Possible aircon problem?

DJW svx · #1 11-24-2009, 12:29 AM

Yesterday I used the SVX as usual and heard a beeping sound, it seems that the round temperature unit on the dash keeps counting itself down to 18 from where I have set it. I raised it to 23 and it just returned itself to 18 there also seems to be a problem with the outside temperature reading in so far as it is also playing up. Have no idea where to start so any help would be great.

scoobymal · #2 11-24-2009, 01:28 AM

My mate peter (black alcyone jdm) had this problem on his,he tried but failed to get this fixed,he could get a temp fix by jamming a small piece of card/paper against the round temp display.

M30SVX · #3 11-24-2009, 07:38 AM

Hi - I had this problem on a recently purchased SVX.
The symptons you described are exactly typical of a failure of the Aircon control unit, which comprises the aircon buttons/controls, including the round temp setter, which you can see on your dash just above the radio.
It comes out fairly easily as a unit, after removing the instrument panel.

New ones are apparently unavailable from Subaru.

There is a company:-

http://www.bba-reman.com/uk/index.aspx

which offers a repair service for about £100 + vat if the unit is repairable. They will check it out for you and either repair it or send it back to you.

They were unable to repair mine because it had already been mucked about with, so they returned it.

Luckily I found one at a breakers for £40 + carriage which miraculously worked!!

DJW svx · #4 11-24-2009, 10:12 AM

Thanks for that I'll make sure I don't try any DIY work on it then.

svxistentialist · #5 11-25-2009, 06:20 PM

This is the symptom of a bad aircon unit all right. I do remember being in one where the temp counted up to 32, but most count down to 18.

I took one apart lately and noticed some circuit board damage from a leaky capacitor. I had it repaired by a friend who owns a circuit board company. Unfortunately I have not had a chance to re-install it and see if the repair worked.

If I can find time this weekend I'll try fitting it to the car and see if the repair works. If by any strange chance it does work I have kept photographic record of the damage and the repair. It would be nice if we could defeat this fault. It's a fault that only afflicts the Euro-Oz-JDM controller, it does not afflict the US type with buttons in the centre.

Joe

stevek · #6 11-25-2009, 09:30 PM

My JDM car has intermittent scrolling on this temp scale. I don't use the car daily and what seems to help is keeping the battery well charged. It has an alarm fitted (sadly - what a pain) which does the battery no favours, so rightly or wrongly I use an ancient charger set on 1 amp for a day every week or 3. The charger is so old I had to put a square pin plug on it!
Incidentally my SVX has the coldest aircon I have ever experienced. It has been recharged following all the mech work done so I assume this is why.

DJW svx · #7 11-26-2009, 12:43 AM

Thanks for all the replies, I will need to get it sorted so any instructions on how to remove the unit would be helpful, I have a few friends who run electronics companies so if its something that can be easily identified they may be able to sort it rather than have to send it away to the repair specialists listed below. Having said that I always run a car cold inside the cab as I hate the heat and love the cold my wife always moans about it when she is in the car.

svxistentialist · #8 11-26-2009, 01:54 AM

OK, I'll have a go at replacing the unit in one of my cars this weekend.

If by some miracle it works I can give you full instructions. I have no guarantee the repair will fix the problem, but I am 100% certain the bad capacitor is the primary cause of the control board degradation.

We'll wait and see.

Joe

DJW svx · #9 11-26-2009, 01:45 PM

Much appreciate the help, do you think I could damage the circuit components by inserting a bit of card to hold the temperature up it seems to work but wonder if it may damage anything having said that there is no smell of burning circuit boards or components as of yet.

blueji · #10 11-26-2009, 04:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DJW svx

Much appreciate the help, do you think I could damage the circuit components by inserting a bit of card to hold the temperature up it seems to work but wonder if it may damage anything having said that there is no smell of burning circuit boards or components as of yet.

Just for the record you can add me to the list, mine counted up to the 32 mark. Luckily, I had a second hand unit to replace it with and all is working fine.

I personally wouldn't jam the unit to function incase of further damage, if it's cold you can always put on yer thermals, saying that, it's almost tropical down there compared to the frozen north

John

M30SVX · #11 11-27-2009, 12:22 PM

Just out of interest, I have been in contact with BBA-Reman, again. I have offered to send them a faulty unit and a good working unit to see if they can identify a faulty component. They said 'send us both units, we'll check them out and report back'.
Before I strip out my good working unit, I just want to check with them whether or not they have ever successfully repaired one of these.
If it's a faulty component, like a capacitor, then there should be no reason why it can't be repaired - but if it's a chip that has gone down then that's a different matter.
It would certainly be a great comfort to SVX owners to know that there is somewhere to send their faulty aircon units for an effective repair.
I will report back in a week or so if there is any progress.

DJW svx · #12 11-28-2009, 02:57 AM

I guess if it can be identified a single component failure like a capacitor it should be reasonably cheap to replace.

Arthur-UK · #13 11-29-2009, 04:27 AM

I have recently had the same problem.

Its indicative of an intermittent short on the keyboard scanning matrix (yes I am an electronics bod!) so I took the control unit out and opened it up. What a nicely made bit of kit it is. I looked at the hand soldered joints on the flat ribbon cables that join the boards to each other. Sure enough several joints had "debris" linking them, I resoldered them and cleaned them with alcohol. I refitted it and it worked fine. This was about a month ago, then last week the problem came back, bugger.

So I too have a bit of card jammed in the round button, simulating the down button being held down.

I am surprised it came back because the flux and gunk I cleaned off were exactly where I expected the problem to be, on the keyboard matrix connections. The rest of the pcb's were immaculate, flow soldered and lacquered.

Joe before you refit yours have a look at the interboard ribbon cables, they are hand soldered and mine had not been cleaned.

Dave, what happened to our Hampshire meetup ? How about next Sunday 6th at the Goodwood Breakfast bash ?

svxistentialist · #14 11-29-2009, 04:37 PM

Thanks Arthur.

Now that you mention it I will open up the unit and have a look just in case there is debris on those.

Guys I did have a go at dismantling my car to remove the old unit and replace with the refurbed one. I got a long way in the process, but there are a lot of panels and so on to remove and I ran out of time.

On the positive side I have recorded everything photographically. I've done up a How To document detailing the dismantling, and it will also show the install. I'll do a separate one for the condenser repair later.

However, I've not been successful in uploading the document, it's very large, but give me time I'll post all details.

Joe

svxistentialist · #15 11-29-2009, 05:38 PM

OK, after a bit of a struggle I got it to upload, just had to find a facility that would accept 4MB files!

Good old SVXWN, I have an album that accepts files other than jpegs.

Because it had to be less than 4 MB I had to leave off a couple of pictures, and I have called it Installation Part 1, as it is unfinished.

http://photos.svxwn.com/main.php?g2_itemId=3102

Click on the file where it says "no thumbnail", then click on "download document"

Let me know if it works OK.

Joe