only rational thing left to do is .....

seeya,
Shane L.

Anyway, the A/C system on the car still shows absolutely no evidence of oil leakage or any evidence of dye staining or leakage ANYWHERE. Didn't before I started, still doen't now. everythings been checked all the tubes in the condensers and evaporators, all the connections the TX valve, the drier has been checked around the viewing glass, safety switch and connections many times ..... I have nowhere left to go ... no other ideas. Worse than that I've found there is no beer left in the fridge.

So I'm looking under the bonnet and thought "the only thing I have verified by exchange is the receiver drier ......" ......... So I pulled the rusty drier off the other range rover and swapped them over ..... Just for ****s and giggles. WHy else would you try something so dumb, for a part that will be swapped with a new one if I ever find the leak either way.





This sucker looks near brand new .... not a spot of signs of oil leakage on it, or around any of the top of the housing that I've checked dozens of times. So what I don't find amusing is the things been sitting for 5hours now with loosing even 1psi of nitrogen ..... ie: it appears to be 100% leak free since I swapped and old rusty Receiver drier into it. As hard as it is to believe the drier on the car must have a pin hole in the weld around its circumference. A tiny manufacturing flaw.

So how is that for a problem, I'm refusing to change the receiver drier until I'd fixed the leak (because there is no point), but by not changing the receiver drier, I couldn't fix the leak.... Where is that brick wall to slam my head against again

seeya,
Shane L.

Maybe you could go buy a brand new defective dryer only to find the system also leaked, just to keep this thread going a bit longer. 😄

By the way, you have more patience than me. Nice project.