'90 760GLE ECC (aircon); minor prob?

[andykem]

OK then,

Unbelievably! When I got my favorite Aircon guy to look at the aircon on my very recently acquired 760, it really did only need a recharge. He even used the usual sniffer-dog electronic gizmo under the RHS of the rad. - I could tell he could hardly believe it wasn't leaking! They always corrode away just there, he told me; although, I could see, he could hardly believe that it didn't. It didn't!

BUT... there is a snag: the ECC does not kick the aircon on automatically. I have to press the button so's the aircon turns on. This is a real trial of course! Even so, it is a glitch in near perfection otherwise. (I even wonder whether to keep the 262C.)

Anyone have an idea of something (trivial, I hope), that may be the cause the malfunction?

Cheers,
Andy

(Oh! And a PS: he had a special oil that works for both R12 AND R134a, so he could recharge with R134a. R134a works fine without any special retrofit-kit nonsense!)

'80 262C
'90 760GLE

[TheJoyOfSix]

Andy,

Unfortunately the air-con side of the ECC has to be turned on manually - the only time it automatically kicks in is on the 'defrost' setting.

I'm afraid that your finger is in for some hard work.....

I read the post about the aircon and was interested to see your comment about the R12 and R134a. Could you enlighten me?
The last time my aircon guy charged my 760 GLE TDIc he said it would be the last time!
Something to do with ozone layers.
Just in case it needs recharging again, what should I do/ where should I take it?
Thanks in advance.
Weedy George

I have a 760 GLE and while I was on holiday last week I found that the pipe that goes to the top of the Aircon pump had come lose. I would not have known if I had not lost the fan and lights on the consol.

I stopped at the side of the road and took out the fuse that said Aircon and Heater Fan, it was fine, so I started to look for other problems like wire off etc.

I went under the bonnet and an earth strap off. As I traced the route my arm caught the pipe and it came away. So no Flueon in the Aircon.

I am now wondering if I can re-gas it with the new type of gas without a major change of pipework etc.

I know that the reason that we cannot re-gas with the old stuff is due to CFCs that destroy the Ozone layer.

So my question is almost the same :-)

Chris aka Gerry the Gerbil.

Oh yes I did find the problem with the power to the fan etc, the fuse for the rear wiper/washer was also the same one for the fan. Strange.
Chris.

Maybe they changed this but I do not have to switch the air con on manually in my 1995 940. I just set it do a certain temp and then depending on the outside temperature, it runs the air co or the heater.

George

[link:www.ttsservices.co.uk/my%20volvos.htm|http://www.ttsservices.co.uk/Signature.JPG]

'95 940 Polar LPT estate (B230FK/AW71)
'87 740 GLE Turbo Diesel Intercooler estate (D24TIC/ZF22)
'79 262C (B27E/BW55)

[TheJoyOfSix]

Only on the later 900 range did the air-con work all the time with the button being used to turn it off, the first 960's and the 760's used the button to turn it on.

[Peter Milnes]

Just to add confusion the Americans have found a commercial grade refridgerant that is better than R12 AND R134. It is somewhere in the R4XX range and comes like the others in three different packs. These being Freon only, Freon plus compressor lubricant and Freon plus compressor lubricant plus leak spotting dye.

All the best, Peter

Just thought I'd mention something that cropped up recently for my wife. I run a 760 GLE Estate and am well chuffed, she runs a VW Passat with aircon that in its exitement to satisfy her craving for cold air f*rted and died.

We had an Aircon specialist come and repair and in amongst my general noziness we talked about the non CFC replacments that are available for older cars.

Essentially, as I understand it, there is no real problem with re-charging with modern refrigerents. However, (and here comes the "but") you will notice a slight drop in performance. I.e if your nadgers froze off with your old set up then you can expect them to get merely bitterly cold under the new recharge. In any case it will perform suignifcantly better than the broken one you start with!

One final point. I would not recommend that you send your car to a garage for AC issues. In my experience unless you go to a major company they only contract this out. It cost me £280 for a new condenser, fitting and a re-charge & inspection by going direct to an AC specialist. I doubt I would have had any change from £500 going to a garage.

Hope all this info is useful to someone.

Take care dudes

Johnny Boy

Cheers Johnny Boy,

I will have to get mine sorted out soon, it's getting a bit warm, it could be something to do with the weather and a thing that seems to be popping up every morning between the showers.

I'm just off to get a new dizzy cap as te old girl is cutting out again, and then when I leave her she sits and clicks when I want to start. I just don't want to risk it happening on a set of lights. She normally starts after a cut out and I keep rolling, but I can see it coming: Large junction, loads of traffic, one lane only open and a queue of people all wanting to get home fore the football and she cuts out and will not start. Large hot frustrated football fans with one thing on their minds, I want to see the match! Give you a hand to restart the car, by pushing it down a bank onto the railway line :-)

All the best for now,

Chris aka Gerry the Gerbil