LagondaNet

[Tim_C]

The Lag is here at AMOC Lime Rock

The engine is running much cooler without the catalyts - smoother and more powerful too

The left screen has horizontal hold problems - the others are fine, An easy fix I'm sure

BUT the passenger side window is happy to go down but not up - shame as it is raining HARD. Not a fuse issue I guess

Suggestions that don't include polythene and duct tape please
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[jonc]

What a pain.

There are two circuits for the windows. One powers the relay 'control' - makes the relays click. The other is the power to the relay contacts to feed the motor. As you say, both feeds must be ok.

The problem is one of two things.

1. Faulty relay / relay base contacts
2. Faulty 'up' feed to the relay.

If the relay clicks when you press up its 1.
If it doesn't click, then it is 1 or 2.

[jonc]

On my car, the relays are accessible when the trim panel above the door pull is removed. However, if the window is down this is more of a problem!

Depending on how far the window is down, you can undo the two (7mm I think) screws and lift it out of the way. You need a combination spanner for this - there is no room for a socket.

First step then is to remove/reseat the relays.

[jonc]

In my kit of spares I have a relay with a removable cover - I used a plastic cover one for this.

This is in case I need to manually operate a relay by pressing the contact in place. This is the way I would get round problem 2, until you found the cause.

I recently took the door card off the passenger side of 13277 and found that water which had previously dripped through the window seal fell directly on to one of the loom connectors behind the speaker and had caused corrosion of the contacts. This would be my next place to look for the cause of your problem.

Good luck!

[Tim_C]

Many thanks - I will report later
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[Vincent]

Have you tried to permute with another knob ?
I had the same problem on my car because of the knobs ( coming from FORD ESCORT 80-85 / but not available anymore )
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[david]

Hello Tim,

It is most likely, as Vincent says, that it will be a switch contact - same thing happened to me first time out this year.

It is possible to carefully lever out the switches from the wood, using a very thin screwdriver or blade.

The switch will rise up and bring the harness connector with it and you can pull all this through the wood surround.

You may find that disconnecting the switch and reconnecting it will resolve things, otherwise, check if another switch works and then pull this out and swap it over.

It is all quite simple, the only trick is to ensure you pull the connector up through as well, if it drops off, you need a small pair of pliers to retreive it.

Hope all this helps

David

[Tim_C]

Yep, it was just the switch.

Now the only problem now is the aircon

It's constantly on HOT. When I was under the hood (note that I am becomming fluent is speaking American) - I noticed a vaccum pipe was - deffo aircon - was not connected to anything. Then someone noticed a pipe accross the scuttle that it was probably connected to - but it was perrished. I have some spare pipe - so I bridged it - but now I suspect I picked the wrong pipe - oddlt there are 2 accorss the scuttle and they both dissapear through the bulkhead to the instrumrnts

So the morning, I think I'll stitch them around

How hard can it be!!!!!
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[david]

Hello again,

This is where the fun begins................

The two pipes that run through the bulkhead are the vacuum supply from the engine (via one of the vacuum reservoirs on the left side of the engine (on RHD cars anyway) and the other pipe is the vacuum supply from the control unit within the car to the water heater valve in the engine bay.

Unfortunately, if the pipes in the engine bay are perished, it is highly probable that one or more of them inside the car are also deteriorating and the total length of pipework required for the whole system (give or take 200mm) is 10, yes 10, meteres!

If only one pipe has perished, due to loss of vacuum effect, it impairs at best or shuts down at worst, the entire vacuum system and without a vacuum supply at all, the system defaults to full heat and demist vents on!

Additionally this also means that there will be a slight air leak to the engine too as air is drawn in via the broken pipe(s)

It also requires fairly substantial fascia (and instrumentation) strip down for full access - see the post from Roger about his car under Lagonda restorations, 13049.

What makes things worse is that without the vacuum supply to the water heater valve at least, the valve is fully open, always allowing hot air into the car, above whatever the ambient temperature is anyway.

One thing that may help in the short term is to bypass the valve and heater matrix if you have no requirement for hot air, this can be done by connecting the outlet hose from the back of the right hand cylinder head directly to the return hose from the matrix, so missing out the heater matrix entirely.

Also, if you want to make things cooler in a semi permanent way whilt the car is still in the US, if you remove the trim under the left hand binnacle and look up, you may see the linkage going to the air blend flap.

If you can disconnect the linkage from the connector to the programmer, it may be possible to somehow hold it in place in such a position that cool/cold air will come in to the car but I have never done this in situ.

If you do any or all of the baove, it will be best to blank off the vacuum take off from the engine, at the reservoir in order to stop the air leak too.


David

[jonc]

Well done Vincent and David on the 'guess the source of the fault' competition. I hadn't even thought of something that simple!

I can say from experience that the blend flap alone is not enough to regulate the temperature in the cabin. If you don't need heat, my temporary suggestion would be to either attach a vacuum pipe directly from the reservoir to the water valve, or use a cable tie to hold it in the closed position. I found my car has previously used the cable tie method..

Jonathan

[Tim_C]

[Vrije]

Hi TIM,
How easy can it be, 007 is running a tie wrap over the vacuum water tap for over 6 years now, only to be removed and replace by a longer one in full winter conditions, V8-s generatate adequate heat!!.
Never had time or motivation to pull all interior for something hardly ever used.

Harry

[david]

Hello again Tim,

The simplest thing, as Harry says, is to cable tie the valve shut which will prevent hot air being created by the engine, which which will help and probably be the best for a relatively short trip such as you have.

There are no fuses, the problem is purely mechanical/vacuum.

David

[Tim_C]

Just thourght I should give you an update on the air-con

The car is at Autosports in nthe US and with a bit of luck, replacing the 2 pipes accross the bulkhead will do the trick. If not, then plan B

Plan B - I asked Works Service for a quote to replace all the pipes with a dash out job. Worst case scenario - £1300 - most likely £1100 (plus VAT I guess).

How come it's so competitive? - and how come they can give such an acurate quote?: Well they did the Trust Lagonda 2 months ago prior to a wedding (?) - and they know exactly which pipe goes where. I'm expecting once the hot air is quenched, the screen nearest the hot vent will correct itself.
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