Air con

robrace

robrace

Member
Took the wife’s TDI out today!Unused for weeks but air con wouldn’t work!Car has climate control but setting on low still gave warm air.It used to get ice cold but didn’t appear to be getting as cold as it used to last year so took it to Halfords for recharge but they tested it with a thermometer and said it was in the normal parameters.any ideas?
 
A diagnostic check may help but I would be looking at either a leak in the system or a faulty compressor.
 
Cycle the temperature from low to high and back again many times. Sometimes it takes up to 15 minutes. This is well worth trying before you start stripping anything down or spending any money. It could be just a sticky temperature flap.
Steve B
 
simufly said:
Faulty motor on the temp flap?
Click to expand...
A scan would check this, as a stuck (open or partially open - should be closed) heater flap would show up
The aircon compressor in our cars runs all the time (no clutch), and a variable valve (N280) controls flow through the matrix. A faulty N280 valve would give the same symptoms. I'm not sure, but I think you can touch the matrix if you remove the cabin filter and poke your hand in. This may give you a clue as to wether the chiller is chilling! If it is, then heater flap would be prime suspect, as @Birchall says.
Mac.
 
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Thanks for replies and info ,car has gone in to have some paintwork done so will have a play with it the weekend when we get it back,
 
Mine did exactly this a couple of months ago, I tried the trick of cycling the temperature up and down which didn’t seem to have any effect. However the next day it behaved fine again and (touch wood) hasn’t happened again to this day.
 
A G263 sensor failure is also a possibility but without a diagnostic scan it's just speculation.

Last year both the A2 and Q3's aircon performance were marginal. A scan showed no fault codes so before going for a re-gas I invested in a set of gauges to do more checks. I managed to find a good quality set of used gauges at a bargain price then sat through a few youtube guides before using them. There are lots of 'copy' sets on ebay but I read a few reports that the seals don't last and may need replacing after a year or so

This guy is a bit 'loud' but to me, he did a good job of explaining the different scenarios and what the readings meant. -

I found both cars were low on refrigerant and called in a mobile specialist to regas them. It was good to be able to talk through the process and ask questions. Once hooked up the machine automatically runs through the cycle removing all the refrigerant and separating out the compressor oil and any moisture. This 'vacuuming' takes quite a while and the guy said some operators use the fact the system is holding the vacuum as an indicator its leak free.
His opinion was that holding a vacuum of 14 PSI in no way proves the seals and condenser will be good for an operating pressure of around 200 PSI. so he always does a full pressure tests with nitrogen

Cheers Spike
 
Reminds me of a time when I used a nationwide A/C company to test/fill the system after I had replaced the G263. He filled the system with nitrogen and then tried to find leaks with a refrigerant specific detector!

RAB
 
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