A/C inop , not gas 2002 model.

[deMort]

Ok a very strange one in at work today ..

Customer request to replace the a/c condensers and get the system working .. not had the car that long .

Replaced , gassed and fired up whilst checking the a/c machine gauges for it to kick into life .. it didn't .. don't work .. dead as a Dodo .. not what i really wanted at that point .

So the usual .. stick a tester on it and look at the values in the a/c for pressure sensor .. interior temp sensors etc to try and fault find ..

No communication with the a/c control unit .. That's Really Not good ..

In the instrument cluster i had a comfort can bus failure permanent fault .. ok this is not good at all !!! ..

Its a pretty basic system on these cars .. sorry guys but it is ..

Radio/Pcm , a/c cu and instrument cluster are all that's involved .. it can be anyone of these or a wiring open circuit / short to pos/neg .

Like most garages we have a lot of old units that have faults but are useful for test purposes .. i swapped out the a/c unit .. that's basically the bit with buttons on it you press to alter temp etc ..

Still no good ..

I'm now into the possibility of removing the dash to get access to the wiring .. not good .. fine for me as i like this sort of job but not good for the customer .. they have to pay .

looked at a wiring diagram for a bit ..

This car has had a becker radio fitted to it .. on a hunch i removed the center panel .. im sure you all know it .. its often easier to drag the entire lot out than to try and just remove the radio and becker units are a bit of a pain to get at the second lock tab .

Anyways .. removed it all .. yellow plug with the black and separate yellow wire is plugged into the becker .. this is the comfort can bus wiring ..

I'm pretty much there now as i know that's not correct .. unplug the yellow connector with these wires in it and yup .. a/c now works .

becker unit had been fitted and this plug connected when it shouldn't have been .. i suspect it caused a short or even sent voltage up the line which shut down the a/c ..



Either way .. if you fit an aftermarket radio unit .. be careful of the yellow plug .. it can cause issues

 

[TV8]

Hi Iain, looking at the ref to yellow connector, do you mean this one as there is another thread about air con interference on aftermarket radios, which I still haven't got to the bottom of (any investigation during this hot spell is purely coincidental )

 

[deMort]

Yellow plug .. if it has a black and a yellow wire in it then that's the Can bus wires .. not every model has this .. if it doesn't then it's not an issue .