The Rescue Rover isn't so much fun to drive without AC-so I tried as we all do first a can of regfrigerant and it came out in a cloud midships so there's a leak there, had a look and couldn't find it even with the aid of a UV flashlight. The local garage capped off the lines to the rear AC on the work van so I'm thinking I might be able to to the same on the LR3.
\
I very rarely carry passengers in the rear seats so those people aren't my problem.

Has anyone done this? Where is a good place and method to close off the lines?

 

OMG, tell me about it...... THIS SUCKS in this heat. LOL I was thinking of doing the same, but in my case it is because the AC compressor failed and is locked up - that could mean system contamination and flushing the rear lines would be extra work. So I was looking around and found these:

I have not dug deep into this at all and most solutions in forums simple recommend to swap lines to the version with no rear feed. So I can not confirm if those fitting will work for sure and I have not looked around for a cheaper set if they do. But maybe it will lead you in the right direction.

For me it will be a while before I get mine working. I had JUST replaced the condenser and will have to do it again along with a whole new compre$$or......

EDIT: I will add that I had a big leak with mine, never this issue with any car before. The leak was big enough to have oil leak out. The molecule for the oil is larger than R134a, so typically oil loss is not an issue. In my case it was. Even though I added the prescribed 1.4 ounces for replacing the condenser I believe I lost more than that, a lot more. So once the system was again operating for the week or two it was the higher system pressure and low oil is what killed my compressor. I should have added more oil but it would have been a guess unless I had totally flushed the system clean - hindsight is a beautiful thing and a warning to you.

 

I caped off rear AC quite some time ago go, utilizing engine bay pipe set that doesn’t have split T by the firewall.

 

As someone who just paid a wad of cash to pull, weld, and and reinstall the centre AC lines just to find another leak just after the junction on the next run of rear AC lines, I suggest going with the SE evaporator hose option. It's part number JUE000505, and it's my understanding that it's for the 5 seater without rear AC, so it doesn't have the extra junction to the rear like the HSE version does.

So you get air from the front vents and the back of the centre console, but nothing at the back. Worked for me, wish I just did that to start. You can hang on to the original evaporator hose too in case you ever fall into a pit of money and want to reinstate AC throughout (yeah right)

 

That sounds like a pretty good solution. I don't need AC at the back, but I surely do at the front. For some reason the LR3 heats up like a pizza oven in the sun. I have a 79 Chevy pickup without AC and it doesn't heat up like that.

 

Did you have your windshield replaced by chance with non-OEM? The factory glass has a coating that actually does pretty well as far as I am concerned, way better than the Silverado I drive every day. But when I had a cheap aftermarket windshield for a couple weeks, which lacked the factory coatings, the Rover became an oven when parked under the Sun.

 

I had a look, it's Pilkington LR branded glass with the heater grid enbedded. Tinted in the back, with lesser tint in the front. When I got it there was a heavy tint on all the windows, even the front ones, that I removed as it was interfering with my vision while driving and now I know why it was there. It doesn't look like that terrible a chore to replace the AC line with the SE version, but I'm going to wait until I have one on hand to cut down on moisture getting into the system. It helps that my wifes son is a HVac guy so I should be able to borrow a vacuum pump.

 

I cut off the lines to the rear and used the stubs to make plugs, running the pro level vacuum pump and micron guage right now in preperation to refill the system. It's down under 500 microns, going to burp it and go again.

 

Hmmmm, had typed out a reply and *poof* gone!

The last time I had done an AC system recharge was in tech school 40-some years ago-I still recalled the basics of it but it has still been a while.

My wife's son has all the HVAC stuff, including a micron guage instead of a vacuum guage. The guage measures the actual amount of vapor and other stuff in the system. According to specs he found, LR wants to see in a used system a reading of 500 or less microns and a "decay', or a retained vacuum after 15 minutes or so of 1000 or less. I was able to pull my system to 316 microns and left it for 1/2 an hour. The decay went above 1000 so back under the vacuum it went. It took me 3 pulls to get to 316 under vacuum and 968 decay, pros don't want to see a decay above 600 microns but spec said I wa OK, so I charged the system up with a can of the R134/PAG oil mix and 2 cans of R134. By weight it only shpuld have taken 1 1/2 cans, but the system pressure was 150psi plus or minus 10. Evap temp is down to 2.5c and the air out of the vents is 40F. Its enough to fog the windows on recirculation. Man does that feel nice!

I found a chart on the webs-500 microns is roughly equivilent to 29.9 inches of vacuum and 1000 is 29.8. That would be hard to see on most cheap guage sets. That micron guage is kind of spendy so you wouldn't ordinarily use one.
There is a reading for compressor current, and I do hope the decimal is misplaced. A reading of 192.0 to 166.2 amps seems really high!

 

How did you know how much oil to add? Why are you reading only one side of pressure? Should have two pressure readings, it is a but important they are both within spec. And undercharge, for example, can show a decent low side but a low high side. I would maybe check again in a couple days to make sure things are still within spec. But at least you have cold air!!!