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Air Con Troubles


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Recently noticed the AC wasn't blowing quite as cold as it once did and additionally, it would only work for the first few minutes after starting the car. It would then not work until the car had completely cooled down and then the cycle would repeat.

Reading on here, the latter issue could be down to the evaporator temperature sensor, however as it wasn't blowing quite as cold as it used to (when it worked!) I had it regassed. Now, it doesn't seem to work at all!

The garage say it's definitely been regassed as the machine wouldn't allow it to be regassed if it detected a leak so the problem must be something else.

I will be getting the car scanned for any fault codes but would appreciate any thoughts if anyone has experienced something similar? I'm just not quite sure why it doesn't seem to work at all anymore.

Cheers

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I had mine regassed at Pugeot as my friend worked there and he said same about it not filling if it had a leak but i can confirm mine deffo leaked as it was nice and cold when first done and then after a week or so i could hear a hissing wvery time i used the aircon and now its back to being just cool again. I will look at fixing it one day but i dont use it that often, i also bought a replacement sensor and returned it in end as was told it wasnt at fault.

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I think one problem is, the "does it leak" test, is just " how long does it take to pull a vacuum" - what you might be finding is the system has a "running" leak, ie a leak that only happens significantly when the system is under pressure, ie charged up and doing work.

 

What Tech1e is suggesting, I think is, that if it was a competent tech that was doing that work, they would in most cases check the operation of the system while it was working - what a lot of people find is that they are paying peanuts and so a monkey is just operating the gas recovery/charging station - if it works okay then great, if not - sorry!

 

I'd be very concerned if a lot of other jobs were done in that way as all these AC "chargers" need is someone in that building to have the correct paperwork qualification to recover and recharge these systems - nothing else!

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I'll wait to see what the result is when I get it scanned and post on here.

Thanks for the reply.

 

You could always check/prove that the cooling fans work at both speeds.

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I think one problem is, the "does it leak" test, is just " how long does it take to pull a vacuum" - what you might be finding is the system has a "running" leak, ie a leak that only happens significantly when the system is under pressure, ie charged up and doing work.

What Tech1e is suggesting, I think is, that if it was a competent tech that was doing that work, they would in most cases check the operation of the system while it was working - what a lot of people find is that they are paying peanuts and so a monkey is just operating the gas recovery/charging station - if it works okay then great, if not - sorry!

I'd be very concerned if a lot of other jobs were done in that way as all these AC "chargers" need is someone in that building to have the correct paperwork qualification to recover and recharge these systems - nothing else!

Totally agree, I'm a HVAC engineer and I've seen the amount of work that the refrig guys do on site, e.g. leak testing with OFN etc. I wasn't there when the car was regassed but I do wonder how they proved it was all working correctly when the compressor doesn't seem to kick in!

How do I test the cooling fans?

Edited by Dazza95
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The guy who did mine put a dye in to test it, then ran it, before degassing and regassing I assume. Makes it easy to check for leaks prior to servicing it. Good idea I thought.

Sent from my Hudl 2 using Tapatalk

Edited by Jaspire
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Totally agree, I'm a HVAC engineer and I've seen the amount of work that the refrig guys do on site, e.g. leak testing with OFN etc. I wasn't there when the car was regassed but I do wonder how they proved it was all working correctly when the compressor doesn't seem to kick in!

How do I test the cooling fans?

 

Maybe stuff that into Google and add "Golf" as there is a lot in there about testing both the fans and their controller.  One the subject of gas, if you are an HVAC engineer, you should really buy a set of adaptors and get your gauges on that car.

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The guy who did mine put a dye in to test it, then ran it, before degassing and regassing I assume. Makes it easy to check for leaks prior to servicing it. Good idea I thought.

Sent from my Hudl 2 using Tapatalk

 

That works great first time, but next time you have not got a clue where the leak is coming from as there will be dye everywhere, (including the bonnet, now how do you stop a bonnet leaking - joke!).

 

Clean it all up, aye right!

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That works great first time, but next time you have not got a clue where the leak is coming from as there will be dye everywhere, (including the bonnet, now how do you stop a bonnet leaking - joke!).

Clean it all up, aye right!

Hehe, I asked the same question. He had 4 different coloured dyes[emoji2]

Sent from my Hudl 2 using Tapatalk

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I completed a scan with VCDS Lite earlier and these are the fault codes which came up:

01596: Motor for Outside/Recirculated Air Flap (V154) 30-00 - Open or short to plus.

01596: Shareware version. To decode all DTCs 41-10 - Please register/activate - Intermittent

00898: Shareware version. To decode all DTCs 30-10 - Please register/activate - Intermittent

Any ideas? The first one I was expecting as I've noticed the recirc turns itself of sometimes for no reason - even when the air direction isn't to the windscreen. The second one is the same code so no too sure about that but I can't read the code with Lite.

Edit: I've looked up the third and realise it could be a wiring issue to the compressor? I had the alternator pulley replaced recently so perhaps the wiring might have been disturbed?

Is there any more information that might be useful which I could obtain through VCDS?

Edited by Dazza95
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00898 will depend on the full fault code but I suspect an issue with N280 (solenoid valve on compressor) or the wiring to it.

Thank you, I take it the full fault code can only be read with the full version of VCDS or at a dealership? I've got the AC workshop manual somewhere so I'll look up the N280 solenoid.

Re. recirc motor, this works fine most of the time so I'll leave it for now, priority is to sort out the AC, didn't realise how much I'd miss it.

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Had a quick look at some of the meas blocks today, when reading Meas 02, I got a compressor shut off code of 16 (it occasionally went to 0 and the AC seemed to run)

The workshop manual lists the evaporator temp sender G263 as a possible cause or the cooling fans not being operation. However, the reading for the temp sender seemed pretty accurate.

Should the cooling fan run all the time the AC is on? I remember mine used to cycle a lot last summer. I'm hoping to get the car on the ramps next week to check the wiring for the solenoid valve.

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I'd think that the cooling fan always run when the AC chiller is working (doing work), that system will need it will dump the recovered heat.

Edited by rum4mo
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I thought so, I understand it has two speeds, mine only seemed to cycle on and off on high speed (assuming high speed due to the noise). If the weather was particularly warm or if you turned it all the way down it would stay on constantly. I will post back my findings soon anyway after checking the fans and the compressor solenoid. I just hope it's not the solenoid valve itself as that'll mean replacing the compressor :(

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00898 will depend on the full fault code but I suspect an issue with N280 (solenoid valve on compressor) or the wiring to it.

Have you ever had the cooling fans cause this problem?

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To test fans' low speed operation, unplug the connector of the thermoswitch just above where the bottom hose connects to the rad, and link pins 1 & 2.

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To test fans' low speed operation, unplug the connector of the thermoswitch just above where the bottom hose connects to the rad, and link pins 1 & 2.

Thank you, pretty much as shown here I'd imagine?

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Yeah, if you're lucky access might be slightly easier than on his, but I'm not sure what that corner of the bay's like on a 1.4 tdi I'm afraid.

Looks more difficult if anything but I'll have it on ramps so should be easier from underneath. Checked the fuse on top of the battery compartment and that looks OK.

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I think there are two fuses, one normal blade type under a cover to the right of the strip fuses that does the low speed. See the Fuse sticky thread in the Fabia Tech guides section. what's your engine code, AMF? 

 

Just checked, Yep, fuse 8 on the battery, 30A blade.

Edited by Wino
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Just to mention, I don't quite get what he's doing with the high-speed test on that vid. Not 100% sure it'll work like that on yours. As far as I can see, the pins you need to link are 1-2 for low speed, which is the one with a brown wire and the one with the brown/blue. For high speed you want to link 1-3, which is brown to brown/green. May need to wipe the wires a bit before you can see the colours. His wiring looks to be different in the vid.

 

You might also need the ignition to be on for both speeds. Try with it off first, but if nothing happens, try with it on.

Edited by Wino
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