QuestionHello fellow Canadian! I am living here in the UAE and took my 2001 Land Rover discovery dune bashing in the UAE desert (+48 Celsius!!). I got stuck a few times and had the engine revving pretty high. There was a burning smell at one point.
After 20 minutes in the desert we returned to the road. Problem: the air conditioning does not work anymore!
could it be sand plugging something up? not much of of a car guy so some expertise would be nice!
AnswerHi Steve,
what's a Canuck doing in the deserts of UAE? Anyway...there are a few possibilites here:
like you may have burned out a bearing - could be in the AC compressor pulley;
you said the engine rev's were high - compressor has been known to overheat and someone once told me that the compressor has a sensor that can burn out under duress and knocking out the AC;
serpentine belt was overheating and giving off burning odour - AC failure is a coincident;
electric AC condensor fan overheated (filled with sand?) and is not working properly.
First check the quality of your serpentine belt. If it looks like its been polished - its too slick and is slippy on the pulleys. Maybe AC pulley not getting enough torque as a result? Another way to test this is to measure the voltage output of your alternator - if its +14 or so, your belt tension is probably ok.
Check the radiator and condensor fan area (front grill) to see if its caked in sand.
It's also possible that sand/dust could have been sucked into various components in the engine and burned out or seized a bearing or a sensor was fried from the heat. Since only the AC has failed, I'd suspect the compressor, condensor or the AC fan. AC compressor's are $$$ so you may be able to find a local AC shop to have them test these components out and rebuild or replace them. Here in Canada a rebuilt compressor is about $300 (dealer would be x 3 more). On-line I found compressors as low as $60CDN but you get what you pay for. If you ever need used (salvaged) parts, consider using www.car-part.com. Gives Canadian and US salvage yard parts and some will ship UPS or FED EX.
Best of luck with this and if you need more help, send me an email.
JohnMc
jmcinnis64@hotmail.com
