No Wonder The Aircon Doesn't Work!

[bconnelly]

I bought a 2003 Avensis D4D about 4 weeks ago. In almost every respect I love the car. This last week however we have been fortunate enough to have a real taste of summer weather, not the best time to discover the aircon is not working. I paid £50 to get it regassed and leak tested but it still wouldn't work. After a bit of investigation, i've discovered that a smaller drive belt has been fitted to the car, completely missing out the aircon pump. This would obviously stop it working. I am considering just putting the proper belt on but before I do I wanted to ask if anyone knows of a reason this might have been done. I find it hard to believe someone just bought the wrong belt. I can turn the pump freely by hand but im not sure that proves anything. Has anyone got any ideas?

Cheers

BC

[Roker]

When I bought my Avensis the AC was not working. I found a leak on the HP tube between the rad and the bulkhead, it is a common problem the right angle bend under the Battery stresses the pipe and eventually leaks, you can see oil from the refrigerant drip on to the engine undercovers under the Battery, it did cost about €400 to replace. If this is the problem you could put a high pressure compression fitting (elbow) where the leak is.

[laze]

Very odd. There's really no reason to do something like that... stick the proper belt on, pop back, and let us know if it works then.

Oh, and welcome to the boards :).

[Jamesbelfast]

One of the oldestgarage tricks in the book. When the air-con compressor fails fit a shorter belt to bypass it. Sounds like the system has suffered in the past and sonmeone had done a cheapo fix.

[bconnelly]

That's my fear - that someone has done this to hide a faulty pump. As Leon suggests though, it should be a reasonably cheap exercise to put a proper belt on and try. I can always swap it back. While im on the subject, can anyone tell me if fitting a secondhand pump is sensible?