Yo all, well I've just found the first fault on my Octy...

I have the climatronical thingy but when I press AUTO I am unable to get the Radiator fans to kick in. I also do not hear a clunk as the compressor engages.

Just spent a while going through the destructions on the climatic controls...Tried hot and cold temps but the compressor/fans never kick in.

I have checked the air con fuse and it's OK but I am unable to locate the radiator fuses....

Anyone know where the radiator fan fuses are? I have fuse box Type 2 as in the manual.

Might just need a regas but would think the compressor would still click in to gear?

Perhaps I am not enabling the Air Con right? It's deffo not working cos it got as steamy as a sauna this eve!

I've tried to wait to see if the rad fans work to cool the engine, but in this weather they don't appear to. Derv's are hard to heat up at the best of times

Cheers!

You will never experience a "click" when the AC compressor "kicks" inn on your car. The compressor/regulator valve is controlled by a PWM signal and the internals always rotate/push back and forth alltough at a lesser extent in the winter then when cooling of the cabin is needed/allowed.

Temp is +9 degrees too so its above the +5 limit to enable the air con...or is it?

This may be an obvious question, but : Is the interior fan going ? If not you may need to switch the fan on to get the air con to go.

Yup, interior fan is going....also saw the rad fans run today after some 'enthusiastic' driving...so they work on their own.

I am taking it that when the air con is operational both rad fans should kick in? Did on the Focus so this I take it is the same on the Octy?

Not sure if the condenser fan is governed by the refrigerant pressure, on a cold day the pressure will be lower and this might prevent the fan from running thus preventing the gas from overcondensing.

The compressor will never click or clunk or anything when enabled, its always running and doesnt have a clutch like many others do.

As mentioned before the compressor can alter the amount of gas it pumps depending on what the climate controller wants it to do. You should however notice a slight change in the engine idle when enabling the compressor (ECON OFF).

Run the A/C in full cooling (ECON OFF, Fan HI, lemp LO, footwell, face vents and screen enabled) and see if the larger gas pipe to the compressor is getting cold to the touch (watch the belts and fans of course). If it is then you have a decent amount of refrigeration going on.

Weird, will have to start with the cheapest option of a regas and see if that helps.

The pipe was cold (ish) but didn''t have condensation on it...so that could be good news...perhaps I'm just low on the old gas.

Ta for the replies - took it that if I didnt hear a clutch engaging on the compressor it was game over time. Nice £500 repair bill - been there done that.

Cheapest option would be to have the fault diagnosed first before spending money on things like a regas that might not need doing I would have thought. The Climatronic unit stores fault codes and has a full list off shut off codes that flags up why the system is shut off.

Most probabley low on gas, there is a presure switch in the ac pipes if presure drops the system will not send power to the clutch on the compressor thus it will not pump the gas, as the gas and the oil added to the gas lubricates the compressor its a fail safe system,

you do not say how old your car is ,but manufactures routinley short fill the systems to save money, just enough gas to get the system runing,but if it has lost gas i'd be looking for a leak

Tis an 05 plate with 135k on the clock.......so unless it's been regassed before it will be well over due, true

Well, small update, a regas from Kwik-Fit (well, it was only 25 pictures of the Queen) doesn't seem to have done much.

They reckoned the machine withdrew 440 mls (?) of gas and no oil and put 770 mls of gas and oil back in.

They detected no leaks so I guess something more serious.

Its been mentioned before but you would really benefit from having the fault codes (if any) read off the climatronic module before proceeding on any other course of action. Could save you a good few quid.

Heck yea of course....nice one peeps. Forgot about that function!

Cheers!

Will check when sober