Air Conditioner Belt Installation for 2003 Contessa

[William Harmon]

Air conditioning job complete I think.  Getting 44 deg. air out 0f dash vents.  Thanks to all for your input.  William

[Edward Buker]

William,

I had the same fail mode as you did, condenser fan not working, high head pressures eventually causing the compressor/clutch to fail. I replaced the compressor, receiver dryer, new Pag 45 oil. I found the fan issue after the new compressor and belt were installed. I went to investigate the condenser fan, pulled the wires and found 11.5V at the coach fan leads with AC on with no load, ignition on, and engine not running. I assumed the fan was bad and replaced it. I then found that the new fan had the same issue. Grrrr...

This is a heads up for anyone working on this system. If you see about 12V at the fan leads you may want to load test the wiring with a headlight before you go to the trouble of changing the fan out.  I had 44 ohms in the wire that comes from the electrical bay to the fan, it should have been less than and ohm. I had to run a new wire and corrugated plastic shield from the electrical bay to the new fan and all is well. Coaches over the 10 -12 year mark may want to consider changing out the condenser fan preventatively. Fans are not that expensive, easy to change out in about an hour with just a few screws provided it is the same one. Much more costly and time consuming to deal with compressor failures. Hope this helps.

Later Ed

[William Harmon]

Really good information, Ed  I totally agree, the condenser fan is much easier and cheaper to change out than the compressor.  I may set mine up on a 2 year change out.  Glad you got your air conditioning system up and running.
William

[Edward Buker]

William,

I think more like a 10 year interval, but listen for it to make sure it sounds right and is working properly. My condenser fan comes on with the ignition and the AC button depressed before I crank the engine. If the interior fan is on low and I slide the small widow open I can hear it before I crank, that may be a good check to do at start up.

Later Ed

[Gerald Farris]

Ed,
The condenser fan on some does not come on with the A/C compressor clutch like yours apparently does. A lot of coaches only power the condenser fan when the high pressure side has enough pressure to close a switch. So on those coaches, the condenser fan only runs when the compressor is running and has a sufficient head pressure.

Gerald

[LaMonte Monnell]

Ed,
The condenser fan on some does not come on with the A/C compressor clutch like yours apparently does. A lot of coaches only power the condenser fan when the high pressure side has enough pressure to close a switch. So on those coaches, the condenser fan only runs when the compressor is running and has a sufficient head pressure.

Gerald

Thats the way my 2001 Contessa is Gerald and Ed. The condenser fan does not come on until the head pressure builds. When CAT replaced all my a/c parts they found that  the condenser fan wasn't coming on but sporadically. So they replaced the fan. They did get mine cooling but it didn't last long. I still must have a leak somewhere else that was missed. So its back to generator and roof air again for now. Works better that way anyhow, so its no big deal for me.

[Edward Buker]

Gerald, Lamonte,

Head pressure sensing with a trinary switch was how my older Contessa worked and so it would cycle like yours. Thanks for pointing that out. The 2002 Marquis system I think is simpler, if the dash air is powered on, the fan is on. I kind of like that approach, not relying on a pressure sensor......of course neither system works if the wiring isn't good :-)

Later Ed