Citroen Berlingo 1.6i, 2002.

OK here's how you'll answer... in my dreams:)

I simply go to the scrappers and unbolt an air-con unit from a crash
damaged Citroen. I take it home and remove the blanking-plate from the
engine of my Citroen [helpfully labelled 'fit air-con here'], bolt the
unit on, route a few hoses and fit a switch inside. And hey-presto! No
more hot weather misery!

But it's not going to be that simple is it? Why not? Please bare in
mind I know little about cars, and nowt about air-con... obviously.

"Sim G." <on@request> wrote in message 
news:8j5mb1lm1e52cgui05gtbhd6dlo2qsjqdf@4ax.com...

> Citroen Berlingo 1.6i, 2002.
>
> OK here's how you'll answer... in my dreams:)
>
> I simply go to the scrappers and unbolt an air-con unit from a crash
> damaged Citroen. I take it home and remove the blanking-plate from the
> engine of my Citroen [helpfully labelled 'fit air-con here'], bolt the
> unit on, route a few hoses and fit a switch inside. And hey-presto! No
> more hot weather misery!
>
> But it's not going to be that simple is it? Why not? Please bare in
> mind I know little about cars, and nowt about air-con... obviously.


Let's see, you'll need -

Compressor (bolts on engine) + associated pulleys/belts (might even find 
steering pump and alternator are in different places on air-con equipped 
vehicles)
Evaporator (probably need the complete the heater/air distribution box for 
inside the vehicle)
Dryer
Condenser (radiator type bit)
Probably an extra cooling fan
All the pipework
Electrical wiring and switched to operate it all
And all the other various brackets/clips etc......

Short answer, sell it and buy one that already has aircon

>
>Short answer, sell it and buy one that already has aircon 
>


Thanks Moray - I knew there'd be a catch:)

Unfortunately[?] the vehicle is adapted to carry a wheelchair user so
a simple swap isn't an easy option. Never mind, summer finishes
tomorrow so I won't feel quite as jealous at the sight of all those
people driving around with their windows up when it's 30C :)

Thanks again.

On Thu, 23 Jun 2005 21:12:33 GMT, Sim G. <on@request> wrote:


>>
>>Short answer, sell it and buy one that already has aircon 
>>
>Thanks Moray - I knew there'd be a catch:)


When air-con was a true option, you would have been able to have it fitted
later as an accessory.  Now, it's pretty much built-in and the likes of the
heating/ventilation unit may well differ according to whether the air-con is
fitted in the factory.  Adding it to a system that was never expected to
have it added, probably isn't feasible.   (I have the servicing CDs for my
own car and there seems to be 3 styles of unit inside the dash - one
without, one with a/c, and one with climate control, for example.)

-- 
California Driving Lesson: To Change lanes, first pull out your 9mm.

> OK here's how you'll answer... in my dreams:)
>
> I simply go to the scrappers and unbolt an air-con unit from a crash
> damaged Citroen. I take it home and remove the blanking-plate from the
> engine of my Citroen [helpfully labelled 'fit air-con here'], bolt the
> unit on, route a few hoses and fit a switch inside. And hey-presto! No
> more hot weather misery!
>
> But it's not going to be that simple is it? Why not? Please bare in
> mind I know little about cars, and nowt about air-con... obviously.


It is do-able, though you'll need an almost identical donor car with air-con 
fitted to be able to get all the bits.  There is much more to an air-con 
system than just the bits you can see (many modern systems integrate with 
the engine management) and you'll need a specialist to regas the system and 
check for leaks, assuming you remove and refit everything yourself.

I would check with your Citroen dealer about the possibility of having it 
fitted, though I'd expect you'd be looking 2000+ if you factor in labour, 
etc.  As has already been mentioned, there may be other changes to ancillary 
device locations too such as PS pump, alternator, etc. which would involve 
new wiring or hydraulic hoses just to keep them working before you even 
start fitting the air-con components.

Personally it's not worth the effort and money for the relatively short 
heatwaves we get.

Darren

The message 
from John Laird  contains these words:


> When air-con was a true option, you would have been able to have it fitted
> later as an accessory.  Now, it's pretty much built-in and the likes of the
> heating/ventilation unit may well differ according to whether the air-con is
> fitted in the factory.


And the ECU these days.

-- 
Skipweasel.
Ivor Cutler - "Never knowingly understood."

In news:F8Gue.1241$z61.199@newsfe2-gui.ntli.net,
Darren Jarvis  decided to enlighten our sheltered souls 
with a rant as follows

>> OK here's how you'll answer... in my dreams:)
>>
>> I simply go to the scrappers and unbolt an air-con unit from a crash
>> damaged Citroen. I take it home and remove the blanking-plate from
>> the engine of my Citroen [helpfully labelled 'fit air-con here'],
>> bolt the unit on, route a few hoses and fit a switch inside. And
>> hey-presto! No more hot weather misery!
>>
>> But it's not going to be that simple is it? Why not? Please bare in
>> mind I know little about cars, and nowt about air-con... obviously.
>
> It is do-able, though you'll need an almost identical donor car with
> air-con fitted to be able to get all the bits.  There is much more to
> an air-con system than just the bits you can see (many modern systems
> integrate with the engine management) and you'll need a specialist to
> regas the system and check for leaks, assuming you remove and refit
> everything yourself.
> I would check with your Citroen dealer about the possibility of
> having it fitted, though I'd expect you'd be looking 2000+ if you
> factor in labour, etc.  As has already been mentioned, there may be
> other changes to ancillary device locations too such as PS pump,
> alternator, etc. which would involve new wiring or hydraulic hoses
> just to keep them working before you even start fitting the air-con
> components.


Indeed, my old Range Rover has AC, and the list of stuff that's different is 
a bit long. From the entire bottom half of the dashboard to the alternator.


>
> Personally it's not worth the effort and money for the relatively
> short heatwaves we get.


Aircon is Gods Own Gubbin. People who think it's only useful for one week of 
the year don't know how to use it correctly.

I suffer badly from hay fever and about the only place I get peace from the 
constant itching and sneezing is the car. I sold my Golf Cabriolet because 
if I went out in it with the roof down, I needed so many hay fever tablets 
it was unsafe to drive the bloody thing. with AC on in the Range Rover, not 
a sniffle. Other advantages include windows that are perfectly clear even 
when you have 4 soaking wet passengers in the car and the heating on full in 
a storm.

AC *rocks*


-- 
Pete M

Range Rover Vogue SE, Ford Capri (ressurection stalling)
Porsche 911 3.2 (For Sale)

COSOC #5
Scouse Git extraordinaire. Liverpool, Great Britain

In article ,
   Sim G. <on@request> wrote:

> Unfortunately[?] the vehicle is adapted to carry a wheelchair user so
> a simple swap isn't an easy option. Never mind, summer finishes
> tomorrow so I won't feel quite as jealous at the sight of all those
> people driving around with their windows up when it's 30C :)


There are firms that make and fit aftermarket units. But I'd expect them
to cost 1500 plus.

-- 
*A fool and his money can throw one hell of a party.  

    Dave Plowman        dave@davenoise.co.uk           London SW
                  To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On Thu, 23 Jun 2005 22:55:11 +0100, Guy King  wrote:


>The message 
>from John Laird  contains these words:
>
>> When air-con was a true option, you would have been able to have it fitted
>> later as an accessory.  Now, it's pretty much built-in and the likes of the
>> heating/ventilation unit may well differ according to whether the air-con is
>> fitted in the factory.
>
>And the ECU these days.


True, however I'd expect that to be a common unit which simply never sees
the "a/c on" signal in a vehicle without a/c, but is still programmed to
make the required changes to fuelling if it ever did.

-- 
Not a man to mince words. People, yes. But not words.

Pete M wrote:


>
> Aircon is Gods Own Gubbin. People who think it's only useful for one week of
> the year don't know how to use it correctly.
>
> I suffer badly from hay fever and about the only place I get peace from the
> constant itching and sneezing is the car. I sold my Golf Cabriolet because
> if I went out in it with the roof down, I needed so many hay fever tablets
> it was unsafe to drive the bloody thing. with AC on in the Range Rover, not
> a sniffle. Other advantages include windows that are perfectly clear even
> when you have 4 soaking wet passengers in the car and the heating on full in
> a storm.
>
> AC *rocks*
>
>

I couldn't agree more. I get hayfever too and a car with AC and a
pollen filter is the bees knees, dogs dangly bits etc.

I did ask one company about preces for retro fitting AC and it looks to
be 2K plus.

-- 
MAlc

Sim G. wrote:

> Citroen Berlingo 1.6i, 2002.
>
> OK here's how you'll answer... in my dreams:)
>
> I simply go to the scrappers and unbolt an air-con unit from a crash
> damaged Citroen. I take it home and remove the blanking-plate from the
> engine of my Citroen [helpfully labelled 'fit air-con here'], bolt the
> unit on, route a few hoses and fit a switch inside. And hey-presto! No
> more hot weather misery!
>


Hmmmmmm.....

Drive faster.

Si

In article ,
   John Laird  wrote:

> True, however I'd expect that to be a common unit which simply never sees
> the "a/c on" signal in a vehicle without a/c, but is still programmed to
> make the required changes to fuelling if it ever did.


In the crudest form, all that happens is the throttle opening at idle is
increased to maintain the idle speed with the extra load. Although these
days many will cut the AC when large demands are made on the engine for
overtaking, etc.

-- 
*A picture may be worth a thousand words, but it uses up a thousand times more memory.  

    Dave Plowman        dave@davenoise.co.uk           London SW
                  To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Darren Jarvis wrote:


>
> It is do-able, though you'll need an almost identical donor car with air-con
> fitted to be able to get all the bits.


This is true if you want a factory finish but if you're happy with a
heath-robinson type arrangement then you just need the basic components
from a car - probably an older one with a simple on/off switch, but fo
coruse you'll still need to mount the evaporator and compressor
somewhere.

On Fri, 24 Jun 2005 10:21:16 +0100, "Dave Plowman (News)"
 wrote:


>In article ,
>   John Laird  wrote:
>> True, however I'd expect that to be a common unit which simply never sees
>> the "a/c on" signal in a vehicle without a/c, but is still programmed to
>> make the required changes to fuelling if it ever did.
>
>In the crudest form, all that happens is the throttle opening at idle is
>increased to maintain the idle speed with the extra load. Although these
>days many will cut the AC when large demands are made on the engine for
>overtaking, etc.


Yeah, I know all that ;-)  The point I was making was that, in vehicles
where some models have air-con and some do not, that there may be components
in common (the ECU perhaps), and components which are quite different (the
internals of the heating/ventilation unit in mine).  My car also has an
extra cooling fan, sitting side-by-side the coolant-operated one (which
comes on at the same time even if it was off) - a non-equipped variant may
have just one fan, perhaps on a different mounting.  It may be far from a
trivial task to "bolt-on" an a/c unit.  My mother did have a/c added after a
year to her last car (at quite reasonable cost, too), and I know the
evaporator was somewhere in the glovebox area in the air intake path.  I
have a newer model of the same car and it's deep in the dash next to the
heater matrix.  Seems unlikely the designers would have left space anywhere
for an add-on unit.

-- 
Absolute Zero is cool - 0K?

On Thu, 23 Jun 2005 20:15:30 GMT, Sim G. <on@request> wrote:


>Citroen Berlingo 1.6i, 2002.
>
>OK here's how you'll answer... in my dreams:)
>
>I simply go to the scrappers and unbolt an air-con unit from a crash
>damaged Citroen. I take it home and remove the blanking-plate from the
>engine of my Citroen [helpfully labelled 'fit air-con here'], bolt the
>unit on, route a few hoses and fit a switch inside. And hey-presto! No
>more hot weather misery!
>
>But it's not going to be that simple is it? Why not? Please bare in
>mind I know little about cars, and nowt about air-con... obviously.



Buy an aftermarket sun roof or two.

sponix