Aircon pump & Lights

[maxcaddy]

Well after thinking that I had seized/stuffed Alternator bearings, the weather cleared today and I had a delve under the bonnet to discover that the Alternator was in fact fine, but the Aircon pump was seized solid. Haven't yet worked out why its solid as the drive to it is via a magnetic coupling, but seized solid it is.

So, it looked like the easy fix was to bypass the pump and the idler wheel, and use a shorter drive belt running just the crank, tensioner, and Alternator. Shorter belt now ordered, and hopefully ready for collection tomorrow, fingers crossed.

At the same time as the belt issue above happened, the offside Headlight unit also completely stopped working. A quick look in the fuse box next to the battery didn't seem to have any fuses or relays for the lights ?, so there must be a secondary fuse box hidden somewhere ? (answers gratefully received).

Hopefully the old girl isn't dead yet, but certainly under very critical assessment.

 

 

[RichardM]

Headlamps (Export) are fed directly from the FCU (Front Control Module). The export (UK) has separate bulbs for main and dip beam - if both aren't working would suspect either the earth cable (Brown) via C107-5 (changes to black/tan after C107 to FCU (C1-5)  is o/c (open circuit) or the FCU has thrown a WOBBLER.

I assume the n/s is working OK. I don't think there are any fuses between the FCU and the bulbs (probably relies on the bulb filament acting as the fuse!

The grey cable (at bulb)  to white/grey after C107-2 feeds main beam (C1-6 at FCU),

white (at bulb) to white/tan after C107-1  feeds dip  (C1-10 at FCU)

"C" denotes a connector.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Headlights.pdf

[maxcaddy]

Many thanks for that . Can I assume that the FCU is hidden behind the Headlight ?, if not, how do you get to it ? I'm thinking that maybe a bit off of the Aircon pulley could have hit it .

Got my shortened belt (6PK1290) only to find that it's just a gnats too long, whereby it travels too close to the return side, and at tickover the two parts of the belt just kiss together. A few revs and its fine, but it will eat itself away in traffic so a shorter belt (1280) is required. These things a year or so ago were £12-15, now they're £20-25 .

[RichardM]

FCU is on the n/s in front of the IPM (the thing that house the fuses and relays), it's an aluminium box. 

I don't think you'll have hit it but you nay have caught a cable.(see image)

[maxcaddy]

Okay half the problem fixed .

The standard Aux drive belt is a 6PK1420. If you bypass the Aircon Compressor and the idler pulley above it, a 6PK1290 belt works but there is only 6mm clearance between the run of the belts, and at tickover they just kiss together. Using a 6PK1275 belt gives 22mm clearance between the runs, and other than being tight to squeeze on works fine. So instead of having to buy another compressor just to be 'in circuit' for £40 I have a working solution, which if I had been more luckier/accurate would have only been £20.

If I had to do it again or if someone else has the problem, then I would suggest using a 6PK1280 belt which will give adequate clearance. and be a shade easier to fit.

The hardest part of the job is taking off (& putting on) the 'elasticated' power steering belt which when working in the drive, in January, wasn't the easiest of tasks, but competed satisfactorily all the same .

Now to look at why the lights pack up...............

 

 

 

Edited January 11, 2022 by maxcaddy
spelling

[maxcaddy]

Another fine day today, and another problem solved .

The offside light unit which not been working ended up being solely because the connector at the back of it wasn't pushed fully home . I've had the light out before, last time about 3 years ago when replacing the Radiator, but amazingly the light has worked since then until now. Anyway a splash of electrical contact cleaner, and it's all back in place and working fine.

Next step is to renew the MoT which actually isn't due until March, but as the old girl needs a set of boots, I need to know that there's nothing else of serious note going to go wrong before investing in a new set.

Who knows, perhaps it'll end up living for another year  

 

[RichardM]

Glad to read that everything's working again ('cept aircon of course) best of luck with the MOT.

[maxcaddy]

Well not surprisingly it failed, but only on the N/S track rod end. I wouldn't mind but I changed them about 3 years/25,000 miles ago, and at the time didn't buy cheap and nasty eBay items, more like average cost ones . Anyway fail one did, so a pair from Jeepchryslerparts are on order. There were a few advisories especially with the tyres, but hey for 130,000 miles and 15 years, it could have been far worse 

Enthused with the potential success, I'll put 4 tyres on it, retest, and maybe get another year of life out of the old girl .

 

[bignev]

Not bad at all!!!

I did our track rod ends, twice, and like you paid more than a pound! Still didn't last.

Nor did the front drop links, or anti roll bar bushes. And the new pair of complete struts on the front are getting noticeably tired again, the front end gently scrapes a couple of the speed bumps on the way to our house if you don't remember to crawl over them. 

[maxcaddy]

The 'track rod ends' ordered from Jeepchryslerparts midday Friday arrived the next day (saturday), that's phenomenal delivery performance and well worth praising. Anyway fitted them fairly easily, and put it in for a retest this afternoon. Lo and behold I now have a 12 month MoT on her, so she lives for another year .

4 tyres are going on Saturday, and then a re-tracking, and that should be good enough for another 12 mts/10,000 miles. 

For those old/interested enough to remember Faulty Towers, I have similar relationship with my GV to what Basil had with his 1100 whereby it's been threatened and clearly knows that if it seriously misbehaves, it'll be send to the big scrapyard in the sky .