Is it true that the air conditioning on a 96 Range 4.0 is automatically always on when I fire up the engine and only goes off when I hit the "AC Off" button?

The other day I arrived at my destination with cold A/C after a 10 to 15 minute drive. After 15 minutes, I left and the A/C would not work all the way home. That sucks in Arizona BTW. When I got home I opened the hood and checked out the relays. They were freakin' hot as hell! Some yellow ones are discolored and the plastic around the female slots shows melting. What's up with that?! I can't believe that's normal and passed all testing before going into production on such an expensive vehicle.

I tried doing some searches before posting this and couldn't believe that there wasn't any posts about the super hot relays.

Help please.

 

So is there a question in all of this or are you posting just to complain about something you haven't tried to fix. Should onlky be one relay for the a/c so I would supect you have more going on then an a/c problem.
Get it into a shop and let them repair it.

 

Basically the questions were:

Is it true that the air conditioning on a 96 Range 4.0 is automatically always on when I fire up the engine and only goes off when I hit the "AC Off" button?

What's up with the super hot relays?


I used to have a lot of respect for Land Rover vehicles, but now I really believe that their quality is junk and that's why they can't compete with the Japanese or even American cars. I still think my 89 Classic is bad a$$, but this P38 I recently bought like other P38s I've read aboutis a POS! You can't even count on getting back home in a car like this!

I came to the conclusion that Rovers are for people who have enough money to not care about dumping way too much money into their maintenance and repair. Everything breaks, nothing works right and everything is expensive as heck. I think I'm going to completely disassemble my 96 P38 and part it out. That should bring in the big bucks considering how much those parts sell for.

Thanks Mike.

 

If you wanna complain, write a letter to LR, or someone else that cares.

These trucks are mechanical just like any other vehicle out there. If you arn't up on standard maintenance, you're going to have problems, and if you don't continue with said maintenance, you'll have problems. You just have to stay ahead of the problems, and keep an eye on the vehicle.

Let's put it this way, I'm a broke college kid with an '01 P38 (I bought it used, so don't try the 'you're rich parents' argument). Only problems I've had were carry-overs from the previous owner's ignorance. I've never been afraid that my Range will not get me home either..

As for your relays, why would you assume that 'super hot' relays and scarred plastic is a normal thing? You probably have an over charging problem or a ground fault, or something as simple as a faulty relay. Although before any of that I would question what motivated you to immediately jump out and touch a relay (try the exhaust pipe next time, that might be hot too, but you should check for us).

I question your experience with vehicles though...most imports have the standard A/C is on unless you hit A/C off setup. You can still turn the blower speed off if you don't like air movement inside the vehicle though, regardless of whether your conditioning the air as per the switch.

Try some investigation, or take it to a shop and pay some $$.

 

Yup, I was waiting for the big defense from the LR die hard.

Dude, if you're a "broke college kid" and had to buy an 01 P38, sorry but you're not too bright. Please don't go into Medicine.

I clearly (and with some sarcasm) stated that super hot relays and melted plastic CAN NOT be normal. Why wouldn't I go straight to check on the relays when the AC would not come on?? That's fast, easy and apparantly a source of many electrical problems. You shouldn't touch the exhaust though because it's very hot and can really hurt you. You may have already found that out, though.

One more thing you're wrong about, most imports certainly DO NOT have "standard A/C on unless you hit A/C off setup." Where did you get that? Even if you don't like my opinions you should know this. Plus, there's more to it than just shutting down the blower air inside the vehicle. If you don't NEED the A/C on, there's no need to wear the components of the A/C system and affect mileage. That's why LR went ahead and put in the "A/C Off" control, right? If there was no reason to turn it off, they wouldn't have added a part that cost money in production and could cause service problems.

"Try some investigation"? Read my original post and give me technical direction instead of getting butt-hurt.

Thanks

 

My 96 4.6 - 111k now, 12 years old - purchased new. Put more money into it than I ever should have - so I agree with some of the posts above, that Rovers are fairly maintenance intensive - and expensive. We own 6 of them today, and I wish I had the money back for all of them - 87 Classic, 96 4.6, 01 Disco, 06 Sport, 06 4.4 and 08 4.4. Those are warranty are a blessing and will be gone prior to 49k miles as trade-ins.

On the AC issue - for years I had problems with the air in the P38. I too had the hot "melted" plastic around the relays. Every time, the dealer
would change out the relays and send me down the road. They did all the testing and usual bull**** that they could charge me for - and I've just come to accept that every 12-18 mos a new $18-20 relay is getting plugged in and the AC will continue on working. Since it's not a daily driver, we don't care - but just so you know, I too have experienced that problem - and while it may not be "normal," it does exist - and no one ever found a fix for me - that includes Rover of Princeton, Monmouth and Manhattan. I consider them all fairly capable...