Land Rover Defender A/C Failure: Repairs & Solutions

Last month, I had a similar issue with my 2017 Land Rover Discovery. The symptoms were exactly like yours, inconsistent cooling and mostly warm air. Took it to my mechanic who diagnosed defective expansion valves in the A/C system. These valves control refrigerant flow, and when they fail, the A/C performance drops significantly. The repair involved replacing two valves and recharging the system with fresh refrigerant. The mechanic also found a small refrigerant leak at one of the valve connections, which was contributing to the problem. It was a serious issue that needed immediate attention to prevent damage to the A/C compressor. After the repair, the A/C has been working perfectly, cold air and consistent performance. Land Rovers are complex machines, and these valve issues aren't uncommon in the model range. Make sure whoever works on it has experience with Land Rover A/C systems, as they're a bit different from other brands.

Hey there! Thanks for sharing your experience with the Discovery A/C problems. It's really helpful to hear about similar issues. Mine seems to be behaving exactly the same way, and I'm glad you mentioned those expansion valves, makes total sense. Just curious, do you remember roughly how much you ended up paying for the whole repair job? Also, has everything been running smoothly since then, or have you noticed any other quirks pop up? I might need to bite the bullet and get mine fixed too, so it'd be great to know what I'm potentially looking at cost-wise. Cheers!

Hey again! Great news, I actually got super lucky with my A/C repair! Turns out it was covered under an extended warranty I had, so I didn't have to pay anything for fixing those faulty valves. And I'm happy to report that since the repair, my Discovery's A/C has been working like an absolute champ, ice-cold air and no more weird behavior! It's been about a month now, and honestly, it feels like a completely different car when it comes to climate control. The mechanic really knew their stuff with Land Rovers, and they explained that these valve issues are pretty common in our vehicles. Getting them fixed right away was definitely the way to go. Just make sure whoever looks at yours knows Land Rovers well, these A/C systems can be a bit tricky compared to other cars. I know not everyone has warranty coverage like I did, but getting it fixed properly is worth it, especially heading into warmer weather. Hope you get yours sorted soon!

Thanks for all the info! I finally took the plunge and got my Defender checked out by a mechanic who specializes in Land Rovers. You were spot on about the expansion valves! They found that plus a small leak in one of the lines. The total bill came to quite a bit, parts, labor, and refrigerant recharge all included. But man, what a difference! The A/C is now blasting cold air like it's supposed to, and I'm kicking myself for not getting it fixed sooner. The mechanic was super thorough and even showed me exactly what was wrong. The whole experience wasn't nearly as painful as I'd feared. They had it done in a day, and the service was way better than my previous mechanic. Really glad I asked here first, saved me from potentially making another bad choice with repairs. Funny thing is, while they were fixing the A/C, they also caught a minor issue with the coolant system that could've been trouble later. Talk about good timing! Thanks again for sharing your experience, it really helped point me in the right direction!