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After going to an AC shop and an electrical shop, it appears to be mostly working. The compressor clutch cover had fallen off, so I replaced it, and there was an open wire in the big mess of wires and relays in the overhead compartment. It had to go to an auto electrical specialist ( https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jims-Dis ... 9720908099 ) because the wiring in buses is installed by the coach company and is almost always terrible and undocumented. I had similar wiring problems with our old short bus.

I ran it for a few minutes today and it got nice and frosty in the bus.

The only problem now is that the vent controller is stuck on the defrost vents. It is an electrically-controlled, vacuum-operated system and requires the removal of the dash to repair, which is difficult and expensive to have done. I'm thinking that we leave it as-is, since we have defrost if we need it, and see how comfortable it is. The rear AC unit throws out a lot of cold air, so while driving it today I had a nice cool breeze blowing on me from behind. The next time we have a nice sunny day, I'll go out and sit in it and see how it feels. I think that Ricky is driving it to the Rally Cross next weekend, so he can let us know how it is at an event.

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"Every ship is a minesweeper, once."

Thanks Roger for doing this. From my perspective it is probably going to be good as I've driven it this summer with just the rear AC working and it got plenty cold. In a pinch even it it was defrosting cold air if I remember correctly cold air falls so it would fall back down toward the driver.

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1990 Faded Reddish CSP Lite Miata
2002 Electron Blue Corvette Z06
2005 Mazda 6 Wagon
2003 Nissan Pathfinder DTV (Dog Transport Vehicle)

Apparently it quit again. I'll have it looked at.

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"Every ship is a minesweeper, once."

On the way to VIR, it would run the fans all the time, and the compressors only when not moving. (engine speed didn't matter) In the paddock, it started doing the same damned thing... both going out. I suspect the relays are bad. I'd replace them with a wire (or switch), but that's my "I hate you" answer.

In other news, I'd like to know why the driver door gets a 1000 degrees while driving. It's like the radiator is mounted in the door.

Today it switches on and off every few seconds. Jimmy says that typically means a leak. He put dye in it when he evacuated and charged it earlier, so he's going to look at it tomorrow and see if it's leaking.

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"Every ship is a minesweeper, once."

The vent mode also does the same thing, and that doesn't use the compressor at all.

The vent mode works fine today, although it only blows out the defrost vents, but that's another problem.

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"Every ship is a minesweeper, once."

Apparently once the rest of the system was working, the condenser fittings under the bus behind the driver seat, which by now are solid blocks of rust, could not hold the pressure and leaked coolant. Because it is a bus, I now have to take it to a truck place out in Garner to have new AC lines made for it by a place that does truck hydraulic hoses. Unfortunately for the autocrossers this weekend, I will not be able to drop it off there until next week because I'm trying to get a car put together for a race this weekend.

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"Every ship is a minesweeper, once."

At least it's starting to cool off some so it could be worse, I think the high this weekend is mid 80s. I'm sure they'll make do

Thanks for doing all this though, it's much appreciated!

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2017 Autocross Chief of Tech

2000 E Street Miata
2015 Focus SE EcoBoost 6 speed
2015 Fiesta ST (Wife's ride)
2012 Yamaha FZ1 sorta crotch rocket? All I know is 150HP and 487 lbs is fun!

Thanks so much for doing this. It was hell trying to work timing in the heat-- must have gone through a bottle of water every 30 minutes.

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"Build a man a fire and he'll stay warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he'll stay warm the rest of his life."
'93 Subaru Legacy DIRTBOMB
'98 BMW M3
2013 Rallyx Co-VP

And it's fixed again. I drove it around a bit this week to get the milkshake of gear oil and flood water cleaned out of the differential, and it was blowing cold. The AC guy said that it wasn't holding a perfect vacuum, so it may still have a minor leak. It's not obvious where it is, and the AC in this thing covers a lot of ground, so he loaded it up with dye and we'll see if it comes out anywhere.

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"Every ship is a minesweeper, once."