2004 AC control panel problem

[TRAKKER]

I did start at the pump. With the tube from the pump disconnected at the tank, pump stopped instantly when tube blocked. Disconnected the other tube (to the control) and pump ran on with tank nippple blocked. I thought the leak was in the tank and removed it, which was a pain because it was conneccted through the bulkhead with nuts and bolts. No problem with the tank, I just had not waited long enough for pump to evacuate the tank and shut off. My problem was definetly sloppy fit to the nipples of the controller. The only other fix would be to replace the whole bundle of tubes.

[EngineerMike]

Its amazing how sloppy the fit between the vacuum tubing (which on mine is about 1/8" o.d. and color coded red, white, blue, yellow, green, black, with clear plastic nipples to connect to the device @ ea. end) and the dash switch nipples. They slide on/off the dash switch w/almost no effort, as frequently reported here on iRV2.

I'm gonna get a new dash radio/CD... some day soon to replace the $3 unit WRV used. When I have the old radio out there will be much better access to the vacuum switch connections & I'll safety wire the clear plastic to the switch nipples or maybe put a small piece of glue-type shrink tube on the nipple to make a tighter fit. I have one setting (AC on feet & in face) where the vacuum runs constantly & that'll be a good time to attack it.

Also while poking around I found that the seal between the plastic blower shroud & front bulkhead isn't made well for about 4" (where some one WRV'd* the fastener), so I taped it shut to regain lost efficiency. I can also see one of the blower output spiral plastic ducts is nearly smashed w/its current routing, and that could be easily rerouted w/slightly better access.

*WRV'd: to power the fastener till it strips or the plastic part under it is wrecked. Motorhomers find many WRV'd fasteners over time.

[TRAKKER]

My pump ws still running excessively so I re-checked all connections. You can speed up this process by by-passing the ball accumulator. Just poke the output into the input. Now the pump has to run for every change in control position. By rotating the control you can find the leaker(s) because the pump will just burp if the line is good. The yellow lead slipped right off the control and the pump stopped when I plugged the nipple on the control. With the tube off the nipple I snugged a small nylon wire tie around the tube. This gave me a more solid connection and stopped that leak. One of the tubes (red?) had a black rubber instead of clear plastic connector and there was no room for a tie on it. Looking into it I saw the hole was off-center. By rotating the thin part of the tube to the tight place I was able to slip it all the way on and stop the last leak. By the way, I first removed the manifold from the control to gain better access. Unbeknownst to me a tiny ball that served as the control detent fell out and now my control has to be visually located. Because of the accumulator the pump will run a while when the key is turned on and then not cycle until the accumulator is in need of evacuation. I am not convinced the accumulator is necessary or desireable.

[NorCal Hal]

When we first got the 2006 Alpine the vacuum pump would run 70-80% of the time. I spoke with WRV and Acme. I got the WRV "song and dance" and a helpful technician or engineer at Acme.

After trying and not finding any vacuum leaks the tech had me put a vacuum gauge on the pump's inlet. I don't remember the numbers, and I looked for my notes, but the gist of it is that some of their pumps had too high of a "kick on" setting, meaning the psi vacuum at which the pump started was too close to the shut off setting. So the system only had to lose a few psi and the pump would come on.

Acme sent me a new pump, under warranty, and I had the FUN job of installing it. They took the old pump back for evaluation - but I never heard anything more, and the new pump has worked beautifully!

Harold
2006 Alpine 36MDDS
being pushed by a
2006 Jeep Liberty Diesel