Jump to content
SAU Community

Recommended Posts

Aircon "fixed" but now broken

I managed to find a replacement compressor for the one that self destructed and supplied that to a (currently) nameless respectable Auto Air conditioning specialist and after some mucking about (they had to delay 2 weeks until they had a hoist working!) they took the car in to fit it...

They found 2 other issues, both of which seem reasonable (remove and clean TX valve and fit new filter drier) but when I picked the car up they mentioned that the blower fan had stopped working and I'd need to see an auto electrician or Nissan themselves... However as it was described to me it sounded like it only affected the cold air - they said cold was only coming out the drivers side vents.

On the receipt it says "Note: Blower fan direction not working needs a scan and electrical repair."

On the way home though I noticed that the only control that worked was fan speed. It wouldn't demist, or change any vents, and even setting the temp to 32C the drivers side still blew cold air at me. Even with AC turned off, the heater controls still didn't work.

So I'm pretty annoyed and I will be phoning them in the morning as all those controls worked for the heater before I dropped the car off to them and they admitted they had disassembled the entire dash to get to the TX valve.

I have attached a photo of the self check from the head unit... It seems to show an error 14 on one of the HVAC systems but not sure what that means. I also tried the AC slef test and while it beeps and all the lights come on, there's no action - no clicking, no blower, no nothing.

While I am going to make this their problem (worked before they took it, broken when I got it back!) if it's a simple reset procedure I'll give that a go first.

Any advice? (Oh, I noticed from the clock in the car they removed power to the car for 15 minutes)

Cheers - N

 

 

 

2016-10-27 17.50.44.jpg

Link to comment
https://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/467485-aircon-fixed-but-now-broken/
Share on other sites

When a dash has to come out for that sort of thing, it's easy for them to mess something up if they're not careful. Sounds to me like the mixer motor is either disconnected or jammed in one position.

My guess, the dash needs to come out again. Man, dashboards are a pain in the arse to pull out. Thankfully I was able to leave mine in place while I pulled out every other panel working on the AV system.

Good luck dude.

Oh dear. I decided to review the dashcam footage just in case it caught something interesting and it clearly recorded two staff discussing the issue and the main technician stating "it was working before but now it's &^*^*$".. "What happened" asks the other.. "I Dunno" says the first guy. (There are some more specifics that make it clear this blower fan direction and temp issue were not pre-existing).

They are going to get a polite but firm request in the morning to make this right at no cost to myself.

Cheers - N

Well done! At least you've got proof that it was working before they got their mitts on it. That definitely places responsibility with them.

Keep us posted on it. My guess is still just a simple matter of them not having reconnected some electronics back but hopefully they haven't mechanically busted something in the process. Either way, the problem is theirs to solve out of their own pocket, whether it's them doing the work or calling on an outsider to help them out.

When i got my sat navigation and computer changed to English they had to disconnect my a/c and stereo for a week while it was getting upgraded. what ever was the last setting on my a/c stayed that way until they reinstalled the English set-up.

Just my 2c

Interesting... They did say they had taken out the whole dash but they weren't clear on whether they disconnected the stereo/head unit at all. From the clock being about 15 minutes behind when I got the car back it looks like the disconnected the battery for that long.

The head unit still accepts commands and I can see the changes update on the screen (arrows, temps etc) and the LEDs on the buttons all work as designed - it's just that the only commands that seem to be actioned are the fan speed ones. 

Unfortunately the shop took a very defensive approach and suggested it was a problem that I should solve. Only then did I tell them I had dashcam footage of their mechanic talking to someone else and commenting (in colourful language) that it was "working before"... That only mitigated their position very slightly and they still seemed clear that they didn't expect to be held accountable for the cost of fixing it unless it could be proven it was something they actually did.

In any case, I have the car booked in to go see Nissan on Wednesday so they can at least plug a consult into it and hopefully at least tell where the fault is. If it's a computer reset or something simple then I'll get them to do it and forward the bill to the aircon specialist place - otherwise I'll look at going through mediation with the MTA (Motor Trade Association) or other legal remedies like the disputes tribunal/Small claims... I can't imagine that this is anything but an open and shut case given the evidence I have.

I should also note that when they disconnected and discharged the aircon a month or 2 ago (they couldn't find a compressor at the time - I eventually sourced one), when they handed the car back to me the guy sat in the car with me and demonstrated to me that all the heating and fan controls still worked, and only the AC didn't work because the system had a failsafe lockout when the system wasn't pressurised. So they demonstrated all the stuff working after the worked on it last time, and when I get the car back this time, it's all busted. Damn shame the dashcam over-wrote that conversation :-(

Cheers - N

There's definitely nothing for them to debate. They admitted themselves that it was working before they started working on it and it ceased to work after their job was completed. Ergo, they broke it. While there is a slim possibility that the system could fail on its own through a component failure but the timing of the events makes it a bit more than coincidental.

I had Nissan plug in and they can't see anything obvious... Their belief was that there was a cable disconnected or broken while the aircon people took out and put back the dash - or perhaps they damaged/jammed something. In any case I went back to the Aircon place and their stance seems to have softened a lot and now they have said they'll make it right. They asked for a couple of days to find an auto electrician and will give me a call.

I'm happy with their new attitude so far...

Cheers - N

 

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now


  • Similar Content

  • Latest Posts

    • I came here to note that is a zener diode too base on the info there. Based on that, I'd also be suspicious that replacing it, and it's likely to do the same. A lot of use cases will see it used as either voltage protection, or to create a cheap but relatively stable fixed voltage supply. That would mean it has seen more voltage than it should, and has gone into voltage melt down. If there is something else in the circuit dumping out higher than it should voltages, that needs to be found too. It's quite likely they're trying to use the Zener to limit the voltage that is hitting through to the transistor beside it, so what ever goes to the zener is likely a signal, and they're using the transistor in that circuit to amplify it. Especially as it seems they've also got a capacitor across the zener. Looks like there is meant to be something "noisy" to that zener, and what ever it was, had a melt down. Looking at that picture, it also looks like there's some solder joints that really need redoing, and it might be worth having the whole board properly inspected.  Unfortunately, without being able to stick a multimeter on it, and start tracing it all out, I'm pretty much at a loss now to help. I don't even believe I have a climate control board from an R33 around here to pull apart and see if any of the circuit appears similar to give some ideas.
    • Nah - but you won't find anything on dismantling the seats in any such thing anyway.
    • Could be. Could also be that they sit around broken more. To be fair, you almost never see one driving around. I see more R chassis GTRs than the Renault ones.
    • Yeah. Nah. This is why I said My bold for my double emphasis. We're not talking about cars tuned to the edge of det here. We're talking about normal cars. Flame propagation speed and the amount of energy required to ignite the fuel are not significant factors when running at 1500-4000 rpm, and medium to light loads, like nearly every car on the road (except twin cab utes which are driven at 6k and 100% load all the time). There is no shortage of ignition energy available in any petrol engine. If there was, we'd all be in deep shit. The calorific value, on a volume basis, is significantly different, between 98 and 91, and that turns up immediately in consumption numbers. You can see the signal easily if you control for the other variables well enough, and/or collect enough stats. As to not seeing any benefit - we had a couple of EF and EL Falcons in the company fleet back in the late 90s and early 2000s. The EEC IV ECU in those things was particularly good at adding in timing as soon as knock headroom improved, which typically came from putting in some 95 or 98. The responsiveness and power improved noticeably, and the fuel consumption dropped considerably, just from going to 95. Less delta from there to 98 - almost not noticeable, compared to the big differences seen between 91 and 95. Way back in the day, when supermarkets first started selling fuel from their own stations, I did thousands of km in FNQ in a small Toyota. I can't remember if it was a Starlet or an early Yaris. Anyway - the supermarket servos were bringing in cheap fuel from Indonesia, and the other servos were still using locally refined gear. The fuel consumption was typically at least 5%, often as much as 8% worse on the Indo shit, presumably because they had a lot more oxygenated component in the brew, and were probably barely meeting the octane spec. Around the same time or maybe a bit later (like 25 years ago), I could tell the difference between Shell 98 and BP 98, and typically preferred to only use Shell then because the Skyline ran so much better on it. Years later I found the realtionship between them had swapped, as a consequence of yet more refinery closures. So I've only used BP 98 since. Although, I must say that I could not fault the odd tank of United 98 that I've run. It's probably the same stuff. It is also very important to remember that these findings are often dependent on region. With most of the refineries in Oz now dead, there's less variability in local stuff, and he majority of our fuels are not even refined here any more anyway. It probably depends more on which SE Asian refinery is currently cheapest to operate.
    • You don't have an R34 service manual for the body do you? Have found plenty for the engine and drivetrain but nothing else
×
×
  • Create New...