Climatronic

[WillWord]

Hi, had my Elegance Estate 1.2 DSG for a couple of weeks, question on heating, once the temperature reaches the set level it starts blowing cold air through vents.

I have tried this set on Auto and manual is this normal?

[mrgf]

_{Climatronic will stabilise the temperature to the set level so if it gets up to temp, it will stop heating until it cools by a small amount, then warm again, etc. (Or vise-versa). Therefor, it is quite likely you will get the air coming out of the vents going cooler or warmer for small periods of time, to sustain the set paramiter! Make sure you do not cover up or block the small sensor on the dash as it will not be able to tell the temperature properly if you do so. Hope that helps.}

[WillWord]

Mine just seems to keep blowing cold once it reaches the desired temperature, forcing me to increase set temperature to keep car at a comfortable level.

[mrgf]

Perhaps the thermostat is up the swanny!

Is it a new or used vehicle? If used, is it still under warranty? I would get the dealer to check it out. If a Skoda one, get them to demonstrate the system on a different car, if possible, to highlight any differences

[mrgf]

BTW, what temperature are you aiming for? If it is quite low, it WILL be blowing cool air! A warm standard temp will be around 21 degrees but if you are setting it lower, it will be cooler! (Doh)!

[WillWord]

Car 6 months old, 61 plate, Normal Temp set 21/22C.

So heres the thing did a 80 mile round trip today, going set to Auto with A/C after 20 miles turned AC off, set at 22C, blowers kept warm/hot.

No Problems

On return trip turned Auto and AC off, set display to Face/feet/screen set at 22C, blowers kept warm/hot.

No Problems

Today was overcast and wet, on previous trips it has been bright/sunny and blowers after 15/20mins start blowing cold, looking on other VW forums a few threads state my problem, and all point to sensors messing up the temperature on sunny days etc. (could this be possible)

I will do another test on a bright day and report back.

[logiclee]

Does the Fabia have a sun load sensor on the dash? If this is overriding the temp settings in direct sunlight due to it being too sensitive you could try sticking a bit of tape over it.

Cheers

Lee

[WillWord]

Will check tomorrow in daylight, I am aware of sensors on dash either side of temperature settings

Edited 29 April, 2012 by WillWord

[mrgf]

I know this will sound silly, but if it is warm and sunny surely the a/c will cool? If cold, it will blow warm! Have you thought of getting a seperate thermometer to check the actual ambient cabin temp? If its at say, 21 on a warm day and the climatronic is trying to keep it from going warmer, it will cool it a bit but this process may make you feel cold. Similarly, if it is cold outside, the system will warm up to maintain the set 21, but YOU will feel warm air coming in. It may just be the localised DIFFERENCES you are feeling, NOT the ACTUAL temperature in the cabin!!!

Try setting the vent air flow to a position where it is not directly blowing on you, by moving or shutting off a vent or two as this may help you feel warmer. the system is trying to keep the whole car to a set temperature and you sitting closer, will feel the difference first! I have even noticed small differences when sat in the front passenger seat, as opposed to the front drivers seat so this ambient temperature i am yammering on about is most likely the issue.

[WillWord]

I know this will sound silly, but if it is warm and sunny surely the a/c will cool? If cold, it will blow warm! Have you thought of getting a seperate thermometer to check the actual ambient cabin temp? If its at say, 21 on a warm day and the climatronic is trying to keep it from going warmer, it will cool it a bit but this process may make you feel cold. Similarly, if it is cold outside, the system will warm up to maintain the set 21, but YOU will feel warm air coming in. It may just be the localised DIFFERENCES you are feeling, NOT the ACTUAL temperature in the cabin!!!

I hear what you are saying, today sunny and warm18C (Ambleside) set temp to 22C after 15mins fan starts blowing cold and did not go warm until I manually increased Temp. So it seems technology has advanced (did not do this on the Yeti) to a point that I prefer the old way of heating a car. I will check cabin with a Thermometer to see actual temperature. It just does not seem like progress, even if what you are saying is correct ( I had already come to a similar conclusion but was fighting against the idea)

Lee I forgot to take tape with me to cover the two sensors on the dash, looks like I will have to adapt to the new way my car heats up, thats progress for you.

Regards

Kevin

[just music]

I drove an Astra hire car a few weeks ago and it made me realise how good the climate control is on my Fabia. I was for ever adjusting the air temperature to keep the cabin comfortable. I generally keep mine at 21-22 deg, auto and A/C off (unless it's steaming up or the outside temp is too high to cool the car without it).

I do have a question about air direction though. If I set to feet only I still get air from the dash vents. Is this supposed to happen?

[stratosg]

I think it is due to sensors placement by the side of climatronic's control unit. The temperature that is indicated at the Climatronic is the ambient temperature and the preferable temperature, but there is no way to know the cabin's temperature, so it is possible the cabin's temperature to be greater than ambient, remember the sensors reads the internal temperature, thus the unit blows cold air.

Plain A/C unit. There are no sensors at all

Climatic (Semi - automatic). You can see the sensors (actually one at the right) by the a/c and recirculation button and the word climatic under the central knob

Climatronic - Full automatic. You can see the sensors by the buttons sides right below screen.

At the pre F/L cars there are the same vatriations but the knobs are different.

Edited 1 May, 2012 by stratosg

[hertsnminds]

The climatronic has to take into account at least 3 temperature readings. The air temperature outside the car, inside the car and the value set by you.

Now you have to work through all the combinations of those values to work out what the system will do...

outside temp below set value, inside temp below set value = hot air required from cold source (outside air is too cold)

outside temp above set value, inside temp below set value = hot air required from hot source (outside air is too hot)

etc etc etc

The system can only heat or cool air from outside the car and sometimes it may get confused. Recirculating air just cuts off the flow from outside (not sure if it passes over the heating or cooling matrix in this mode).

[daydotz]

does the job but its so noisy

Edited 1 May, 2012 by daydotz

[logiclee]

I think it is due to sensors placement by the side of climatronic's control unit. The temperature that is indicated at the Climatronic is the ambient temperature and the preferable temperature, but there is no way to know the cabin's temperature, so it is possible the cabin's temperature to be greater than ambient, remember the sensors reads the internal temperature, thus the unit blows cold air.

Plain A/C unit. There are no sensors at all

Climatic (Semi - automatic). You can see the sensors (actually one at the right) by the a/c and recirculation button and the word climatic under the central knob

Climatronic - Full automatic. You can see the sensors by the buttons sides right below screen.

At the pre F/L cars there are the same vatriations but the knobs are different.

Having had all three the semi automatic Climatic system is by far the best. Such a shame that Skoda have now dropped it from the Fabia and the SE now gets plain manual aircon.

Cheers

Lee

[daydotz]

Having had all three the semi automatic Climatic system is by far the best. Such a shame that Skoda have now dropped it from the Fabia and the SE now gets plain manual aircon.

Cheers

Lee

its been ditched on the polo funny enough its an optional extra on the a1

[xman]

Having had all three the semi automatic Climatic system is by far the best. Such a shame that Skoda have now dropped it from the Fabia and the SE now gets plain manual aircon.

I'll second that! The Climatronic on the Fabia is a bag of s*ite.

It doesnt seem to take any account of engine coolant temperature hence during winter its persistent habit of ramping up fan speeds to gale force when its stil stone cold - overriding any tweaks to turn the fan down. Conversly, when at temperature it also keeps ramping down fan speeds even after turning the damn thing up. You can spend more timing messing around with the controls than looking where you're driving during that first 4 minutes after a cold start.

It often justs forgets its last fan speed setting when restarting the car - No.3 gale again. The fan is noisy and whines like heck. And who decided to use a control with 1/64 turn sensitivity? 1 out of 5 attempts at a single speed change either takes it the wrong way or it moves 3 or more speeds even though youe definitely only moved it one notch! Going from off to full speed is about 1/8 turn!!! For f** sake!

And whoever thought that having AUTO and ECON displayed at the same time needs re-educating in a labour camp.

The original semi-auto was ideal, but if I cant have that then I would choose manual every day over climatronic.

If its not forced on you (elegance trim) then dont waste your money on it.

Edited 1 May, 2012 by xman

[logiclee]

its been ditched on the polo funny enough its an optional extra on the a1

Yeah I know, currently I have Climatic in our 1.2 12V HTP 2, Manual aircon in our 1.2TSi DSG SE, and after having Climatronic in a Fabia and Octavia when I bought the Passat I specced Climatic over Climatronic even though I could have had it free with one of the packs I ordered.

Climatic is so simple, set where you want it to blow, set how hard you want it to blow, set temperature, forget about it and drive.

Every full climate system I've had (Ford, VW, Skoda, Rover, Jeep, Subaru) have required fidley manual overrides to get the system to do what you want it to. Give me Climatic every time.

Cheers

Lee

[irfant]

I've Climatic on my 2011 1.2 TSI DSG SE Fabia, also had it on my previous Roomster and Fabia Mk1

Happy to have it

[mrgf]

(Climatic (Semi - automatic). the word climatic under the central knob)!

I looked under my knob... Although it works, it doesn't say climatic!

[stratosg]

Having had all three the semi automatic Climatic system is by far the best. Such a shame that Skoda have now dropped it from the Fabia and the SE now gets plain manual aircon.

Cheers

Lee

I totally agree.

[stratosg]

(Climatic (Semi - automatic). the word climatic under the central knob)!

I looked under my knob... Although it works, it doesn't say climatic!

Except the word 'climatic', the left knob must also have numbers that indicates the preferable temperature. The 'climatic' photo few posts above (#12) is from my car. Plus there are sensors in my car's photo. If all these are missing then it has to be a plain a/c, which of course it will works fine.

Edited 2 May, 2012 by stratosg

[logiclee]

(Climatic (Semi - automatic). the word climatic under the central knob)!

I looked under my knob... Although it works, it doesn't say climatic!

That's manual air conditioning, same as on our MY2012 SE.

This is Climatic on our MY2009 Fabia 2.

Climatic has the two sensors either side of the aircon/recycle air switches, climatic under the fan speed switch and a C under the temperature selector with the temerature figures 16, 22, and 28 in degrees centigrade around the temp dial.

Cheers

Lee

Edited 2 May, 2012 by logiclee

[stratosg]

...

At the pre F/L cars there are the same vatriations but the knobs are different.

That's manual air conditioning, same as on our MY2012 SE.

This is Climatic on our MY2009 Fabia 2.

Climatic has the two sensors either side of the aircon/recycle air switches, climatic under the fan speed switch and a C under the temperature selector with the temerature figures 16, 22, and 28 in degrees centigrade around the temp dial.

Cheers

Lee

[logiclee]

The knobs are different, pre facelift have round knobs, post facelift have the straight type knobs.

But if it hasn't got the sensors and temperature settings then it's manual.

Climatic was dropped from the Fabia range for MY12 which is any car built mid 2011 onwards.

Cheers

Lee