Air con and Fans......

[Miguel 4747]

Not sure if the two are related but my air con has packed up (light is on, but no cool air), and after a long, (fairly brisk) drive yesterday, i would have expected the side pod fans to be running, but nothing, not a thing? Everything else seems tickety-boo though.

 

[Jamesv6]

My untechnical opinion.

Have the system re-gassed and they will probably check the pipes for leaks at the same time. The fans are a different issue I think? Mine stopped working due to a faulty ambient temperature sensor located on the bulkhead (somewhere). Quiet a small thing I believe.

 

[Miguel 4747]

Many thanks James. I have booked a re-gas/service for £59 with a local air-con specialist. Will see what happens and post results.

 

[scrabble]

Dont worry too much about the fans. Mine only come on when the engine is V Hot! If the temp is ok...then nothing too worry about.

 

[k1ano]

Just to clarify ... there are two things here with regards fans and I am writing this based on my observations rather than absolute knowledge ....

The front fans are driven by engine temps i.e. coolant temeperature. On my Vee these tend to come on when the car is stationary for any length of time.
The side pod fans are driven by engine compartment temperature. I find on a hot day, the side pod fans come on quite regularly - but typically only when the car has been stationary with the engine running. IIRC some owners do not experience their side pod fans coming on and this can be related, as James has said, to faulty sensors in the engine compartment.

From what I can recall, based on a drive last night too, side pod and radiator fans can both operate with the ignition off.

Martin

 

[v6Max]

Just to clarify ... there are two things here with regards fans and I am writing this based on my observations rather than absolute knowledge ....

The front fans are driven by engine temps i.e. coolant temeperature. On my Vee these tend to come on when the car is stationary for any length of time.
The side pod fans are driven by engine compartment temperature. I find on a hot day, the side pod fans come on quite regularly - but typically only when the car has been stationary with the engine running. IIRC some owners do not experience their side pod fans coming on and this can be related, as James has said, to faulty sensors in the engine compartment.

From what I can recall, based on a drive last night too, side pod and radiator fans can both operate with the ignition off.

Martin

Martin is sport on with this...

Radiator fan(s) = coolant temperature
Side pod fan(s) = ambient engine bay temperature

Both fan systems = ECU controlled and independent of whether the engine is running or not

 

[Miguel 4747]

Right, took the Vee to an air-con specialist. Spent half an hour trying to find out the gas capacity for the system (for reference, a MK2 is 750g +/-35g) -apparently most cars have a sticker stating this but no, not a V6 clio, and you won't find it in the handbook, or even the workshop manual.

Basically, for all my worry, all that was needed was a re-gas which took half an hour to do and works wonders. Chatting with the blokey there, he advised me of all the different germs, and (bad) bacteria that air-con systems store and spread in your car. Suffice to say, this will be getting done with every service now.

On the subject of the fans, they all decided to start working saturday morning after driving to and from the air-con chaps workshop. Don't know why they started working now, guess i will never know if they were actually kaput or not.

 

[Jamesv6]

I recall the re-gassing man just looked at mine and knew it was a 750g system. He also suggested removing some bit of sponge around the pipes as they become soaked and rot the pipes.

 

[Suggs]

How come the pipes corrode/rot when they are aluminium?

 

[Jamesv6]

Good question. The rubber pipes maybe?

In this pic I can see the bit of sponge he warned about. Perhaps things around it would be more likely to damage?