Possible aircon problem?

[svxistentialist]

Originally Posted by blueji

You would have thought.......

That these cars been so rare and cared for by the few die-hards, if Subaru were approached for help....(well they did build the b****y thing) they might just offer assistance to keep THEIR iconic car on the go.....

This car, really does rely on the air con on warm/sunny days

Just need an ambassador, JOE

I don't imagine we would have much success John. They are probably still losing money on every SVX sold.

We will all have to just use the wedge widget.

[blueji]

Originally Posted by svxistentialist

I don't imagine we would have much success John. They are probably still losing money on every SVX sold.

We will all have to just use the wedge widget.

Well they're certainly making up for it with the cost of spares

widget it is then

[DJW svx]

Just checked the date when my temp control started to work properly again and it was 22/12/09 so its been working now for over 7 weeks without a glitch.

[blueji]

cool.......

[DJW svx]

Pleased to say the temperature unit is still working perfectly. I expect it will go silly on me now.

[svxistentialist]

Having replaced the aircon unit in my car with the "repaired" one I'm sorry to say the repair has not been a success.

Yet.

What I have done is replace a leaky condenser with a new compatible component and it was my hope that this would repair the unit. Unfortunately this has not been the case. In a way I was too optimistic for a quick fix. I'm convinced the leaky condenser is the cause of the damage, and I believe this component failing is why all the aircon units fail the same way with the same faults and symptoms.



In the image above you can see where the acidic paste from the failed condenser C9 [a new one is installed in this picture] has completely removed the copper wire substrate from the edge of the board to the right of W2 [6-pin ribbon connector on main board] on board PCB0026TA. Without repairing this circuitry the board will have logic problems.

What I need now is somebody with an operational aircon controller to take pictures of this area so that it will be possible to see what needs repaired. Does anybody have a good controller they can open and photograph?

Joe

[DJW svx]

Bad news, I would open mine up but as its been working perfectly for ages now and I deliberately press the outside temperature button to goad it into failure but so far no problem.

[svxistentialist]

It's a lot of trouble to take the unit out and I really would not expect that.

It would be good if somebody purchased a working spare. That would be easy to open and photograph.

Joe

[M30SVX]

Just to add to the debate - I opened up my faulty ACC unit to have a look to see if I could find the same problem as Joe did with the faulty condenser C9.
Please see my attached photo. (I couldn't quite work out how to 'insert' the photo - can anyone advise?)
If you are able to see my photo, you will see that there is no visible problem with condensor C9 and I wasn't able to see any visible damage around that area or anywhere else on the circuit boards.
I did wonder whether the problem might be connected to the little + and - switches on the circuit board behind the round temperature set switch. However, I am no expert on these things.
Joe, I would be happy to send you my old faulty unit if it would help you in any way. (I'm a bit reluctant to mess with my good unit!)
Just replaced the two rear wheel bearings. What a difference! I wasn't quite sure whether it was tyre noise or wheel bearings making the car noisy around 60mph - but it is SO much quieter now. There is still tyre noise on noisy road surfaces - but I guess I'll have to live with that as my tyres (Continentals) have loads of tread left.

[DJW svx]

Does this affect all cars across the range and country its exported to its just my JDM market car 'seems' to be fine now.

[svxistentialist]

Originally Posted by DJW svx

Does this affect all cars across the range and country its exported to its just my JDM market car 'seems' to be fine now.

So far as we know it only affects the markets that got the fully automatic climate control type. And in Japan even the "base" model cars got this type of aircon control.

These markets are all right hand drive following the lead of the parent market in Japan.

So the markets we know that got this type are:

Japan
Australia
New Zealand
UK

There may be others but if there are we have not been made aware of them. Also to the best of our knowledge none of the left hand drive markets got this type. They seem all to have been supplied with the manual button one that does not have the lit up central window like ours.

If yours is working well just enjoy it and don't worry too much about it.

It would be interesting to know if any of those that failed were owned by drivers who tended to use the aircon a lot, or who disliked it and left it off all the time. When I had the Claret JDM car I used mine all the time, winter and summer. Being nerdy about fuel consumption I tested every tankfull and came to realise it made little or no difference to mileage whether it was on or off. In summer time I used it all the time to stay cool, in winter I used it to defrost and keep the screens fog-free and it never broke down with me. Just wondering if there is a trend.

Joe

[svxistentialist]

Originally Posted by M30SVX

Just to add to the debate - I opened up my faulty ACC unit to have a look to see if I could find the same problem as Joe did with the faulty condenser C9.
Please see my attached photo. (I couldn't quite work out how to 'insert' the photo - can anyone advise?)
If you are able to see my photo, you will see that there is no visible problem with condensor C9 and I wasn't able to see any visible damage around that area or anywhere else on the circuit boards.
I did wonder whether the problem might be connected to the little + and - switches on the circuit board behind the round temperature set switch. However, I am no expert on these things.
Joe, I would be happy to send you my old faulty unit if it would help you in any way. (I'm a bit reluctant to mess with my good unit!)
Just replaced the two rear wheel bearings. What a difference! I wasn't quite sure whether it was tyre noise or wheel bearings making the car noisy around 60mph - but it is SO much quieter now. There is still tyre noise on noisy road surfaces - but I guess I'll have to live with that as my tyres (Continentals) have loads of tread left.

Roger, while you have that unit open it would be a good idea if you could take more pictures of those boards, both front and back, so we can see where the ribbon connectors are attached to. Mine is acid burned so bad I can't see where the wires are meant to be connected, even looking front and back. Also I'm not seeing the crud Arthur mentions that needs cleaned off the solder points.

Maybe if we sent all the pictures to Arthur who has some experience with these boards, or to Phil either, we may have a chance of getting the common problem recognised and diagnosed.

Joe

[Trevor]

Kia ora Joe,

This leaking capacitor and suggestion of acid is very strange. Can you be sure that something in fact had come from the capacitor? Was there any sign of a short circuit between tracks on the board? Was the capacitor, as it would appear, an electrolytic, and if so what value?

The alleged harmful deposit on hand soldered joints does not make sense. No manufacturer would be so naive. There would be deposits of resin left after hand soldering, but this is non conductive, is normal and is not a problem.

Post #22--- when I got to the car it was like an oven inside anyway I drove away to my destination and on the way there I pulled out the wedge of paper from the round heater control to adjust it and guess what it works perfectly even the outside temp button works! so so far for 2 days the heater control knob functions perfectly as does the outside temp reading could I have stumbled on a cure?

Post #25 ---That also happened with my Jersey car. It was stuck on 32 when I got it. After a long drive home from England with full aircon on, it returned to normal working.

blueji --- Post #34 ---Just checked the date when my temp control started to work properly again and it was 22/12/09 so its been working now for over 7 weeks without a glitch.

In view of the above reported experiences, I would be investigating the possibility of a faulty ambient temperature sensor or in vehicle sensor, rather than suspecting a fault within the ACC unit.

Have you done the obvious and run a self diagnostic check?

[DJW svx]

I did wonder if dampness in the car could be a factor in the failure, mine had stood around for ages before I bought it and the car has only recently lost the musty damp smell its had for ages. Plus the boot when lifted up after rain drips water badly from the light section which has also contributed to the dampness in the car overall. Since the red hot oven incident mine has worked without fail which of course could be just a fluke.

[Trevor]

Originally Posted by DJW svx

I did wonder if dampness in the car could be a factor in the failure, mine had stood around for ages before I bought it and the car has only recently lost the musty damp smell its had for ages. Plus the boot when lifted up after rain drips water badly from the light section which has also contributed to the dampness in the car overall. Since the red hot oven incident mine has worked without fail which of course could be just a fluke.

Your experience is valuable as the dampness you describe, could certainly effect the sensors, confirming them as a likely cause of an obscure problem.