Delanair III

[poprivet]

I have written elsewhere about being without A/C for a while but I thought I would add this here as it may help other owners who are in a similar position.

The Delanair Mk III is microprocessor controlled and is a good system while all is in order, however if you lose your refrigerant for whatever reason there is a problem in warm weather. Due to the car trying to cool itself, it will close the fresh air inlet flaps and open the re-circulation flaps. This means that the car will get more stuffy not cooler, a vicious circle.

There is a simple work-around to get fresh air again, disable the recirc system. Of course you will still not have refrigerant cooling or de-humidification, but it is an improvement. Remove the left hand cheek in the footwell.



The metal duct with the 'do not lift' sticker is then removed by taking out the two small self tapper screws (one can be seen in the photo), this reveals a confusing amount of wiring, but despair not!



Follow the blue plastic vacuum tube and it will lead you to the re-circ solenoid. Pull off the connector which has a red/blue wire to it. Tape it up so that it won't get lost or short onto anything and you are done! Literally a 15 minute job. As I said previously, don't expect perfection, but it will make driving more comfortable until you get that pesky refrigerant repaired.

[Brakebuster]

nice

BB

[Dickdudley]

Hi all

I know this is an old post but sounds like the stop-gap i need... until I can afford to get the ac system re-commissioned that is. Is there a possibility the photos could be re-attached so I can see what I'm doing?

Many thanks,

Richard.

[poprivet]

Photobucket stopped my account. I've looked through my picture folder but I can't locate these, perhaps I never kept a copy.

However, I think you should be able to locate the relay following the text, I still have it disconnected today, I find with the A/C turned off normally the fresh air alone cools well and if it's particularly hot the A/C still works just fine.

[Dickdudley]

Thanks poprivet, I think I’ve done it... May I clarify a point? When you say the “left hand cheek” are you meaning the left cheek of the centre console so you are working in the right side of the passenger footwell? In the end I took off both sides and saw 4 solenoids but there was only one red/blue wire so I pulled it and taped it out of the way. I suppose time will tell if I got the right one!

Thanks for your help.

[poprivet]

Thats the one.
You can feel the re-circulation flap under the scuttle, it should now remain closed allowing only fresh air in.
Glad it went ok.