Hello

 

My air con has suddenly stopped working. (I had a new pump about a year beforehand as it had seized.)

 

I have climatronic on my 1.9TDi (51 plate) and when a/c is turned on, there is no change in engine noise or idle revs. I took it to my local garage, who regassed it and checked for leaks, then found a loose wire which they fixed, but a/c still not working. They then said it was the pressure sensor.

 

The new pressure sensor didn't sort it and now they are saying that there is a leak in the high pressure pipes which showed up after they put some dye in the system?

I have run the climatronic self diagnostic which returns the code 444, so no fault detected. 

 

If there is a leak in the pipe, wouldn't the a/c still work, but just not as efficiently?

Is there anything else I can check? If there is no change in engine noise or revs when a/c is turned on, could there be something in the electrics that isn't working?

 

If anyone has any suggestions, I would be very grateful,

Thanks

if is the smallest leak in the pipe you'll loose all the refrigerant and the AC will not work...the pressure switch will turn off the compressor

Thanks for your reply. Sounds like the pressure sensor is doing its job and why there is no change in the engine noise.

I am still waiting for the garage to give me a quote on replacing the high pressure pipes. They thought it was likely to be quite an expensive job as the pipes are fitted whilst the car is manufactured so are difficult to access.

Any thoughts as to whether this is a viable economic option on a 14 year old car?

 

Thanks again for reading

breaker yard is your friend

Hi again

 

My garage have had the car a while now and have told me it needs 2 new high pressure pipes. They said second-hand wouldn't be a good idea as the pipes vary in shape and it would be a big job. They quoted £700 and rightly said that this wasn't a viable option.

 

Do the pipes have to be solid, or can you get flexible pipes? Sorry for my ignorance, but I am desperate to get this sorted, but not desperate enough to spend £700!!

 

Is it worth getting a specialist air con place to have a look?

 

Can anyone recommend somewhere around the Bromley, South East London area?

 

Many thanks again

Take it to a specialist air con garage for a check up, may cost you £30. You need an accurate diagnostic.

You can remove the 4 wire connector above the starter motor to check front two wires are delivering 12V or remove the bottom engine  cover and remove the connector to the air compressor clutch to check for 12V.

On mine there was 9V so I checked the wiring and then replaced the relay under the battery with a new VW one from ebay. The relay controls the two rad fans and supplies 12v to the compressor clutch. Check the rad fans run at low speed when the air con,  if not then suspect the relay.

 

If you have a VCDS lite cable try some diagnostics with that as well.

 

Do a search this has been detailed before or read this: http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/243243-help-ac-problems-out-of-ideas/?hl=%20replacing%20%20compressor

Edited 2 August, 201510 yr by jackg