Air Con Not Working

[Andrew S Wales]

In the recent fine weather we've had for the first time in months the cabin needed cooling but unfortunately there was no cold air coming from the vents. I set the climate control to Low but even on that setting the air from the vents was no more than luke warm. I've read many threads on the forum that point to a failure of the compressor which seems both common and expensive! Are there any obvious signs that the compressor has failed or could the air con simply need re-gassing? The climate control is still doing its job in regulating the temperature and airflow and when I increase the fan speed there is still plenty of air coming from the vents.

If the compressor has failed I would be one very unhappy owner as in the 14 months I've owned the car I've also had all four door cards fixed for water leaks and the abs unit replaced. Fortunately these were dealt with under warranty but that ran out last month. many thanks for any advice.

[countryboy]

If you can, have look under the bonnet to see if the centre of the air con pump is being turned by the alternator belt, if so it points to a re-gas needed. There should be a sight glass in the pipework somewhere you can see bubbles going through in the gas.

If you have climatronic with the digital displays there is another way. With the engine running press the "ECON" and air demist buttons together. The displays should change. Turn the left dial until the big number in the left display changes to 19. Turn the middle dial until the little number in the left display changes to 4. The right display will then show the speed of the air con pump in hundreds of RPM.

Ian

Edited 26 April, 2011 by countryboy

[Timmyboy]

Did the same thing myself on Weds - first time this year I wanted to use the air con and only warm air blowing.

Took it to my local garage on Saturday and almost completely out of gas - air con service, re-gas and an anti-bac bomb and I'm nice and cold again

[Auric Goldfinger]

Did the same thing myself on Weds - first time this year I wanted to use the air con and only warm air blowing.

Took it to my local garage on Saturday and almost completely out of gas - air con service, re-gas and an anti-bac bomb and I'm nice and cold again

May I ask about the cost, think mine needs doing

Luke warm air blowing when cold is selected

[bill2]

i have just had my old mondeo recharged £50 at sts or kwik fit now nice and cold. if your car cannot be recharged because there is a leak you don't have to pay.

bill

[Timmyboy]

May I ask about the cost, think mine needs doing

Luke warm air blowing when cold is selected

Similar to Bill - It was £70 - quite steep, but that included an air con service, plus the gas, plus the anti bacterial bomb thing (£20 - sheer lazyness on my part).

Pretty sure they were only going to charge a tenner to stick some gas in.

[David 8]

I guess/assume your from South Wales lol

Let me know if you want it scanned for codes

[Andrew S Wales]

I guess/assume your from South Wales lol

Let me know if you want it scanned for codes

How did you guess?! I'm going to try a re-gass this week, if that doesn't work I'll be in touch. Thanks for your help.

[Andrew S Wales]

If you can, have look under the bonnet to see if the centre of the air con pump is being turned by the alternator belt, if so it points to a re-gas needed. There should be a sight glass in the pipework somewhere you can see bubbles going through in the gas.

If you have climatronic with the digital displays there is another way. With the engine running press the "ECON" and air recirculation buttons together. The displays should change. Turn the left dial until the big number in the left display changes to 19. Turn the middle dial until the little number in the left display changes to 4. The right display will then show the speed of the air con pump in hundreds of RPM.

Ian

Thanks for this, I tried the trick with the Climate Control display - the right display showed 10 (which I assume form your post is 1000rpm). Is this what I should be seeing?

[countryboy]

Thanks for this, I tried the trick with the Climate Control display - the right display showed 10 (which I assume form your post is 1000rpm). Is this what I should be seeing?

Hi Andrew, that's the one. 19 small 0 is speed in kph, 19 small 1 is speed in mph, 19 small 2 is water temp in oC, 19 small 3 is engine revs, 19 small 4 is aircon pump revs.

Yes if you rev the car up with the display showing what you said the numbers will rise. Same when you have selected 19 small 3. The revs displayed should roughly equate to what the rev counter in the instrument panel is showing. If you were to go back into normal mode on the climate control and then press the ECON button, then go back into the trick mode you should see that the number in 19 small 4 is at 0 and should stay there when you rev the car up, this shows that you have selected economy mode and the aircon pump has been switch off.

Ian

[Andrew S Wales]

Hi Andrew, that's the one. 19 small 0 is speed in kph, 19 small 1 is speed in mph, 19 small 2 is water temp in oC, 19 small 3 is engine revs, 19 small 4 is aircon pump revs.

Yes if you rev the car up with the display showing what you said the numbers will rise. Same when you have selected 19 small 3. The revs displayed should roughly equate to what the rev counter in the instrument panel is showing. If you were to go back into normal mode on the climate control and then press the ECON button, then go back into the trick mode you should see that the number in 19 small 4 is at 0 and should stay there when you rev the car up, this shows that you have selected economy mode and the aircon pump has been switch off.

Ian

The display behaved exactly as you described so I assume that's good news. Getting an aircon service next week so hopefully normal service will be resumed shortly. Thanks for the help, much appreciated.

[Awesam]

Hi Guys

I've just done this but I got OE5 or O5e on the left display and 02h on the right! when I turn the left dial both displays show "Oi"

Does anyone know what these codes mine?

I put the climatronic to low on Saturday and it still wasn't cold enough so I dont know if I need a re-gas or if its more serious!

Thanks for your help in advance.

[redocty]

Generally speaking. No cold air = regas. First stop to try first if have warm air. They will also check for leaks in the system and will not regas it if there is a leak. Normally about 50 notes and quickies can do it now. Had my 5 series done a couple of times gets cold air straight off and lasts a few summers.

[Vrspaul]

Hi Guys

I've just done this but I got OE5 or O5e on the left display and 02h on the right! when I turn the left dial both displays show "Oi"

Does anyone know what these codes mine?

I put the climatronic to low on Saturday and it still wasn't cold enough so I dont know if I need a re-gas or if its more serious!

Thanks for your help in advance.

Mines the same, I could do with knowing what these codes mean as well

[countryboy]

Mines the same, I could do with knowing what these codes mean as well

Sorry my mistake in my original post, I tried pushing the buttons I quoted and go the same Oi display you did. Haven't got a clue what those mean.

Try this, it works :- press the ECON and demist button (windscreen icon) at the same time and you should get the displays as I said in my earlier posts

Ian

[Vrspaul]

If you can, have look under the bonnet to see if the centre of the air con pump is being turned by the alternator belt, if so it points to a re-gas needed. There should be a sight glass in the pipework somewhere you can see bubbles going through in the gas.

If you have climatronic with the digital displays there is another way. With the engine running press the "ECON" and air recirculation buttons together. The displays should change. Turn the left dial until the big number in the left display changes to 19. Turn the middle dial until the little number in the left display changes to 4. The right display will then show the speed of the air con pump in hundreds of RPM.

Ian

Ah great that works now but that means I have no rpm it just stays at 00!!

Is there anyways to get the error codes up on the climatronic?

[rockhopper]

I had my old Octavia compressor fail last summer. bill was well over £1100. they wouldn't just replace the compressor but some other parts as well otherwise it wouldn't be covered under warranty, so ended up with almost a new air con system.

Decided to sell after that and bought a Yeti instead as it had almost 100k on the clock.

[Vrspaul]

Got a number of local 'ish' guy today and called him up. He was around my area today so called in. He checked it put some dye in it and oil (for some reason i forgot to ask what this was for) drained and sucked the air and moisture out and re-filled and checked around etc for £80

All seems to be fine now, just hope it stays like that

[Awesam]

Now that you had regased, did you chekc if the codes had changed?

[Vrspaul]

Now that you had regased, did you chekc if the codes had changed?

No as I don't no how to check them. I done the rpm thing from post 2 and thats gone from 00 to 900-1000 rpm on tick over

[countryboy]

Sounds about right, I believe there are pressure sensors in the system somewhere so that if they detect an over or under pressure in the system the pump will be switched off to protect it. You say you are now getting 900-1000 rpm showing up on the climatronic at tickover, that wll be correct as the engine is turning over at 800 rpm and the aircon pump will always be running a bit faster. Sounds like you are up and running fine now, just in time according to the weather forecast.

Ian

P.S. the dye is used to check for leaks and the oil is used to lubricate the pump and seals, hence the advice given to run up the air con at least for 10 mins once a month to make sure the seals are lubed.

Edited 19 April, 2011 by countryboy

[Vrspaul]

Sounds about right, I believe there are pressure sensors in the system somewhere so that if they detect an over or under pressure in the system the pump will be switched off to protect it. You say you are now getting 900-1000 rpm showing up on the climatronic at tickover, that wll be correct as the engine is turning over at 800 rpm and the aircon pump will always be running a bit faster. Sounds like you are up and running fine now, just in time according to the weather forecast.

Ian

P.S. the dye is used to check for leaks and the oil is used to lubricate the pump and seals, hence the advice given to run up the air con at least for 10 mins once a month to make sure the seals are lubed.

Ah great, thanks for the reply mate. That explains a few things I wasn't sure about.

[AdamR]

Try this, it works :- press the ECON and demist button (windscreen icon) at the same time and you should get the displays as I said in my earlier posts

Ian

I'm struggling to get it to change the display...

Have tried:

- Pressing them both at the same time and releasing

- Pressing them both at the same time and holding

- Pressing one before the other (both ways round)

- Starting with ECON on and Demist on, both off, one on and one off (both ways round)

Basically every combination, haha. Can anyone offer any tips please? Done a VCDS scan recently and showed no faults... Just a re-gas needed?

Any help appreciated

[countryboy]

I'm struggling to get it to change the display...

Have tried:

- Pressing them both at the same time and releasing

- Pressing them both at the same time and holding

- Pressing one before the other (both ways round)

- Starting with ECON on and Demist on, both off, one on and one off (both ways round)

Basically every combination, haha. Can anyone offer any tips please? Done a VCDS scan recently and showed no faults... Just a re-gas needed?

Any help appreciated

Hi Adam, I press and hold the ECON button then press the demist button, just make sure it is the demist button in the block of 4 buttons and not the one in the left hand dial

[AdamR]

Sounds like I might have been pressing the wrong button... I'll give it a try later on and report back - thank you!