It was 27deg out there and I parked her up in the sun (no choice) whilst Mrs Welly unloaded all the cases and bags at the Hotel.
After 30 mins we all jumped back in the motah and fired up the oil-burning beast in anticipation thereon of some much needed cooling from the a/c department. My Wing Mirror-o-mometer told the ECU it was 38 deg C (yeah right).
Well, after a couple of mins the a/c was on strike and we were all perspiring on black leather seats wondering what was the matter (Mr Welly was anxious at an impending hottest day evAr/no air con senario).
I pulled into a lay-by after 2 mins and popped the bonnet to whitness the compressor was asleep on duty. I shut down the power plant and began the re-starting procedure (turn the key off/on). THIS time there was a reassuring "click" of the compressor and we all carried on our way with smiling sea side faces (well done Mr Welly).
My diagnosis here (in case you're interested) is that the engines coolant temp had risen whilst parked up for a bit (thanks to heat soak) and therefore told the climate ECU to hold off the a/c because there was a coolant temperature problem (it will do this if the engine's under high load to conserve energy). So, we had a combination of a hot motah, a *very* warm day, and parking in the sun - all ganged up on the a/c system.
After this episode everything was super-dooper and Mr Welly saw lots of different sights at Southend
