Tata Safari AC issue: How a local mechanic fixed it for just Rs 600

My FNG said that the compressor might be at fault here and I would need to leave the car for at least 3 days. I was not very keen on doing this.

BHPian puneetakhouri recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Yet another trip to the Garage

So recently I observed that the cooling was not adequate, this was in spite of me getting the gas topped up. Although gas topping up itself points to a leak in the system I thought of addressing it later when I arrive at that point.

Anyways back to the point, I observed that the compressor would kick in sometimes and sometimes it won't. Sometimes I would have the entire journey to the office with AC working fine and on return, the compressor would not kick in.

A colleague of mine who owns an Altroz said that his new Altroz faces the same issue when it is parked under the sun all day so I thought its a Tata thing. But with weekends coming and a family trip planned I thought of getting it checked thoroughly once and for all.

The problems summed up are:

• Compressor would kick in sometimes and sometimes not. Whenever it would kick in, it would cut off immediately.
• The AC temperature control knob did not work. The heater function was not working. While it does not matter in Mumbai, the car will not only be driven in Mumbai and would take me to places hopefully that would be colder.

I had discussed it with my FNG who said that it might require opening up the dashboard and the compressor might be at fault here. Also would require leaving the truck for at least 3 days for parts to arrive. I was not very keen on doing this so thought of showing the car to a local AC expert.

The guy is in Ghatkopar and runs a small shop. What I liked about him is that he was very meticulous and methodically eliminated all the probable causes before jumping to a conclusion.

• He started with checking the AC compressor relay, replaced it, checked the wiring and current and found that to be working fine.
• He checked the AC clutch as well to see if it is engaging fine and it was working fine as well.
• He checked the cutouts for high pressure and low pressure side to see if they were cutting out, but they were working fine as well.
• He checked whether the high pressure sensors are working fine or not, and we saw the above 250psi, the second fan would also kick in so all was well there also.
• He checked the centre console to see if there is a problem from there and it was fine as well.

Finally, we found a loose/detached cable under the dashboard due to which this fault was happening. I don't know how or why this wire was detached, but there was this thing, he cleaned it up and wired it up properly and voila! the AC is back to being a chiller again.

I also asked him to fix the AC knob to get the heater working. He checked the plumbing and found that the coolant entry to the heater coil was bypassed in the engine bay. I asked him to fix this and he said that he would need time for that since if it has been detached, there might be some reason for that. Either a leaking coil or something else and he would take that job up some other day. I also was ok with the fact that at least the AC is working to take me through summer and I would get that checked later on.

Good thing is that Safari has an Eco mode in AC which makes the compressor cut off faster hence cooling is slightly lower which suits my need.

I would get that knob fixed anyways in the coming weeks whenever I have time. But overall this exercise got me to spend 600/- and a whole lot of sweat this week but I am glad that it is over.

Next up - Tyre changes. Suggestions are welcome, was looking at either Yokohama Geolander or MRF Wanderer.

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