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Renault - Espace - Air Conditioning

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38K views 15 replies 10 participants last post by  Frank Byl  
#1 ·
Letting you all know about this as I wonder if it is a common fault - or indeed an installation design fault.

I found air conditioning not to be working - had'nt really driven the car in hot weather until now. After a recharge (free of charge at the Renault dealer - don't ask me how I got that) and after a diagnostic (again subsequently wavered) the switched earth wire to the compressor was found to be faulty and corroded at the connector block.

Apparrently quite a few bits in the engine bay had to be removed to get to it. I probably did pay more than if I had used an independant garage however fortunately the dealer I bought the car from has agreed to contribute an amount towards it even though I was outside the used car warranty. (You might say they should'nt have sold the car to me with air con that was not working - but they have sorted a couple of other items and think they are being very reasonable)

While it was in I also had the auxillary belt drive and tensioner replaced as the tensionar pulley was found to have a chunk of plastic missing - this was done close to the price of the parts.

Overall it has burnt a small hole in my wallet, but overall the I think the dealers have been reasonable - don't ask me to mention names and costs for this one as I don't want to put the dealers up for comparison.

However the main reason for the post is to try and find out if this is a common fault - air con compressor - not the pulley wheel.

Also after this episode I am wondering if I should have purchased a car that still had the manufacturers Warranty with it. I guess we live and learn.
 
#3 ·
Also,if your worried about future dramas,consider taking out an aftermarket warranty.They vary in quality wildly,but if you read all the small print and purchase carefully,it should take the sting out of any future problems.:)
 
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#4 ·
I've just bought a second-hand Grand Espace mkIV and have had the same problem with the connector. I knew the aircon wasn't working when I bought it and thought it might be the compressor as there was no drop in revs when the button was pressed. While I was underneath the car to find out the compressors details. I noticed that one wire on the 2-wire connector plug had completely corroded and was broken in 2 places within an inch of the block. I've just phoned City Motors in Bristol who are the local dealers and was told there's no replacement connector available and I'd have to buy a completely new compressor (do they come with a new plug and length of wiring then?) at a cost of £350+. When I said I wasn't going to pay that much and I'd have to sort out the plug myself they just it the phone down on me!!! Not a "Sorry we couldn't help" or similar, so much for customer service eh! I'd have got a right rollicking if I'd have been heard done that when I worked at John Lewis lol. Fingers crossed it sorts the problem, or it'll be eBay here I come.

Anyway,where's my soldering iron...
 
B
#7 ·
Hi. Sorry for the delay in getting back.
My IV's still not sorted. Fixed both compressor plug wires as both corroded. Have got live feed to both plugs, so fuses are ok, system was regassed (free at Kwikfit as didn't make any difference obviously) computer cleared (£25 at local garage) compressor bearings seem okay but still no clicking aircon. Will have to check earths and see if compressor will click with an alternative earth. Not sure if any relays switch the earth but don't know much about electrics. If earth not the problem then its time for a visit to an aircon/auto electrician methinks :(
 
#8 ·
There have been posts, in which the car has "forgotten" it got air-con fitted. Therefore there's no "on" command from the BCM / UCH.
If you have +12 both sides of the aircon clutch, then the earth MUST be missing.
 
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#9 ·
Well I've got a couple of days off now, so weather permitting I'll get under the thing again and mess about with earth wires to the bodywork or battery and see if that helps matters. If it DOES fire up the compressor then its time to clean up all the earthing points I assume.
It's funny, but when I bought this, apart from the aircon now working it was great. I jokingly put a stickers on the back on French that translated to "French pile of s***". I decided to take it off a few weeks ago as I was tidying the bodywork up and since then the thing had started to fall apart. The back axle has a bad rattle which goes away when the brake pedal is depressed so it'll possibly be a problem with the pads being loose in the calipers (no retaining springs???), the front drivers side shock might have gone as when I run over a speck of dust there's a thud which goes right through the chassis and there's a creaking/clunking appeared on the passenger side front in the last few days too. I should have stuck with my old Volvo V40 lol
 
B
#10 ·
Well with reference to the above problems, the coil is missing about 30mm on one side which creaks when it moves (thanks to the local council for not filling in the millions of potholes in North Somerset) and I think one of the wishbone joints has gone on the drivers side causing the "thud". I've decided to go for it and fit 2 new front struts, 2 new wishbones, 2 new drop links and some -30mm lowering coils all round to stop the barge "wallowing" so much. Hopefully that'll be the suspension sorted. Just the aircon, offside handbrake and the dodgy electronic dashboard (which has decided to now play up-goes on and off at will) to fix. I will NOT be buying a Renault again lol. I've had a few cars but have never encountered so many problems over the course of 6 months.
 
J
#11 ·
Bigdave,, suspect I have a bust spring too, as the car now has very vague steering, had exactly this on a laguna, replaced rear springs, and all was well again. It skipped sideways a bit when the left rear wheel went over a smallish bump. The espace is doing this and front tyre wear was bad on left side outer, and pulling to left. On the laguna, it was only a short piece from the lower end of the spring that was broke, you couldn't see it on the car at all. Hmm. The aircon on the espace is not working on mine, it has a leak on a metal pipe, my understanding is when the gas pressure drops, the system switches it off at the UCH for safety, and even after a regas it needs to have the fault removed and reset on the diagnostic machine before it will work again. So if yours lost pressure at some point, you will need to have this reset and you wouldn't hear any compressors or relays kick in until it's been done. Good luck!
 
#12 ·
The aircon on my 2010 Espace has decided not to blow cold air. The car battery died recently and after fitting a new one the aircon has failed to cool the interior. All the selectors on the control panel work and the engine cooling fans kick in....and run continuously if the aircon is selected. No message codes displayed to indicate anything is wrong. Could this simply be a case of having the ecu told that aircon/climate control exists? The system had been fine until the battery problem. Thanks.
 
B
#13 ·
Well...it's been a while but I'm back. Nothing's changed regards my air con...still not working. 2 colleagues have tried to access the cars computer using both a cheap code reader and also a snap -on branded one but neither could connect to it.
From what I recall I had 12v positive going to both wiring plugs on the compressor even if the car was switched off, making me think the earth might be switched..if that's feasible. Without being able to access the car's brains I can't tell if there's any fault codes that need clearing to get the compressor to fire up.
I'm going to (weather permitting) take the undertray cover off to access the compressor tomorrow and try and wire the compressor up to an external 12v supply and see if the compressor clutch then engages. If it doesn't then I know that the clutch has probably gone and I need to replace the compressor with a second hand one (can't afford a new one). If it does engage then a trip to an air-con specialists garage is needed to suss out the electrics to it. Then it's time get the system leak - tested. After that then God knows and ill just have to open the windows when it gets hot (no sunroof) ;)
 
B
#14 ·
Back again.

The compressor has power to both front and rear power points on it, even when the car is switched off and locked up, so I'm not sure that's even right???

Not running, the voltage was 12.2v and running it was 13.3v. Is there a minimum voltage required for the clutch to engage I wonder? As it stands I can't see how else it's switched on with power already there.

I must admit I don't know much about cars (as you might have guessed lol), but any advice would be gratefully appreciated ;)
 
A
#15 ·
With the unusually warm spell we're having in the UK this May, I was reminded that the air conditioning was still not working in my 05 Espace 3.0 dci. Everything appeared to be OK except the compressor was not kicking in. As mentioned before in other posts, voltage can be measured at the compressor even with the ignition off so why wasn't it working?!! The refrigerant and all controls appeared to be normal.
Well after much trawling on the interweb, I can confirm the compressor is fed from a permanent 12v supply from the fusebox in the battery compartment via a 20A mini fuse (FM9) e.g. it is NOT supplied by the fuse in the LHS dashboard as per the manual. The 12v feed goes to a grey connector on the gearbox and then across the front of engine bay to the compressor on a red wire. It then returns on a green wire to the same grey connector before going back to the UCH under the dash. The UCH switches the return path to -ve, it does this to detect an open circuit before the air conditioning switches on the compressor.

My fault was a very small piece of corrosion on the red wire next to the gearbox grey connector that eventually went open circuit over winter . A short piece of repair cable and soldering was needed then the cold air flowed once more:smile2:.
To conclude, the whole compessor coil wiring is prone to corrosion damage as it is always at 12V even when the car is not in use and sits in an area where coolant, salt spray and other damp can penetrate and quickly turn the copper to green dust.
You can make a quick check at the compressor connector with a 3 to 4 ohm 50w test load and a voltmeter. A 12v 50W light bulb would be a good choice.
 
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