Air con gurus - my sweaty corpse needs help!

[moose600]

Just about to change jobs so I'm going to have to start using the vrs to go to work and back and thought I'd take advantage of Skoda's 89 quid brake fluid and air con service, given it's warm and I've never had cold a/c.

After the regas (no leaks found), Skoda said the high pressure sensor needed swapping for it to work. Did that. Then they said it was throwing up another fault which they'd never seen before. After 4 days (and no courtesy car!) waiting for Skoda technical to reply, they said the climatronic control module was goosed. So I swapped that for one off another car (they quoted £700!) and asked them to test it. No faults were found but still nothing. I tested the voltage at the compressor and was getting an irregular pulse of between about 5 and 9 volts instead of the 12v constant I was expecting.

I assume that Skoda would have checked the compressor and clutch both work in getting to the conclusion that the control module has had it, and as far as i can tell from the wiring diagram there is no relay. Now I'm out of ideas and it's driving me mad...

Anyone have any thoughts?

Thanks in advance, Daz

[mac11irl]

Theres been as many fubared a/c threads summer as wet carpet threads in 2013!!

Id say compressor is gone/going if the voltage is a bit erratic and lower than expected. Seems to be a very common symptom in the ac threads ive read (aint got it so i just sweat for 13days per yr when the sun shines )

[KenONeill]

Look in your local Yellow Pages for a real "automotive air conditioning specialist", by which I mean someone with a workshop, not a mobile regas franchise. It's got me beaten, and these guys do more or less nothing but (plus they'll do real OEM parts at real OEM prices, not at "it's got Auto Union rings on the box" prices.

[Sheldon.Cooper]

Skoda would have pulled fault codes and done what the computer told them. Very rare for them to even lift a bonnet and use their mark 1 eyeball or ears to find a fault so no they probably haven't checked the clutch and compressor. 5-9v sounds wrong but you'd be better checking against a similar age working system to compare the two. Do you know anyone with a mk1 Oct with AC?

Edited 14 July, 2015 by Sheldon.Cooper

[moose600]

Thanks guys. I think you're right about them not lifting the bonnet! I've spoken to an a/c specialist who has recommended resetting the 2nd hand control module as it may have stored fault codes from the previous vehicle. I'm hoping to get this done later in the week so will report back!

Oh and unfortunately I don't know anyone else with an Octy with working a/c to compare :(

Edited 15 July, 2015 by moose600

[moose600]

Final update on this...

 

After getting an A/C specialist to look at it, it seems the compressor was toast. Long story short, I explained to Skoda that I'd have expected them to have identified this before replacing any other components, and that this had let down their normal level of exemplary service...

 

They subsequently phoned me acknowledging this, and offered to replace the compressor free of charge! As a result I now have a fully functional A/C system and cannot recommend the guys over at Sandicliffe Skoda, Nottingham, highly enough.

[KenONeill]

Cheers; me being beaten by an AC fault doesn't happen often, and I'm not overly impressed by "we've taken £700 doing unnecessary work, so we'll replace the cheaper part that was faulty for free".

[moose600]

Fortunately it didn't come in at anywhere close to £700! They'd only replaced the HP sensor before, so the compressor was the more expensive part in this instance. Had I not have got a cheap 2nd hand control module though they would have wanted about that for a new one! Thanks for your help