P38A EAS Compressor thermal switch: Sorted. Switch is kaput.

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kurtjohnson10 said:
I would check your relays and all fuses , and the board for any damage or corrosion. You have a surge issue somewhere that will love to eat your pump thermal trip asap.
Just replacing pumps is not the best way, take your time and have a good luck at the relay board and replace relays with correct relays.
One major problem that can be ticked off the check list then :D

See @pwood999 think he may have a source for compressors :)
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If the weather is better tomorrow I'll check the condition of the fuse panel. I don't recall reading that one but to be fair I have read heaps about all of this over the last few weeks it's all starting to roll into one. I also replaced the relay for the compressor with an OEM relay. I tested that by applying power to it, the new one, and it clicked as it should do. I've kept the old one though and I am going to pull it apart and see what condition it is like inside. Again, it is likely to have been in the car since 2001.
All of the fuses are good, I have plenty of spare ones as well. The only thing I can't seem to find brand new is the relay under the passenger seat. I've seen some on ebay for £15-ish but the trouble with old ones is does it actually work coreectly? I know if need be I can get a new fuse panel. I'm also going to change the terminals on the battery. The negative terminal is feeling like it won't be far from becoming completely loose. It is already tightened as tight as it can be. So I thought I'd just replace it with a new one.

Cheers

Craig
 
I should also have the replacement compressor tomorrow. The first thing I will be doing with it is testing the continuity between the black and orange wires then testing if it actually runs properly prior to installing it into the car. Which I won't be doing until I have checked all of the above. No point putting a brand new working(hopefully) compressor if the problem is still there.

Cheers for the advice.

Craig
 
MacMan6107 said:
I should also have the replacement compressor tomorrow. The first thing I will be doing with it is testing the continuity between the black and orange wires then testing if it actually runs properly prior to installing it into the car. Which I won't be doing until I have checked all of the above. No point putting a brand new working(hopefully) compressor if the problem is still there.

Cheers for the advice.

Craig
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Don't leave it running more than a 10 seconds at a time as you may blow the thermal trip o_O

the reason i say check your other relays and board is that if you see any damage then it solves a lot of other problems happening later. Have you checked the plug the compressor plugs into on the loom?
If those wires have been damaged or the pins are corroded they can also cause an issue :D

The wonderous world of P38s:p
 
MacMan6107 said:
If the weather is better tomorrow I'll check the condition of the fuse panel. I don't recall reading that one but to be fair I have read heaps about all of this over the last few weeks it's all starting to roll into one. I also replaced the relay for the compressor with an OEM relay. I tested that by applying power to it, the new one, and it clicked as it should do. I've kept the old one though and I am going to pull it apart and see what condition it is like inside. Again, it is likely to have been in the car since 2001.
All of the fuses are good, I have plenty of spare ones as well. The only thing I can't seem to find brand new is the relay under the passenger seat. I've seen some on ebay for £15-ish but the trouble with old ones is does it actually work coreectly? I know if need be I can get a new fuse panel. I'm also going to change the terminals on the battery. The negative terminal is feeling like it won't be far from becoming completely loose. It is already tightened as tight as it can be. So I thought I'd just replace it with a new one.

Cheers

Craig
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Have a good sniff of the fuse box any smell of burning?? If you've got to replace it make sure it's the correct one for the year and fuel type.
 
tomcat59alan said:
Have a good sniff of the fuse box any smell of burning?? If you've got to replace it make sure it's the correct one for the year and fuel type.
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It's interesting that you say that because before the fuse blew & the pump knackered itself we did smell something odd but we were driving through a little country village and attributed the smell to that.

kurtjohnson10 said:
Don't leave it running more than a 10 seconds at a time as you may blow the thermal trip o_O

the reason i say check your other relays and board is that if you see any damage then it solves a lot of other problems happening later. Have you checked the plug the compressor plugs into on the loom?
If those wires have been damaged or the pins are corroded they can also cause an issue :D

The wonderous world of P38s:p
Click to expand...

But we do love them Kurt............................................:D
The new compressor has arrived and it's not in the car yet but it does pass all bench tests, as it should. However, we have found what we believe is the problem. It is at the fuse panel. We removed all of the plugs one at a time underneath it and didn't find anything odd until we got to the blue one. On the blue plug itself, we found what looks like slight burning on one of the pins and its socket (Apologies if that isn't the correct term. I forgot to take a picture of that but there is no evidence of burning on the actual tab). Upon removing the yellow one next to it we found a big issue. The plug was caked with corrosion. In one area it was at least 1mm thick. We then removed every relay & fuse and checked the top of the panel and there was no evidence at all of corrosion there. That isn't to say there's not any in areas we couldn't see. I think I may actually take each relay out and test they are all working properly too.


Here are some pics. I hope you can all see them.





Oh, the left rear bag is leaking. Well actually I don't know if it is actually the bag but the left rear dropped overnight (happy days! :confused:). I never noticed it before because I didn't know about removing the EAS relay (I've forgotten its proper name) under the left front seat and how removing that stops the car from automatically lowering to access mode plus, I also always lower the car right down after driving it to make it easier for me to get in & out of it(I have a few physical health issues so my wife is the spanner monkey for a lot of the stuff I just can't do). There are definitely no air leaks at the valve block. Last night I used a very liberal amount of soapy (a lot of soap) water to check all around the valves and at the grommets where the airlines exit the block. There are also no leaks at the EAS bypass I have installed. So I'll need to put the car on stands and have a look underneath to see if I can find where the leak is because it, as far as I know, can only be there.

Ok, so what am I going to do next. First I will be installing the compressor but I won't connect it to the wiring of the car. I just want it in there out of the way so it doesn't get knocked over and damaged somehow. Then I guess I'll have to tackle the yellow plug on the fuse box (why do I keep saying panel? o_O) pull it apart and clean it up, or more to the point whatever you guys advise me to do with it. I need to get up to the automotive experts at Halfords (they're professionals ;)[to be fair one of the lads up there is very knowledgeable]) to get the negative battery terminal changed. The positive terminal is in virtually new condition without any signs of wear & tear.

Anyway, onwards we roll. Thanks again guys.

Regards

Craig
 
MacMan6107 said:
The bloke that does have a clue wasn't in there today. So I didn't even bother asking them for anything, which btw, is the default whenever I do go there and he's not there.
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Get the left rear wheel off and check if the pipe is pushed fully home into the bag connection. Hope you have found the source of your electrical problems.
 
Rubberknees said:
All I can say is treasure and nurture him:D:D
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Well I do say G'day to him every time. Most times I go there it's for things not specific to the car. All the 'kids' in there just stare at me with a blank face on and hear only my accent and don't actually listen to the content.

tomcat59alan said:
Get the left rear wheel off and check if the pipe is pushed fully home into the bag connection. Hope you have found the source of your electrical problems.
Click to expand...
My spanner monkey and I will be doing just that this afternoon :D

Rubberknees said:
Nowt finer than getting your pipe pushed fully in:D:D
Click to expand...
You what!? :D:p
 
MacMan6107 said:
Well I do say G'day to him every time. Most times I go there it's for things not specific to the car. All the 'kids' in there just stare at me with a blank face on and hear only my accent and don't actually listen to the content.

My spanner monkey and I will be doing just that this afternoon :D

You what!? :D:p
Click to expand...
Just one for tomcatalan:D:D
 
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