Asking on behalf of a friend with a 1U Octy (2004, Elegance estate, ASV-code engine).  He's been told by his brother - a mechanic in Czech - that his climatronic A/C isn't working because of an evaporator leak, and they are planning to tear out the dash and replace the evaporator at some point, but that's a fair size job, I guess, and presumably the part isn't cheap.

 

I was tearing down a climatic (not climatronic) Fabia Mk1/Polo 9N cabin heater box thing this morning (as you do) and noticed that there are a pair of O-rings behind the expansion valve, as well as the pair that seal the pipework coming in from the engine bay onto that valve assembly.

These pretty coloured guys:

 

 

Is there a similar arrangement on an Octy with climatronic?

 

I've found the relevant O-rings (items 21, 22) on this ETKA piccie of the non-climatronic version, but the page for the climatronic doesn't show the expansion valve so I can't tell if it differs

 

 

 

 

 

Just to be clear, I'm not referring to the O-rings between the pipework in the bay and the expansion valve, items 9A/11A here; I assume if the leak was from there it would've been spotted, and he wouldn't have decided that the evaporator itself was at fault:

 

 

 

 

I imagine the expansion valve to evaporator O-rings can be replaced from engine side if these are present on the climatronic version too? Or is the expansion valve integrated into the evaporator on that version?

 

I may be doing the brother an injustice by wondering whether or not he's checked this far 'in'; it just seems like an opportunity to save everyone a lot of trouble if it's a known possibility that this might be where the leak is, rather than the evaporator itself. 

 

Any help much appreciated. Ta.

 

 

Edited 7 September, 20178 yr by Wino
updated, see third post

Well, for the little that it's probably worth, the friend tells me that the car first went to a UK-based Skoda dealers for diagnosis, some time before his brother re-confirmed the "big leak, evaporator" diagnosis.

 

I didn't know about the Skoda dealer having seen it, or the "big" bit of this before, which makes me think it can't just be a leaky o-ring seal at the expansion valve - evaporator junction, and have been missed by both parties. Pity.

 

(In retrospect why wouldn't it be, but) The expansion valve looks to be the same on both varieties of A/C system, or at least be detachable by a pair of bolts from the evaporator, one arrowed in this pic (on friend's car, photographed this morning):

 

Edited 1 September, 20169 yr by Wino

Update one year on.

He took the car to his brother in Czech recently, and now has a new evaporator, and condenser. The evaporator was rather sieve-like when tested off the car, apparently, not sure if that's a known problem?

Anyway, on the long trek back he had working A/C for the first time since owning the car, but wasn't that impressed by the coldness in high ambient temps, even at 'highway speeds' [his description].

 

I looked at it briefly yesterday, long enough to see that the main rad fan wasn't working on low speed, which I had guessed might be the case.  Who's done the external resistor fix on a mk1 Octy? Presumably extremely similar to the Mk4 Golf documented here? Luckily posts #19 & #36 have survived the photobucket picturicide. Is there space for the resistor/plate in the same area? It's a 1.9 diesel ASV-code if that matters.

 

VCDS (lite) on it today showed V71 (recirc?) and V68 temp flap motor faults, plus a pressure switch fault.  Cleared all and the only one that came back after a 'cycle all the flaps/functions' thing was the recirc motor.  Thinking the pressure switch fault may date back to before the system was made gas-tight, and the V68 might be intermittent, so will come back soon.   There's definitely a decent amount of coldness coming out of the vents today, but it's not super hot outside.  Evap temp seemed to get down to 5C fairly quickly, but I think it ought to go colder than that? Could be the effect of limited airflow/fan action through the condenser, idling on the drive.

 

How easy is the temp flap motor to do on these?  Found a part number of 1J2907511F, and waiting for a quote from Mike Hindle.  Anyone mended one as opposed to replacing? 

Save you talking to yourself..

 

Bump...

Cheers fella!

 

Quote for the V68 came back at £132 so not massively appealing.  The owner hasn't driven it a lot since last update, but thought the temp flap was behaving itself this morning.

Ordered a couple of 1-Ohm 100W resistors from China for a whopping £1.98 delivered.

 

Would be handy to know if there is the same spot to install them as on a Mk4 Golf (Isn't it the same platform/chassis?). Anyone here done the external resistor radiator fan repair on their Mk1 Octy?

 

 

Edited 7 September, 20178 yr by Wino

It should be identical..

Same engines, same engine bay..

Same strut braces, suspension, radiators.. be utterly amazed if it was different

 That's very helpful. Can now go ahead and make him a mounting plate/heatsink for the resistors, as per the ukmkivs info. You're a gentleman.