Air Con

[pbrett]

I know this is going to be difficult to judge, but how cold is the air coming out of your vents? I suspect mine isn't working as the air seems almost like non-cooled air.

With a (hopefully) hot and sunny FOS set of traffic jams to sit in, I'd like a bit more cooling.

Thanks

Phil

[joust]

Mine comes out at 2 degrees C as measured by an IR themometer. It should feel "cold" to the hand when put in front of it.

Few things to check.

Get the car fully warmed up and then park up.
Flip the rear.
Find the main drive belt from the engine and follow it. You'll find a shiny "brass" coloured item attached to the drive belt, that is the compressor for the air con. It runs a "clutch" mechanism that allows it to freewheel.

Turn the air con off, and when you turn it back on you should hear a "clunk" and you should see the clutch engage (ideally have an assistant!). After about 10-20 seconds you should see it disengage again and then after another 10-20 seconds see it re-engage.

If it isn't doing that then two things.

1) Your refigerant is too low. Take it to any compentant air con service centre and they will fix it for you.
2) If you have an early 2.5l car you might be suffering from overheating of the heat exchanger. The way to tell this is to try the same experiment when there car is stone cold - if it's OK then then chat to your dealer (if your radiator looks like this
www.lotus-elise.org.uk/noble/Cooling/Noble%20Engine%20Problems%20009.jpg
rather than this
www.lotus-elise.org.uk/noble/Cooling/V0000008.JPG that that could be the issue)

Of course 1) and 2) could also be true (2 exagerates 1).

Hope that helps!

Oh - final thing, when sticking it onto cold, ensure that you turn the temp dial to the right and then all the way back to the left to ensure you aren't sticking a small amount of hot water into the system - and also you should generally run the air con in "recirculation" mode to get cold - otherwise you are constantly trying to cool the hot outside air!

J

[pbrett]

Thanks very much Mr J. Off out now to have a play.

BTW it's a new 3R (in Indigo blue, which we know is the best colour!).

Phil

[V6GTO]

pbrett said:

BTW it's a new 3R (in Indigo blue, which we know is the best colour!). Phil

That's a majority of two then. Martin.

[m12_nathan]

Three

[V6GTO]

Sorry, Nathan, I forgot lightning can strike in the same place three times!

[m12_nathan]

What was it Dan called the colour of your car? []

[V6GTO]

I don't know.

There are none so deaf as those who will not listen!

And seeing as nobody has seen the car yet(including me!) I'm not rising to the bait. M.

[pbrett]

Ah, well it's broke. I think all the gas has come out. Off to the menders me thinks.

Oh, and how many windscreens have people had? I've picked up two big chips in as many weeks (and I've not been rallying).

Cheers

Phil

[joust]

Sorry to hear that

I've managed to keep away from chips on the windscreen (the front of the car is a totally different kettle of fish though!)

J

[pbrett]

joust said:

Sorry to hear that I've managed to keep away from chips on the windscreen (the front of the car is a totally different kettle of fish though!) J

I actually saw the stone coming today. I was just bowling along in the outside lane then thought, that's going to hit right..about..there. Bash. Nice pretty little star!

I suspect the air con's never worked. Interestingly even on a muggy day like today it's not too bad in the car. You seem to get a big waft of heat if you've been stuck in traffic then move off to about 40MPH, as the rads and front flush the heat out I guess. On balance though, I'll live with the extra 10KG and a few BHP loss for a few DegC cooler.

And as for colours! Right who's going to have a hack at the Noble colour picker off the website? Allow people to choose the RGB values directly, then we'll have a 'worst M12 colour competition'. Over to you Martin

[V6GTO]

Hold on a moment...I've never run anyones car down, and wouldn't dream of it. I just happened to mention that I thought Titanium was a bit worn out. M.

PS - I think Indigo Blue is the best of the standard colours and nearly had it myself, but there are just too many blue Nobs out there allready.

[joust]

pbrett said:

I suspect the air con's never worked. Interestingly even on a muggy day like today it's not too bad in the car. You seem to get a big waft of heat if you've been stuck in traffic then move off to about 40MPH, as the rads and front flush the heat out I guess. On balance though, I'll live with the extra 10KG and a few BHP loss for a few DegC cooler.

Hmm - is it still in warranty? If so, then I'd ring the dealer then and see if they'll recharge it under warranty????

pbrett said:

And as for colours! Right who's going to have a hack at the Noble colour picker off the website? Allow people to choose the RGB values directly, then we'll have a 'worst M12 colour competition'. Over to you Martin

www.gto3.com/colours/index.htm - play away!

J

[pbrett]

Thanks for the link Justin. I've made myself quite queezy with some of my choices already! I've only had my car for a month (from new) so it's not going to be an issue getting the air con fixed.

Only pulling your leg Martin. If it's the colour I think it is, I've got a friend with an EVO in that colour and it looks nice. The odd thing is it seems really effected (more than most other colours) by the light. i.e. Sunny day looks one colour, dull day another. At least it's not one of those TVR technicolour always changing jobs. I can see their parking tickets now :-

Car model : Curvy thing leeking oil.
Colour : Something like
Offence : ive. Yes.

I'll shut up now.

[V6GTO]

No worries, Phil. For what it's worth here's a not very good picture of the colour.

Martin.

[pbrett]

That's about the one yes. Nice (if you can filter out the car it's on).