Air Con Neither Hot Nor Cold

[m@tt]

Hi

The aircon on my '53 CDTi isn't working and being a dieseli found the engine wasn't getting warm till i was practically at work which is a bit annoying as i was freezing this morning . It doesn't seem to blow either hot or cold.

I spoke to a mobile air con chap this morning (recommended by a friend) about coming to have a look at it as i assumed it would just need regassing but he said it won't be the gas if i'm not getting any heat out of it. but he's not back till next week.

I had a look at the fan behind the grill, basicially put aircon on with the car idling and looked at the fan but it didn't do anything, i then cranked the temp up to 28 and put fans on full and the fan behind the grill then started to spin pretty fast.

Any help appreciated as to what the problem is, as i'd prefer to fix any problems myself that don't require a specialist especially with xmas not too far away. Don't fancy stumping up hundreds in labour.

Cheers

Matt

[Greeners]

Matt

my diesel never seemed to warm up................until, I had the thermostat changed. Not as hot as my 190, but a huge improvement. A fuel burning heater also makes a huge difference.

[Pedro]

It took about 3 miles this morning for any appreciable heat to come out of the heater on my car. As it's 4 miles to my office, it was a fairly chilly journey. Also, I couldn't believe how cold a leather seat can get. No, I don't have heated seats. Maybe a hot water bottle would help!

[JohnDotCom]

The Diesel without the FBH does or can on some cars take a while for the Engine to heat up.
If no heated seats or FBH then you could be chilled for first few miles.

The Fan on an Diesel should come on straight away when the Air Con is switched on so you may have a fan fault also.

[m@tt]

well i have a 25 mile journey to work and was only about a mile from work did i feel any sort or vague heat coming from the heaters. The coolant temp gauge was still pointing at about 7/8 oclock, granted it was reading -1.5 degree C on the on board computer.

I presume the thermostat change fixed the normal heating situation as opposed to the aircon side of things??

[m@tt]

so is the fix to the fan fault one of jules resistors?

but even if i fixed that i'm not sure why i'm not getting any hot or cold out of the aircon when the fan finally does spin on full?

[T-Cut]

Originally Posted by m@tt

I had a look at the fan behind the grill, basicially put aircon on with the car idling and looked at the fan but it didn't do anything,- - -

Apart from any heating issues you may have, this lack of fan with the A/C on suggests you do have problem, either due to lack of refrigerant (as you said) or a motor fault. Low gas pressure will prevent the trinary valve tripping in the slow speed fan system. Of course the slow speed itself could be faulty (very common) but at this stage it can't be confirmed. You need to get the A/C recharged properly before any further diagnosis can be made.

i then cranked the temp up to 28 and put fans on full and the fan behind the grill then started to spin pretty fast.

Seems to me this also indicates a lack of refrigerant. The A/C is attempting to balance hot and cold air supply to the cab, but the cold side is overheating due to a low gas content. The now pressurised trinary valve trips the high speed fan to protect the system. I'd avoid running anything involving the A/C until it's serviced. In this condition you could get damage to the compressor and that's big bucks to fix.

TC