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The only place for a coil spring is up Zebedee's arse
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It is indeed an EIS one, it's currently back in the back. They can have the bloody thing back tomorrow.

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I got a Hella one from Euro Car Parts. Allegedly OEM so I figured the holes would line up. Didn't fancy store brand or E-Bay cheap having heard about fixing and fan hole issues on other vehicles with cheap and who-they brands.

Fan fixings were in the right place but two of the fixing holes didn't quite line up. Close but no cigar. A bit of minor filing on the car sorted things.

When you are tooling up to produce these things properly how hard can it be to get the holes right! Too hard obviously.

Clive

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dhallworth wrote:

Gilbert, any idea where you ordered your Britpart one from? If it definitely fits, as much as ordering something in a blue box goes against the grain I'll give it a go.

LRDirect, the top one here https://www.lrdirect.com/STC3679-Condenser-Air-Conditioning-New-Rr/?keep_https=yes

The only thing I had to do was drill out the lower mounting holes, they were too small for the bolts to go through.

Just checked Microcat and there are two part numbers for the fan assembly, STC3680 and YRP100050 but it doesn't give a date or VIN range although a quick Google suggest that the condenser and fans changed on the later diesel but the petrol models all used the same one.

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Gilbertd, that makes sense as the condenser on the late diesels changed as well I believe.

I took a punt and ordered a Britpart one from Island 4x4 and can confirm that with no bending, bodging or cutting it fitted first time! The new drier is in now too along with both new pressure switches so hopefully a regas is all it needs!

Here’s the one I bought in case anyone is looking:

https://www.island-4x4.co.uk/condenser-9402-britpart-stc3679-p-266.html

David.

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Well, everything is fitted, and yesterday morning it was recharged by ATS in Glasgow. When changing the drier the pressure switch fell apart through corrosion on the aluminium so I ended up replacing both pressure switches in the end too, best to be safe I thought, especially as the Tri-Switch on my old P38 was knackered.

The system was vacuumed and held a vacuum of 1mB for 30 minutes. It then had 1380g of R134a, 10g of oil and 10g ov UV dye put into it.

The compressor is kicking in and there's definitely a chill to it when it's set to 16 on the panel but it's not cooling like I'd expect it to. On LO it does get colder.

I've done some prodding today and noticed that the fans on the condenser aren't running, I know they work as I tested them with 12v when I did the condenser. Bridging the relay on the car brings them to life as well. I am getting 12v to the relay coil but for some reason the car isn't switching it when the air con is switched on.

I've cleaned the cabin temperature sensor of fluff and I can see that spinning when the ignition is switched on, the core temperature sensor is giving a reading in Testbook that does seem to relate to the coolant temperature so that appears to be working ok.

I noticed that the evaporator temperature was showing 6552 degrees which I thought would be the cause. I did some Googleing and found a thread on LandyZone where they said to stop it, let it sit for a few mins and try again, I did this and watched the evaporator temperature go from 8 degrees down 1 degree and a time and when it went below 0 degrees it went to 6552 degrees.

The clutch on the compressor is pulling in and out and I'm getting condensation on the pipes under the bonnet so it's obviously working, it's just not doing what I'd expect it to in the cabin. I suspect it's probably the same fault that's stopping the fans working.

Anybody got any ideas?

Thanks,

David.

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Update - Just been reading Rave and noticed the fans don't run all the time and that they only run when the pressure in the system rises. I thought the operation was the same as my Citroen's in that the fans run on slow as soon as the A/C button is pressed so it looks like my fans are working as they should.

Hmm, I noticed that even when the car is just started and it's warm inside the compressor doesn't stay engaged for long, it then cuts out and after a few seconds kicks in again.

David.

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Well, I've been mucking around a bit more.

With the temperature set to LO and a thermometer shoved in the vents the temperature drops to 6.3 degrees, if I hold the revs at 2000rpm then the temperature in the vent drops to 5.3 degrees.

I just took the car for a run and to start with I had the heating set to 28 on Auto and the fans were barely moving, after the temperature got as hot as I could bare in the cabin i turned the AC down to 16 on Auto and the fans sped up and the air was cool. Very quickly though the fans slowed down again, you could just hear then but it sounded as if they were on slow.

The cabin temp sensor has had a cloud of fluff removed from it with a toothpick this afternoon and I can see the fan moving when using the torch on my phone to look at it, and when checking it with testbook, the reading seems realistic when I had the doors all open. Blowing on it did cause the reading to change almost instantly on Testbook so I'm guessing that's working.

If I had to guess at the moment, I'd say it's more an issue with the fan speed when set to Auto rather then an air conditioning fault at the moment.

Must slide under the car once it's cooled down and make sure the drains for the AC are clear as well before it gets wet in the cabin.

David.

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Definitely sounds like something isn't right. With mine set to Auto, which it invariably always is, the fan speed varies as needed. I keep it set on 20 degrees and in this weather the fan speed starts off slowly but within a few seconds speeds up to max. It then varies as needed to try to keep the interior at 20 degrees. If the sun is shining on the sensor on top of the dash the fan speed stays high but if the sun goes in or I stop in the shade, the fan speed drops. Sounds like yours isn't doing as it should, or you've got no sun in Scotland......

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6552 on the evap sensor doesn't sound right....

On mine, (I looked at it the other day as I was seeing what other faults were logged) with the AC running, it cycles between about 7 degrees, and then will drop to about 4 degrees - which is when the HEVAC switches the compressor off to prevent the evaporator freezing over. When it hits degrees, it clicks back on and start dropping again.

If your evap sensor isn't showing that, then something isn't working quite right!

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Thanks Gilbert and Marty.

I noticed the evap temperature was 16 when I started the car, then it dropped down and kept going down. When it got to 0, the next step was 6552.

I wonder if it's a sensor fault or if it's something else that could be causing it. I'd imagine the evap temp sensor is a sod to change too.

David.

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When the car has been stood it should read ambient temperature - so it should match whatever it is outside roughly. Seems like you've found the problem - I'd be investigating that next.

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Well, my air conditioning recharge lasted 24 hours.

Whilst I had my head under the bonnet I could hear a hissing noise from the low pressure pipe on the bulkhead right beside the filling port. I actually thought it was the filling port leaking but it turns out that it's a pin hole in the back of the pipe and the bulkhead is covered in UV dye.

I'm now getting pissed off with the car being steamed up all the time in this weather and want it fixing.

In the summer I replaced the drier, condenser and both pressure switches, it now definitely needs one pipe but I'm thinking I might as well replace all of the pipes and be done with it. I managed to get the pipe from the drier to the condenser from eBay, there was a genuine one for £25.

There's 3 other pipes I need, the evaporator to compressor, compressor to condenser and evaporator to drier. The 2 pipes from the evaporator on the car have a join, one beside the EAS box and one behind the N/S headlight. The pipe from Island 4x4 for the Evap to the Compressor appears to be in one piece according to the pictures. Has anyone else replaced these pipes and knows of a definite good source?

https://www.island-4x4.co.uk/pipe-compressor-evaporator-0002-jue109220-p-8010.html

The evaporator to drier they don't seem to list.

David.

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The firewall foam is another point, as you've found, they can leak. The foam gets damp when the pipes sweat, and traps the moisture.

The other pipes I would think to be fair should be fine. A high pressure nitrogen test with soapy water in a spray bottle should find leaks though once you've replaced that pipe.