Yesterday we got caught in the tailback on the M25 J23 and crawled for miles.
It was a hot day and the air con was on and just after we turned it down to get cooler there was a sudden cloud of 'steam' from the front near side corner of the bonnet. We were in the road works area but I managed to get out of the traffic and onto the hard shoulder.
Looking under the bonnet there was a covering of a greenish, oil based liquid in the bottom of the front near side area and a very small puddle of same on the ground.
I checked all other fluids and levels and concluded that it was air con fluid.
I switched air con off and checked that the compressor was moving freely and we rejoined the traffic and returned home without incident although a tad hot!
An air con specialist has had a look at it today and after checking for leaks and testing pressure he concluded that the two rad fans, at least one of which is for the air con were not cutting in to cool the system, pressure consequently built in the air con system as it got hotter and simply blew a pressure release valve.
Has anyone else come across this or can anyone confirm that there is a pressure release valve present in the Freelanders air con system? Tattoos - Why would you choose to look like the wall of a public toilet?

Thought it was illegal to vent air con gases etc straight to atmosphere?

Intentionally yes it is. However, when pressure builds, something has to give, and the safest controlled method is via a PRV.

They will "blow off " if overfilled as well as the gas pressure gets very high indeed.

Your air con specialist should of carried out pressure checks & left it running to ensure the high side wasnt creeping up. If the fan speed controller is faulty or the radiator is clogged on the outside that can also cause the gas pressure to rise too high. It really should have the pressure switches checked as the AC should shut down long before the pressure valve blows

Mine didn't blow the pressure valve as I knew the fans wern't working so i didn't turn the temp down.
The HVAC head unit communicates via low speed CAN. For some unknown reason, on my car, the CAN communication had failed thus no fans. The compressor clutch was also not pulling in.
Took two days to sort it  Another member of the failed FL2 clutch/DMF club, twice.

Thank you for the replies.

A local LR independent has checked the communication to the CANBUS and says it is OK,

I have had the air con regassed and lubricated and while it is much more efficient, the fan is still not cutting in when stationary and the pressure in the system rockets so I think that the next thing to check is the the cooling fan fuse fuse and then the cooling fan module. Tattoos - Why would you choose to look like the wall of a public toilet?

The fuse for the cooling fan is in the engine compartment fuse box and is labelled F3 but I can't see how to remove it as it is not one of the normal coloured pull out type.

Can anyone shed any light on how to get at it.

It also appears to be held in place by an earth type clip that has two heaven duty cables attached to it. Tattoos - Why would you choose to look like the wall of a public toilet?

Have you checked F13 first? Another member of the failed FL2 clutch/DMF club, twice.

F13 is OK and the air con does actually work fine when on the move and air is flowing through condenser.

Have ordered a new Fan speed control module , from research it appears to be a common fault.

Will report back on the outcome once I have fitted it. Tattoos - Why would you choose to look like the wall of a public toilet?

Oooh, not cheap!
Fingers crossed  Another member of the failed FL2 clutch/DMF club, twice.

New Cooling fan speed control module fitted (£54) but still no fan.
Have confirmed that the compressor cuts out eventually once the pressure starts to rise because the fan has not cut in to pull cooler air through the condenser rad.
Back to the LR Independent on Thursday morning! Tattoos - Why would you choose to look like the wall of a public toilet?

mine was the same it cost me a full set of fans too know avail it turn out to be a broken impulse wire the very thin purple one that goes into the fan control module . forgive my grammar

Thanks markgbdavis, I am hoping that is all it is.
I have been reluctant to take it to a main dealer as they seem to replace units willy nilly and eventually fix it by trial and error while trotting up a massive bill. Tattoos - Why would you choose to look like the wall of a public toilet?

Could be one of the temp switches? Another member of the failed FL2 clutch/DMF club, twice.

Well, the fan problem was a broken pulse wire, the thin purple one that connects to the cooling fans control module!

However, 2 hours after it was repaired and both air con and engine cooling fans tested, the car was 2 miles down the road and a bleeping noise was followed by all the dashboard lights going haywire with the miles left in the tank display counting down to zero and then every light going out!

The engine appeared to be running normally but with no dashboard lights or instruments. Occasionally everything would come back to life only to die a few seconds later.

The car was collected by the local garage that found the pulse wire fault and they spent today checking but could not replicate the fault so we now have Betty back and just hope that it won't happen again. Tattoos - Why would you choose to look like the wall of a public toilet?