Hot air from vents

[Andy Collings]

Thanks for very quick reply, the link worked fine, may be daft question but which profile would you say is best?

[rehan]

No problem! I think out of the lot, P should be good. This is what one side of mine looked like:

20190525_171044.jpg (194.18 KiB) Viewed 2963 times

20190525_171044.jpg (194.18 KiB) Viewed 2963 times

[Andy Collings]

Still waiting for the bulk head bits to arrive but yesterday had the HCV replaced with one off ebay, genuine replacement but pre owned. Will see how it goes, hopefully get some hot weather soon to try it out properly.

[henrym3]

Just a mention about your heater valves, if they are breaking up internally you should make it a priority to change them. If the bits that break up get into your coolant pipes it’s possible they will accumulate somewhere else along the line and cause all sorts of weird problems

[Andy Collings]

Good point, the heater valves were changed haven't checked the old ones yet for internal breakdown. See soon if fixed my hot air problem.

[rehan]

Hi Andy,

Just wondering if you have an update on the hot / cool air issue. Hopefully it's sorted?

[Andy Collings]

Hi, do you know what, I had the valve replaced with one off ebay a while ago and completely forgot about posting update. I also forgot about the problem because it hasn't happened since. Happy days. Thanks for jogging my memory.

[rehan]

Hey,

Good to know it's fixed the issue. Did you get the bulkhead bits installed also?

From what you are posting, we're experiencing similar issues on our cars. Probably one serial number away from each other lol

[Andy Collings]

Ha, cars must be similar. Got the bulkhead bits but not changed them yet or fitted the draught excluders. Will do soon though. Got an oil leak now from vacuum pump seals, waiting for new seals. Also rear view camera has always been in black and white and is affected by rain. Will take off trim and see what is going on. Hopefully just damp and a bad connection. One thing after another but I still love the car. Will post any updates as they occur, may save you some troubles.

[Andy Collings]

Guess what, just got home from trip to Bristol, heating was fine going but got in car to come back and it's doing the hot air through vents again. Comes through hot from all vents even though didn't change any settings from lowest 16 degrees. Put the Air con on to counteract it but Air con seems warm too, not ice cold as expected. Had it regassed last year and was told no faults with it. Still got engine smell coming through too.
Have to investigate further, get the bulkhead bits changed too, get the Air con checked again and do some reading up on forums etc for the annoying hot air. Back to square one. That's life I suppose.
Any idea's ?

[rehan]

Changing your bulkhead bits will help, as you're sucking air in from the engine bay which gets pretty hot on the V8. The aircon gas loses pressure in about 6 months on mine, so I just refill it every year using the DIY can thing from Halfords.

[Andy Collings]

Thanks Rehan. I used my diagnostics on it today and got codes E723 and E729. Cleared them both but the E723 came straight back. I have booked car in to garage to have my vacuum pump seals changed as they are leaking and also he going to change the bulk head 3 pieces. I will fit the draught excluder to them myself before taking them in. Also asked for a full aircon service / test and refill. Wasn't sure if the top up cans were any good and thought the correct pressure etc was very important. Does it take a full can, how do you know when it's full and which port do you put it in?
Really grateful to you for your help! Andy

[rehan]

First time I bought the car, the aircon was completely empty. Was a bad decision to get the DIY can at that time, as it took more than one refill to get it to pressure.

This year, the aircon failed again. I chanced the aircon can again, and luckily one can was more than enough to get it up to the required pressure. You need to get a canister, and the filling gauge, where it will indicate the correct pressure for the system. There are 2 places to connect the kit to under the bonnet. It will fit to one of them as it is a different side. I think it's the Low Pressure side of the system that the gas is injected into. You then start the engine, and the aircon. Wait a bit, and then fill the gas until the required pressure is met. It comes with all the instructions needed. The brand is STP (from Halfords).

[Andy Collings]

Thanks very much again, have ordered a can of gas and the gauge / pipework to fit it to connection point. Hopefully all will be ok. Found out compressor not kicking in at all hence no cold air. Apparently if no gas in system the compressor will not work. Will soon see with the gauge. Ordered a condensation sensor and a pressure sensor just in case, that's what fault codes suggested Just bought some good price ones off ebay for diagnostics etc. Time will tell. Will up date shortly.

[X5Sport]

The ‘no run on empty’ is there to stop the compressor seizing. The refrigerant should contain lubricant to keep the system running. Modern ac systems need to be used very regularly in order to prevent the seals drying out. I never turn mine off these days and it makes no real difference to mpg anyway - which was the reason many used to turn theirs off - so it stays on.

A friend had an old Jag XJS V12 and turning the ac on at idle would stall the engine! Things have got somewhat better since then.

The E53 was reported as having a ‘typical’ gas loss of 15% per year. Like above, I used the Halfords kit to keep it topped up every two to three years.