Air Conditioning Advice

[samuels]

Here are some known problems

#1.. The liquid lines at the reciever drier seize onto to the reciever drier. Replacement of the liquid line from the reciever drier to the tx valve. Or the replacement of the condensor or both. Approx. $190 - $500 gassed

#2.. Discharge hose leaking. Hose from the compressor to the condensor. Approx $200 gassed

#3.. Tx valve leaking. Small valve that regulates the gas flow. Approx. $200

#4.. Evaporator leaking. Behind the dash. (Dash out 10 hours) Approx $850

#5.. Condensor leaks. Normally top left hand side. Approx $500

#6.. Liquid line leaking at P' Clamp on condensor. Approx $190

#7.. Compressor leaking or self distructing. Approx $1200

#8.. Leaking Heater tap. Causes loss of cooling. Approx $60

#9.. Heater tap staying on. Vacuum switch problem. Approx $50

#10.. leaking on floor. Drain tube blocked. Approx. $20 for deblocking

These are the most common problems I get with the A/c system on VR-S Commodores.

Don't be too scared of the problems, just be aware of them and that The A/c does NOT just need "re-gassing" it WILL have a problem.

Regards Guy.

holy moly....10 hours for a dash removal?the VR -VS's seem easier to remove than the VN's,no offense to you boss,but this is what i was trying to explain to some people here on the forums,a mechanic today will almost double the times to make his money ,undoutbly you have seen on TV in recent times about the automotive industry,especially with women customers.i'm a retired motor mechanic myself,i got out of the trade for this reason,i'm to honest and couldn't work under those conditions,it's just not right.....not specifically targeting you mate,but i'm sure you don't like getting ripped off,and i'm sure you wouldn't like to see some one else get ripped off,thats why i operate from my house now,i can work at my pleasure,not under any stress and charge more than half less than any registered mechanical buisness.it took me 2 hours to remove a VN dash,admittedly i didn't have to put it back in,but 2 hours out,allow 3 hrs in = 5 hours to remove replace dash,now i haven't seen the latest times guide book for years,but 10 hours thats a lot of smoko breaks

[smn]

Re point 10 leaking on floor - drain tube blocked. This has happened to me twice in last couple of years - each time necessitating visit to mechanic's hoist. Can I clear this block myself? Where can I find this drain tube ? I looked in a service manual and it talks of an evaporator drain tube - picture shows it located close to what looks like the catalytic converter. I got under the car but all I could find was a bunch of electrical wires bound up in black plastic. Can anyone help please ?

[Mr Invisible 55]

my sister has a Vs Berlina and we went for a drive in it the other day and we noticed a horrible smell it smelt like curry and then it would go away for a while and then come back also it wil just change from head to feeet and the back again very quickly when its on manual mabey its ment to do that but then again i dont know much about climate control

[Clarrie]

In the passenger's footwell, on the side of the black plastic heater box, you'll find a rubber bung about the size of a 20c piece. Pull this out and you are at the top of the drain. Get some whipper snipper cord and poke it down the drain hole. Now get under the car and find the cord... there's your drain. I regularly clean my VR drain from the top this way but others find it convenient to do it from below whilst they're under there doing other jobs. Hope this helps, Clarrie.

[<HOLDEN>]

My VR heater core is leaking not happy JAN!!

[DeiCide]

With the vents not moving issue,

I had an accident recently(crashed front passenger side into hill!) After I noticed a black ball hanging down from under the left hand panel(outside the car). (My vent worked perfect before this) I checked, everything was ok, except the vents didn't work!! I looked at the ball closly to find a crack in it. Bushmechanics... I sealed it with putty and tape. Screwed it back in and the vents worked again... but ever since they always re-pressurise (Hear that gas noise every 20mins)... eventually I'll order another ball thing from Holden... but it worth having alook to see if thats the prob u have.

[RallyUte]

I have a VR ute and aircon works fine, nice and cold but when I accelerate, air is redirected down on my feet rather than at the face. I am guessing a vac line is broken or fallen off but any ideas as to where to start looking?

[DeiCide]

sounds like a presure leak, could be in the ball thing (read the above post), if not check the hoses going in and around the front left passengers side panel, next to the washer bottle.

[SlyVR]

and the a/c dosent work i turn it on and it starts off cool and 5 seconds later it starts to blow heat wat the **** is going on please help
Reply With Quote

this is the same with mine, is there a way of fixing this?

[PsYko]

Hi I have a VS SII Calais with a air cond/climate control problem when you press the on/auto button it doesn't always come on then 2 minutes or longer it will come on by its self I think it might be in the switch or in the fan speed resistor any help would be great

Cheers

I am having the exact same problem with my VS SII Berlina climate control! sometimes it with turn on straight away, somet5imes it takes 10-20 minutes, sometimes it just wont. If it is on and working, it will always turn off when I press off though.

I am also having a problem with the air coming out of the wrong vents, half the time it works fine, but other times it will only spit air out from the foot vents and it always seems to shoot cold air out from behind my deck (which isnt good, sometimes the deck gives me error codes and doesnt work until it dries out again)

I have been meaning to take out the dash and have a look around, any advice would be greatly appreciated!

[mattman]

Regas for a VSII Calais.. are you lookin at your standard $120 regas or are they something different?

[sixshooter]

Matty you need to find out where it's leaking from and fix that before regassing... people say agh it just needs a regas she'll be right... sure you can just regass it... but it will need it doing again and again and again until the leak is fixed.
Then there's the noisey pulleys...maybe the compressor has something to do with it...I hear the bearings can go in them....check above quote:: compressor self destructing ??? $1200 repair ???

[Joes_meat]

#8.. Leaking Heater tap. Causes loss of cooling. Approx $60

How would I go about checking for this?

About a week after I got my car I put in a new head unit (which meant pulling the center console out) and I swear that my air con wasn't as cold afterwards. I thought it was something to do with fiddiling with the hot/cold control (pulling it out and pushing it back.) Could that cause this problem?

[Crabito]

Hey in my Vs exec my the selector of my air con region selector does not work any more, after i put a new deck in my car it stopped working. I can't see a problem with the vacuum hoses. the air only comes out in the footwells. I dont really need it right now but it is just a pain. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Cheers

This is happening to me at the moment
I installed a new vacum selector switch and i still no go
I also took the pipe off the heater tap near the motor and there is no vacum there either The hoses are connected on the right hand side near the rest pedal ok
Is there other places i can check ?

Vs series II esteem late 97 model

[Crabito]

After pulling some of the console out again to recheck i couldnt find nothin so i curesed and swore abit
I had a look around the engine and BINGO the vacum hose come off the back of the motor just behind the top cover
Put everything back together and it works fine
I can select the direction of airflow again

[JcB]

Just fixed a bung passenger door cetral lock and working thru the problems in the car. I'm trying to fix a problem with the 'common' drive up a hill, do more that 70k and the air vents from the face drop to the floor. My first open was to rip off the dash and have a look at the vacuum lines. A day later... anyway - has anyone got a photo of a ? climate control solenoid ? (it's the black box below the radio with 5 holes and pipes hanging from it) - It's easier to show a picture to the 'experts' LOL Any help would be good.

[yomikey]

when I start my vr I can hear water bubbling through the heater pipes,as well as when I go around some corners. The coolant has been changed and system bled and topped up. still noisey, any ideas??

[aquabog]

no air is comin outa the vents on the right hand side of the steering wheel in the vs what do i do 2 fix?

[jayz7]

Hi there,
I've got a VS SII Calais and my climate control will only work on the highest speed (number 3). Doesn't work on the 1st and 2nd speed anymore. This happened out of the blue. When on the 1st and 2nd speed, i can hear the compressor switch click but no air through the vents. Seems it's like the blower isn't turning on for the 1st and 2nd speed. Does anybody know what may be wrong or a fix for it?

Thanking you in advance.

Jayz

[Jon Z]

Sounds like its the fan resistor. This is located under the plastic cover that runs across the base of your windscreen (where the wiper arms are bolted on). I am pretty sure if you do a search you find a thread on how to locate and remove it as I had the same problem some months back. I managed to solder mine as it was only one of the coils that had busted . Hope this can put you on the right track.

[immortality]

My VS climate control does not work. It worked when I first bought the car then about 3 months later the climate control unit started flashing when it was on, the the fan was cutting in and out too. Now nothing works.......its either full on 24/7 or not at all which can only be stopped by taking out the circut breaker. A guy I work with join 2 wires at the back of the control unit in the dash and all was good. We have searched for a loose wire or something to that effect but nothing was found. Can some one please help me I got no air and no heat which really sux when it rains because the car fogs up and I cannot see shit.
Any Ideas please help or email me @ dananjen@bigpond.net.au

common problem on the VS climate control is the varaible resistor that controls the fan failing. when i bought my car it would only work by using the manual button to cycle throught all the fan speeds until it started to work until one day it would only work on the fastest setting and then it stopped working all together. the resistor can be found under the plastic cover below the front windscreen where the wipers mount. to fix, remove the plastic cover, underneath you will find another small plastic cover(passanger side) held in place by 2 screws, remove cover, remove the wires/2 screws from the variable resistor and pull out, it kinda looks like a hedgehog. fitting is the reversal of removing it paying particular attension not to crack the plastic cover.

[immortality]

Hi last year my fuel gauge stopped going above half which wasnt an issue i didnt mind too much at all but just recently i filled up and the gauge registered full for the first time in a yr very happy at first until i realised it now wont drop past 3/4 full leaving me to do the km estimating it drops wen the car is off but as soon as it turns on it rockets back up..... any advice???? please id love ran out of fuel too many times now....

have a look through the VN-VP forums, lots there about faulty fuel and temp guages. normally you need to remove the instrumewnt cluster and resolder the connections etc on the back of the guage

[payne]

in my car the aircon/heater wont work till i flick her over to number 3 or 4. when i bought the car the carsalesman said its a common problem and can easily be fixed. What needs to be done? can i do it me self? number 3 is just a but much for my likings

[immortality]

in my car the aircon/heater wont work till i flick her over to number 3 or 4. when i bought the car the carsalesman said its a common problem and can easily be fixed. What needs to be done? can i do it me self? number 3 is just a but much for my likings

which model, sounds like you just need to replace the the fan speed selector switch possibly....need more info

[payne]

VS executive mate it wont work on numbers 1 and 2 but 3 and 4 are all good.