Climate Control Problem

[MrOddjob]

Hi Guys, My Ride is a VN Calais 5.0 manual
The climate control is U/S
The cold air is great, ception, 1 very hot day,it stopped, and would only 1/2 wok on manual.
The heated air, is fne for 10 mins and then cuts out, almost, very little hot air is vented.
I have had the module replaced, and it made no difference, original replaced.
I downloaded the sequance for testing the system, but when AMB press & hold,OFF press & release,
AMB release. is acuated, no test screen appears,and it defaults to a normal screen.
The heat is now not operating at all now

Can anybody help or suggesta workshop that is competent in these things

[Cheap6]

It's not clear (to me at least) what you mean by the "AMB" and "OFF". Do you mean that is the sequence in which you pressed those buttons?

I have posted - in VR-VS I think - on here how to access the diagnostic functions and fault codes, if any, from the CC system. Is that what you have been using or something else? Maybe look for that if you haven't done so yet.

There is a bank of solenoids that control the vacuum to the vent actuators and the heater tap. These have been known to fail.

The diagnostic tests will allow you to step through all the vent controls and test each actuator in turn. If a function does not work then it's simply a matter of tracing back to see if there is a fault in the vacuum path, a fault in the solenoid or in the signal to the solenoid.

To save you a search:

x symbol in climate control window?

VP Climate Control: Self Diagnosis??

[Warranty Void]

Have you checked your heater tap under the bonnet?

[MrOddjob]

Hi Cheap 6, thanks for your help.
I downloaded a PDF file from the site that said to enter the code sec by press n hold AMB press off once and release release AMB.
Nothing happened, i figured the unit was U/S and bought one on e bay. (Damn)
Then following your post I found the true and right way.

BTW. My Air Conditioner Mech An old firm dad n son affair looked somewhat nonplussed when I showed them the PDF download sheet.
They had turned off the heater tap to see if that affected the air con , it didn't.
But after retuning to original the heater didn't turn on at all.
It's booked to go in again next week, but I'm a'wonderin if they know what their a'doin.
With any luck, with some new info I may be able to tell them what to do .

Any hoo these are the results of the test.
I have gone wrong some where coz I dont know what you mean by demist button.
T'wood indeed appreciate some further explanation.

On a VP if you hold the off button down for 5 seconds within 10 seconds of ignition on you get the diagnostic mode. Push the hot button to step thru the diagnostics.

20 is no faults
21-27 are: ambient, in car , water temp, intake, sun, air mix door feedback, evaporator temp. sensor fault codes.
I get a 2 and a sec or 2 later 25 with a flashing 5.
Would i be correct in thinking that would indicate a fault in the air/mix door feedback?

hot again then de mist to step thru function checks, 31-35, vent, floor etc.. - needs engine vacuum.
I get a 31 ?

hot again => temp sensor readings.
I get a 4 ?
Demist to step thru.
I cant see a Demist button

Fan button. > Shows 0.0

Temp. should read zero. If not, adj. using up and down.

Auto to finish.

[Cheap6]

The demist button is the one with the windscreen shaped icon printed onto it; the middle button at the bottom.

2+5 is the Sun sensor. You will get that one if you are running the tests in any thing other than direct sunlight. An alternative is to place a source of radiant heat near the sensor. An incandescent light globe (if you can still find one ) placed outside the windscreen over the sensor will do it. The sun sensor is the little black plastic dot in the middle of the demist vents for the windscreen.

If you press the demist button (^^) in stage 2 you should step through 31, 32, 33, 34 and 35 which should give you the various vent combinations. The second link from post #2 might be a better explanation than the somewhat shortened version in the first link.

Now that you know which one is the demist button, stage 4 should be easier to understand too; they are the ambient, in car, intake and evaporator temperatures.

FWIW, the ambient sensor is in front of the radiator, under the bonnet, RHS, the in car sensor is behind the small duct on the lower right of the CC module, the intake air sensor is on the LHS of the evaporator case and the evaporator sensor is in the evaporator core (and shares the same wiring connector as the intake air sensor). There is also a water temperature sensor clipped to the heater pipe adjacent to the heater core.

[MrOddjob]

Hi again Cheap 6, Thanks for the IQ increase.
A bottle of your favourite tipple, or donation to the site will be forthcoming when we find the problem.

O K, ran the test in the garage, took it outside tested, back in garage tested again.

First test out side > 20 > no fault. no further reading change when red button is pushed

Temp sensor Inside > . 4 > 23 > 26 > 21 > 18 > 4
outside> . 4 > 23 > 27 > 21 > 18 > 4
Inside > . 4 > 24 > 27 > 23 > 18 > 4

Fan button. these all seemed to work perfectly

Temp 0.0 > OK

I eagerly await your diagnosis.

Cheerz Warren...

[Cheap6]

For a car that hasn't been run for very long those temps seem reasonable. If you were to run the A/C - eg. set the coldest temp you can adjust to on the CC - the "18" should drop to about 4 or 5 (degrees C). You can test the ambient and in car sensors by heating them - simply holding them in your hand/between your fingers will do. (Some disassembly will be needed to access the in car sensor).

You should check that the water temp sensor on the heater pipe, just above driver's footrest, is in place as the CC will not open the heater tap until that reads 55C. If it's floating in free air it won't (read 55C).

As Warranty Void suggested, you should check the heater tap. With the engine at operating temp and the CC set to the highest temp you can manually, you should be able to see that the actuator has moved.

If the actuator has moved, the heater pipes inside the car should be hot (with engine hot). If not, the tap has died internally.

If the actuator does not move you can try applying a source of vacuum to it directly eg. via a syringe (~$1.20 at a pharmacy) and short length of hose, sucking (tastes bad) or a hose tapped straight off the vacuum source spigot on the back of the inlet manifold (run the car at idle to generate the vacuum).

If the actuator works with vacuum applied to it directly then you will have to find out why it isn't getting vacuum via the CC. The yellow hose out of the bank of solenoids at the back of the CC goes to the heater tap.

[MrOddjob]

HI Cheap 6, Was a'wondering if you received my PM?/

[Cheap6]

Patience. I have a life (sometimes ) outside of JC. PM sent.

[MrOddjob]

BUMP!!! I am still afflicted by this problem, first Air/Con guys gave up and left me with a $400.00 bill.
Car is @ Auto Ignition Co Alex, for a week, but they are not having much luck!!
Can anybody direct me to an establishment where they know which way is up???
Time distance and money is not a problem!!

Cheerz Warren.

[Warranty Void]

Depending on where you are there are a few places I can think of that know what they are doing....Number 1 for me is always commodore frenzy in kalman drive boronia, they only do commo's and they understand that your not likely to be made of money. Call Shane or Aaron on 97298126, if you're too far away to go to them they'll probably know what's going on anyway and can tell you what to do next. I hope it's not your heater core clogged because that job sucks ass. Could be heater pipes collapsed internally, try bypassing the heater tap ie connect straight through with a piece of copper pipe and see what happens. Luck dude.

[MrOddjob]

Hi Guys thanks for all of your input, special mention Cheap 6.

Well the climate control in the Calais is fixed, out of sync mixer disc, whatever that means.

I big recommendation to Auto Electrics At Alexandria.

[url=http://www.autoignition.com.au/
Only charged me $ 230.00, they had the car for a week trying to figure out what was wrong, drove 2 guys nuts, then they got some info from an old GMH mech.

Now for a set of big front brakes, All suggestions welcome.

And maybe a supercharger, once again all comments noted.

Cheerz Oddjob