What a day to have ones air con fail on one, with a puff of smoke, a bit of acrid burning smell and some oil-y rubbish on the floor afterwards. 200 miles from home in today's heat. Not fun.

 

Anyway, my air con has failed on me. Parked up, was searching for an address on the sat nav, turned off the engine for a few minutes, turned it back on to get the aircon going again when it got too hot in the car.

 

First symptom was a 'wet' smell, kind of like how a wet dog smells, or wet clothing, something like that; next was a burning smell, like singed oil; and after that smoke came out from under the bonnet; lastly an oil-y patch on the road afterwards. Thankfully nothing was on fire - the smoke was coming from down amongst the accessory belt area in the bottom left of the engine bay as you look at it.

 

I have an ASV engine, if that's pertinent.

 

What troubleshooting steps should I undertake to diagnose the cause of the issue?

Edited 19 July, 20169 yr by asteconn

Unfortunately not an easy one to diagnose over the net, but they do suffer with air con compressor failure. The smoke and oil patch is strange though. Best off getting it booked in somewhere to get it looked at.

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How would I test for a compressor failure? Are there any obvious exterior clues or would I have to disconnect the thing to find out?

All you can really check is if the clutch is engaging when switched on. The rest of checks need to really need to be done with regas equipment.

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If it turns out to be the compressor, check the part but I purchased one of these recently, more than 50% off what Skoda wanted

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/321790088790?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

One last one...For what it's worth, mine failed last year with a similar electrical smell...no smoke or oil though.

 

An auto electrician found a burned-out wire, somewhere around the battery box (not the fusebox before you say!) it was part of the wiring loom, tucked down the side / beneath the battery box. He had to remove the battery and the plastic box it sits in to find the fault...

 

Sorry I can't be more specific because I didn't stand there watching him, but he did say something about there being a control module or some relays for the aircon down in that area.

 

If you struggle to find the fault, might be a place worth checking. It took my bloke about an hour to find the fault and replace a small length of wire and a connector.

 

Hope this helps

Funnily enough I had a positive feed burn through under the battery, there is a controller box there.  That fixed it...until the compressor went a year or 2 later

Thanks for the replies, chaps - I had it up in the air, and couldn't see any obvious damage in the system. I've had it checked at a garage and they've confirmed the compressor has gone. I'll take a look at that link, thanks Liverpool-Lad!

Thanks for the replies, chaps - I had it up in the air, and couldn't see any obvious damage in the system. I've had it checked at a garage and they've confirmed the compressor has gone. I'll take a look at that link, thanks Liverpool-Lad!

When opening up an old system it's not a bad idea to replace the reciever dryer. These come with a condenser for around £80. I bought a brand new one for my Leon (same part) but never used it, it's still in its dusty box in my shed. If you would like it you are welcome to it. I'm also in Worcs.

That's a very good shout, deffo worth replacing.

 

 

When opening up an old system it's not a bad idea to replace the reciever dryer....

Definitely yes, I found a Nissens one on ebay for £25 I think it was.