Re: P38a aircon not working

Apr 02, 2004 8 Replies
D


Hi,


>
> My 1998 P38a airconditioning did not work when switched on in the warm
> weather today. It has been used occasionally during the winter to keep it
> used to the idea but today, zilch.
>
> I suspect the compressor clutch is not working: (should the centre disc
> inside the pulley turn when the compressor clutch is engaged? It doesn't)
> Can anyone say what is the most likely cause? I have checked the appropriate
> fuses and they are OK. As you know, the compressor is very inaccessible.

Hey, I think I know this one.


When I took my P38 in for a service, Steve at James French Land Rover noticed the compressor wasn't cutting in. He struck the pulley a light oblique glancing blow with a suitable metal object and it span up. Apparently there is a known tendency for the clutch to stick and you can solve this by shimming it up a bit. He did this for me for a few quid.


HTH David

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S

snip

David,

Many thanks for this suggestion. I will try an appropriately oblique glancing blow! The compressor manufacturer's site

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details of the shimming but on the diesel P38a the access is verydifficult.

Thank you again.

Stephen

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T

Not sure what you mean by the compressor is very inaccessible. Heck, it's right on top and very accessible in my P38A.

I had a problem with the clutch not engaging so I removed one shim and that fixed that.

Ron

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D

Yours is a V8 isn't it Ron? I think it's harder to get to in the 2.5 Diesel.

David

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A

David> Yours is a V8 isn't it Ron? I think it's harder to get to David> in the 2.5 Diesel.

Bang on.

--

+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ |Andy Cunningham aka AndyC the WB | andy -at- cunningham.me.uk | +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ |
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- Everything you wanted to know || about the P38A Range Rover but were afraid to ask. |+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+"Ladies and Gentlemen, take my advice: pull down your pants and slideon the ice." --- Dr Sidney Friedman, M*A*S*H
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D

Don't mind if I do.

You around this weekend Andy? Have some bits for you...

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T

Yep, - I got an email from Andrew which pointed out his was a diesel and the alternator was located differently. I replied directly to him thus:

Odd isn't it that for an off-roader the manufacturers put the alternator at the bottom of the engine. I'm told the Defender is the same - but I've not had a look to confirm.

Ron

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S

I don't know about earlier Defenders but my 110's alternator (300Tdi) isn't at the bottom. Maybe they moved it up on the later engine variations.

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S

Hi,

Thank you for the various helpful posts on this topic. I had it fixed today -- it turned out to be loss of refrigerant (150gm when there should be about 1200gm) which caused the pressure valve to prevent the clutch operating. The system held its vacuum after the old refrigerant was pumped out but there is now some fluorescent dye in the system and in a couple of weeks it will be examined under uv light to see if there is still a leak.

Stephen Mawson

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