Zel's Motoring Adventures...Peugeot, Renault, Rover, Trabant, Invacar & A Sinclair C5 - 19/04 - HVAC Preemptive Investigation...

[TrabbieRonnie]

Your rear panel is nothing to be ashamed of, check out Rosie's neglected rear end!

I have the paint though, it's on the list!

 

[rattlecan]

So the rear panel isn’t Duraplast like the other panels then?

[captain_70s]

I believe the main body shell is steel with a skim of Duraplast over the top.

[Zelandeth]

3 hours ago, rattlecan said:

So the rear panel isn’t Duraplast like the other panels then?

 

1 hour ago, captain_70s said:

I believe the main body shell is steel with a skim of Duraplast over the top.

If you strip a Trabant of the Duroplast bits what you're left with looks remarkably like a miniature version of the base frame skeleton the Rover P6 is built around.  Front and rear panels are non structural steel, I'm guessing simply because the moulding would be excessively complex to make in Duroplast with the various cutouts and such.  

The inner structure is a (surprisingly rigid) framework including the sills, floorplans, roof frame, window surrounds, front and rear wheel tubs, door apertures, front bulkhead, and boot floor.  Everything else is then attached to that.

P6: 

Source: http://www.roverp6parts.com/history.html

Trabant: 

No idea where I originally found that one.  Here's a (crap) photograph of one stripped to the shell which original surfaced on Pinterest somewhere.

For such vastly different cars it's almost uncanny how similarly the very basics of the inner structure have been penned.  P6 is obviously vastly more substantial, but you get the idea of what I'm saying.

[Zelandeth]

I've noticed that the AC in the Partner has started to get a little noisy.  It's still functioning, but sounds to me like the expansion valve is feeding vapour which would suggest we're low on charge.

Let's see what the gauges say.  Disclaimer here: I used to help out a HVAC technician looking after a bunch of gear on and around the farm I used to live next door to - but I've zero formal training in the field, and what I have learned I'm rusty on to the tune of probably more than 20 years at this point!  I can usually look at things and figure out roughly what's going on though.

I do keep half pondering looking at getting certification in that field, as if you like hands on stuff it's great as it involves a bit of everything.  Though sadly as with just about everything in life I find interesting or have an aptitude for I think I'm probably about 30 years late for the technology I'm happiest working on to be in mainstream use.

Back on topic...Standing pressures first.

Smidge under 60psi.  Definitely a smidge on the low side, I'd be expecting to be seeing nearer 70-80 with the car being warm.

Running (and stabilised).

We're definitely short on gas.  Low side isn't really too bad, but with an expansion valve throttling things that's kind of to be expected until the charge gets critically low.  High side though tells the story, I'd be looking for probably somewhere in the region of 150psi even with how cool it is today.  I was able to get the head pressure up a tiny bit by applying an artificial load by putting the system into recirculation mode with the heater on full, but it's definitely short on gas.

You can't really fully diagnose a system like this purely with a simple set of gauges like this, even with a full set of temperature probes etc you're never going to be charging this by pressures.  Correct procedure is to recover the charge then weigh the proper charge in (assuming it passes a vacuum test - ideally you'd pressurise the system with dry nitrogen and do a *proper* leak down test, but that takes time and I wish you luck finding a garage that will).  

So I'll be getting her in this week to get the system recharged.  

[SiC]

ATS Aircon regas offer:

https://www.groupon.co.uk/deals/ats-euromaster-7

WELCOME discount code for a new account gets an additional 15% off Apparently 

[Zelandeth]

Not been much written on here lately...simply because I've been busy with boring life stuff and not really had a chance to tinker with cars much over the last couple of weeks.  I did discover an ancient tin of R134a in the garage while looking for something else, and stuffing what was left in there into the system on the Partner has got the hewd pressure looking far more sensible.  It's still low I reckon, but far better than it was.  System is working well with a good temperature split and is running silently again for now at least.  I'll keep an eye on it and check it again in a month, if it's not lost anything by then I'll chuck it in to be properly recharged with the charge weighed in.  Given the cost of refrigerant these days I'd rather be reasonably sure it's going to stay in there first.  This top up was basically free though in my mind because the gas was originally bought I think back when I still had the 107.

The Trabant did end up briefly at the side of the road with the hazards on a couple of days ago - but in a situation surely to confuse passers by, it was there rendering assistance to a broken down vehicle rather than being the broken down vehicle.  A lovely guy was having electrical issues with a recently bought van.  We were both pretty sure than we'd found the root cause of the problem (loose connection on the battery to alternator connection), but his battery was utterly flat by then.  I grabbed the battery out of the Rover and my beefy jump leads, and we were able to get them started up and moved to a safe location to check that things were charging and all seemed normal (they were).  After letting the van run for about 20/30 minutes and confirming that the charging system was behaving, that the battery was taking a charge, and that there weren't any other obvious issues like grounding problems or loose connections that could be provoked by wiggling wires, they were sent on their way.

I don't think they had quite expected salvation to rattle up next to them in a cloud of two stroke smoke!

Disclaimer there is that I was in the Trabant when I first stopped to offer assistance and looked things over.  I did actually go back with the Partner once I'd stopped off at home to collect tools/battery etc.  The logic being that I was trying to get back there quickly, and if we did end up having to do a full jump start, taking the vehicle with the beefiest battery and alternator on the fleet made sense.  As it was that wasn't needed as a standalone booster battery did the job.  If all else had failed I was keeping dragging the thing out of harm's way in mind as well (as they'd been quoted something daft like five hours as the ETA from the AA), and a tow bar makes that a lot less hassle.

Was nice to be actually able to render assistance on this occasion though, and to have actually been able to render it to someone who was polite and grateful rather than either so clueless as to be a danger to themselves and others or blaming me for their car having broken down!

No real fleet news to report though, as I've just not had time for much really.  The Partner and Trabant have just been doing day to day Being A Car things.

[RichardK]

It is a long time since I had a regas done, but when I took the yellow SLK to KwikFit for one it was £50 but they didn't charge if it wasn't a success.

The system held gas but the A/C compressor clutch delivered a shower of sparks and an unholy scream when engaged.

It was deemed a failure and I wasn't charged 😂

[Zelandeth]

5 hours ago, RichardK said:

It is a long time since I had a regas done, but when I took the yellow SLK to KwikFit for one it was £50 but they didn't charge if it wasn't a success.

The system held gas but the A/C compressor clutch delivered a shower of sparks and an unholy scream when engaged.

It was deemed a failure and I wasn't charged 😂

The biggest issue is that they don't take the time to do a proper leak down test.  Can't blame them either really.  So it's entirely possible if there's a smallish leak that it would pass the 15 minute or so vacuum decay test the machine does just fine - but give it a month or two and I could be back at square one.  I'd just rather go in at least with a reasonable idea of whether the system is gas tight or not, and if not get it evacuated and the problem sorted before the hotter weather arrives.

[kevins]

they did 30 mins at 100psi with nitrogen on our street ka which showed no drop but it still lost it's charge over a couple of months, UV dye showed tiny leaks at most of the O rings, been fine for a couple of years with new ones now. If you can get them to put some dye in it makes finding small leaks a lot easier.

[Zelandeth]

Trabant has been on daily duties today as Abby's been in the office so the Partner is away.  

Doesn't seem to be a fan of this latest round of oil, being far more grumpy about idling.  Will revert back to what I got last time, this bottle had been a target of opportunity while I was buying other things and knew I was getting lowish.

Nothing else to note really aside from pleasing numerical symmetry on the mileage just as I was more or less just about to turn into the drive.