Lost in France

[Daz66]

Title should realy read left in France.....

Long story short, on the last day of our hols in France the compressor for the suspension decides not to turn itself off and after rushing back to the holiday home and getting my small tool box out I manage to disconnect the power supply (could not find the relevant fuse to pull in the fuse board).

Too late, the compressor is red hot and has melted a small plastic elbow connecting one of the hose's.

The car is now awaiting re-patriation (10-15 days quoted!!) but what I am stumped on is why did this happen???

The unit was just over a year old after being replaced for exactly the same reason last year, why does it not switch off??

I will replace the unit myself, cant afford the £350 bill for just fitting a replacement, supplied by me, that it cost last time (actually I can afford it but just think its a rip off for what amounts to 1 hrs work)

Can anyone shed any light on what might be going wrong and how it can be fixed and should I fit an inline switch in case it happens again????

Thanks for any suggestions.

Daz

[AnalogKid]

...and should I fit an inline switch in case it happens again????


I was thinking the same as I read the post. Can't help with why it keeps running, but a manual over-ride to stop it before it melts sounds sensible.

[Daz66]

No help then???????????:(

[Daz66]

UPDATE....

Disco should be back tomorrow from its hols in a French car park.:D

I will fit a new compressor at the weekend but am still left with the thorny issue of why it broke down.

Does anyone at all have any ideas whether its a problem with the unit or rather something on the vehicle causing the over run.........?

cheers

Daz

[AnalogKid]

Is it all wired through the ECU or is there a pressure switch that you can identify and check. If its all on a seperate, simple circuit then the thing to check are minimal, and I would guess that the pressure switch has failed or occasionally gets jammed, preventing it from turning the compressor off when enough air has been delivered.

If it goes through the ECU though, then there is a bit of ambiguity added. Again, its likely to be the pressure switch or sensor, but testing it won't be so easy and you'll need a garage with the right diagnostic kit to tell you what the ECU thinks is going on when the compressor keeps running.

By the way, you'll tend to get more and better answers if you give more details of your vehicle. Is it a Disco 3? I'm basing the above on the tendancy for sensors to be the weakest link in automotive electronic systems.

[Daz66]

Car is back at 7 this morning :eek:

Suspension hadn't dropped much so maybe could have driven it back???

Thank for your help Analog the car is a Disco 2 Yr 2000 Td5.
The compressor is worked via an ecu and relay so the relay might be the sticking point so will try that.

If anyone in surrey has testbook and a free half hour that would eb nice.

Let you know how the refit goes at the weekend.

Daz

[Daz66]

Job Done!

Everything exchanged easily and the new compressor worked straight off.

Still dont understand what happened and the old one looks OK apart from melted push fitting for supply air.

I will try and get a new one from WABCO, does anyone know if these units can be re-conditioned as it would be nice to keep the old one as a spare....