Lost and hopefully found

[stuh]

Good evening to all Millbrook bods from today

Sadly in my haste to get my poorly car back home i forgot to pick up my Noble luggage bag before i left. If anyone picked it up please let me know. I've left a message with Cadence as well.

Although my car let me down again it was still worth going just to see V6 GTO Should turn a few heads on the Costa Del Sol.

Also, Bob T, What's your email address as i have a question or two for you re m400!

Cheers for organising Owen, much appreciated. The Millbrook facilities were absolutely fantastic!

[joust]

Stuh - sorry, I rushed off so I saw it next to my stuff.

Great day, and my air-con finally started working properly about 1/3rd of the way around the M25. really need to sort out some more heat shielding for the compressor from the turbos....

Sorry about your car - hope it's something simple.

And big thanks also to Owen for organising it. My only real commet on the day was I though that there was actually too much to do!

J

[miken]

Stu, I am sure Cadence will have your bag. You'll just have to go on another day with them to pick it up!

Big thanks to Cadence, Owen and Millbrook for a fantastic day..

A combination of the outer handling circuit and the hill route has shown me just how much I have to learn about getting the most from my car. But I am now no longer a track virgin, and hopelessly addicted...

Good to put some faces to names, see you all on the next day!

All the best

Mike

[ThatPhilBrettGuy]

Hhhmmm aircon. I've noticed something with mine. If you keep the revs low it works well. Anything over 3000rpm or so and it gets warmer and warmer. I'm guessing the pump just doesn't work well spinning fast.

Also, it's not engine temp dependant. Go for a hack around and get everything red hot. Slow down (temps still high) but just use low revs and nice cool air appears again.

[amg merc]

ThatPhilBrettGuy said:

Hhhmmm aircon. I've noticed something with mine. If you keep the revs low it works well. Anything over 3000rpm or so and it gets warmer and warmer. I'm guessing the pump just doesn't work well spinning fast.

Could the belt be slipping above 3,000 revs?

[thatphilbrettguy]

amg merc said:

Could the belt be slipping above 3,000 revs?

Yeah, I wondered that. But, that'd mean the pump slowing down as the revs rise. Could be, but unlikely. I suspect the pump just doesn't like running around that fast.

[StressedDave]

There was loads of stuff left over after we'd cleared up - quite a bit of it 'Noble-branded'. Give Susie a ring in a day or so (she needs some kip to get over Sunday) and she'll sort it out. The phone number if you don't already have it is 01949 844449

[s3am]

Thanks to Owen and Cadence for a great day out. Milbrook is just about petrolhead nirvana!! I learn a great deal about myself and the car and it was great to have an open expanse of tarmac to play with! Its just a shame we couldn't bring our cameras.

Great to meet you all, hope you all got back safely and that any niggles are sorted out soon. I had no trouble with my a/c, it ran full and cold all day, maybe I don't drive it hard enough!

Stuh -hope you find your bag.

Sam

p.s. where were all the titanium cars??

[joust]

ThatPhilBrettGuy said:

Hhhmmm aircon. I've noticed something with mine. If you keep the revs low it works well. Anything over 3000rpm or so and it gets warmer and warmer. I'm guessing the pump just doesn't work well spinning fast. Also, it's not engine temp dependant. Go for a hack around and get everything red hot. Slow down (temps still high) but just use low revs and nice cool air appears again.

Interesting observation!

However on mine the compressor stops engaging. If you listen carefully (or get an assistant and watch the compressor yourself) when you press the air-con on-button the compressor clunks as the clutch engages to attach the flywheel on the compressor to the actual compressor mechanism in place.

When it's running nicely the compressor will run for about 10-20 seconds, then disengage, then wait 10-20 for the heat exchange to take place in the rad and then repeat. Same principle as having a thermostat within your water circuit for the normal radiator - it's more efficient to do the heat exchange in "lumps" than continiously.

To that end perhaps your's isn't doing that "cycle" and therefore it it does run permantly then that would explain your problem - with it running all the time there wouldn't be enough time for the heat exchange to take place in the small heat exchanger in front of the main radiator at high revs as it would just "whizz" straight pass!

On mine the problem is different - the compressor stops engaging once I've been ragging it. I guess it's heat soak from the turbo that heats up the compressor and a thermal protection system within it stops it engaging. I was going to try this theory out by pouring some de-mineralised water over the compressor housing once I got home to see if it then immediatly sprung back into life, but the thing started working again before I could get back home.

I'm also got some other ideas - just off to buy an appropiate Ford air-con manual to check out if my ideas are sound! I'll let people know if I solve it.

J

[LaurenceFrost]

Although I don't think this is related, it is normal for air con to shut off while the throttle is fully pressed. Modern ECU's are clever enough to shut it off as the pump absorbs a fair bit of power.

[YellowShed]

As Laurence says, some ECUs are clever enough to switch off the A/C compressor for full power, but they usually only do this for one or two short bursts for overtaking etc. However, the ECU has no control over the system in the Noble.

The system is self regulating from low-pressure and high-pressure switches, and it is the high-pressure side which will cut the compressor out to stop the system over-pressuring when everything gets too hot.

Similarly the low-pressure side limits the system from freezing the water in the air at the chiller to stop ice damage/blockage.

Hope that helps,

YellowShed

[joust]

YellowShed said:

The system is self regulating from low-pressure and high-pressure switches, and it is the high-pressure side which will cut the compressor out to stop the system over-pressuring when everything gets too hot.

Ah! I thought as much - thanks Trevor.

My plan involves first looking at some additional ducting to get air blasted at the compressor, the second will involve moving the compressor entirely to another location and changing it to an electronic one. Extreeme maybe, but from the small amount of digging I've done shouldn't be *too* expensive.

First though I'm going to get the system recharged, as I am sure that the drop in refrigerant after two years is exhasperating the issue? www.fordgalaxy.org.uk/Forum/index.php?showtopic=2227&st=45 seems to indicate this may just be the root cause of the problems.

Trevor / anyone - don't suppose you know what I need to tell to a recharger to get it done correctly (i.e. "it's the same as a Ford xxxx", or "it should have xxxx gms of refigerant"?)

J

[ar-gto]

I am hoping that the factory can finally fix my air con - it is back there today. On my car, the compressor clutch engages with the usual loud click - and then runs for 4-5 seconds. It is certainly not doing any kind of heat exchaning though!!

Am certainly interested in Jousts idea of getting more ducting/cool air into the engine bay though - not that the car runs hot - but anything to cool it down in there has surely got to help!

>> Edited by ar-gto on Monday 9th August 12:38