On Thu, 02 Jul 2009 21:05:40 +0100, PCPaul wrote:

On Tue, 30 Jun 2009 22:22:06 +0000, Mrcheerful wrote:

PCPaul wrote:
On Tue, 30 Jun 2009 20:33:29 +0000, Mrcheerful wrote:

PCPaul wrote:
After much hunting about I figured out that all I needed to fix my
aircon was a pressure switch.

I got one from a breakers (with a warranty... and £10 instead of the
£90 BMW wanted seemed like a good risk).

It turned up today, I eagerly went and fitted it... no joy.

So, still hot and sweaty tomorrow :-(


What usually happens with online breakers and duff parts - no hassle
replacements, or drag it through the courts? (not that I would
anyway, for £10).

what a waste of gas, or have you got a recycler?


Neither. The switch screws onto a valve (like a car tyre valve) so you
only lose a pfft of gas each time you take it off.

in that case then just bypass it till you can find a good one

It's a low *and* high pressure switch - low to protect the compressor
from running dry and high to stop the system icing up. I'm happy there's
gas in there since it was pressure tested and regassed not long ago and
was nowhere near empty to start with, so I don't think there's a leak.

I have bypassed it for today, but then I've only done 10-15 minute
journeys with large gaps between. I was more concerned with it on 100%
that the icing the high pressure side of the switch was designed to
handle would occur and damage something.

Presumably the compressor has a limit on how long it should be run for?
What sort of duty cycle do they usually end up with?


Ah, this uk.rec.cars.maintenance, icing is a bit unlikely today :-)