I have a guy in Spain who is having a problem with his '91 Westy (US version)
with A/C.  He took it to a local shop to have the system charged.  They found
that the rad fan wasn't coming on so they hot wired it on low and they also
hot wired the compressor to come on (it wasn't coming on either).  So
basically this shop is hack and splice.  But they got the A/C to work,
however after an hour or so of running the evaporator starts to ice up and
then the cold air stops.

I am wondering if the evaporator icing is related to the non-functional
high/low pressure switch, thermostat system for the A/C (since it had to be
hot wired to get it to work) or if it is really an internal system problem
(like moisture in the system or low charge or something).  The only reason I
hesistate to think it is an electrical only problem is that the earlier
Vanagons (84-85) had an A/C system that didn't have any high/low pressure
switches or thermostat and they don't seem to ice up.  Basically everything
in these earlier systems is just hotwired to come on when you turn the A/C on
and it stays on until you shut the A/C off (you can run it without
refrigerant, it doesn't care).

Any ideas, experience, or comments would be appreciated.  I am basically just
trying to help this guy as he isn't a customer (yet) and I am really working
in the dark, not actually being able to try and troubleshoot the system hands
on.

Thanks in advance for any help,
Ken Wilford
http://www.vanagain.com
John 3:16

New Phone (856)-327-4936
Shop: (856)-765-1583
Fax:     (856)-327-2242