Air con literally non existent... I hate sweating.

[Marconi1982]

Hi guys. 

 

Just sifting through the minor fault list on my newly purchased VRS and I'm on to the air con. 

 

Its a mk1 Octavia vrs with the Climatronic unit. 

 

Ive read plenty about people's air con not working very well but don't seem to have come across a fix for it. 

 

I went to a VW specialist yesterday (a friends garage) and he did a re gas and some sort of purge that took around 10-15 mins but this made no difference at all. 

 

I carried out the test using the 2 buttons on the unit and came up with 4FA 00 as a code. 

 

Just before I open the flood gates of knowledge I'll say that I'm fairly sure the recirc valve is motoring but there is just ambient temp air coming from the vents. The compressor is engaging and as I said it's had a full regas. 

 

So any ideas? With my drivers window regulator not working either, I'm getting rather warm at the moment. 

 

Cheers guys. 

 

[Guest]

This should help?

 

http://wiki.ross-tech.com/wiki/index.php/01274

[pikpilot]

4FA is the hexadecimal code for 1274 in decimal, indicating a faulty recirculation flap valve or its motor.

I had this fault on mine too but it did not affect the temperature control or air con. My guess is you may have a failed temperature control flap valve too. Does the air temperature increase if you demand hotter air?

 

I can't remember how to cycle the display through multiple fault codes after a test but someone might come on here and tell us

[YellowAges]

Just now, pikpilot said:

4FA is the hexadecimal code for 1274 in decimal, indicating a faulty recirculation flap valve or its motor.

I had this fault on mine too but it did not affect the temperature control or air con. My guess is you may have a failed temperature control flap valve too. Does the air temperature increase if you demand hotter air?

 

I can't remember how to cycle the display through multiple fault codes after a test but someone might come on here and tell us

 

From memory, once you've run the self-diagnostic, and the display fault is shown, it's either the hot (red) or cold (blue) button which cycle through the codes?  I too had this code and issue with A/C not being cold at all, until I was given some really useful information from my Local Skoda Garage (now it's ice cold)    Just about to make a separate post about this information, just in case it helps anyone else.....

Edited 13 July, 2017 by YellowAges

[Marconi1982]

Thanks for the replies guys. 

 

Yeah I cycled through the codes and it was the only fault on the system apparently. Just seems odd as I can hear the motor moving when I select the recirc button. 

 

Anyway I'm assuming that from your post Yellowages that a post with a nice easy fix for this fault is imminent ?? If so could you do it now? Lol. I hate not having the air con and my window regulator isn't arriving for a few days.

 

Cheers.   

[pikpilot]

55 minutes ago, Marconi1982 said:

 

Yeah I cycled through the codes and it was the only fault on the system apparently. Just seems odd as I can hear the motor moving when I select the recirc button. 

 

 

The noise you hear is the gear on the motor slipping over the teeth on the bigger gear connected to the flap. Indicates wear or jammed flap. This common problem is apparently due to the fact that we rarely use recirc - use it or loose it!

Mine jammed in the "fresh air" position so I left it as it is a pig to change.

[YellowAges]

6 hours ago, Marconi1982 said:

Thanks for the replies guys. 

 

Yeah I cycled through the codes and it was the only fault on the system apparently. Just seems odd as I can hear the motor moving when I select the recirc button. 

 

Anyway I'm assuming that from your post Yellowages that a post with a nice easy fix for this fault is imminent ?? If so could you do it now? Lol. I hate not having the air con and my window regulator isn't arriving for a few days.

 

Cheers.   

 

Hi Marconi1982,

 

Here's my post - hopefully this will work for you too! 

 

 

[Marconi1982]

Unfortunately it doesn't seem as if finger trouble is the problem in my case. The recirc motor and valve don't grind ot slip. It sounds pretty smooth. 

 

It does change to hot when I request it to so it works that way. 

 

Back to the drawing board I guess but thanks for your input. 

[Liverpool-Lad]

So the compressor is kicking in and both fans are spinning on the fan pack?

[Marconi1982]

Yep compressor cuts in and out and both fans run when the unit is turned on. 

[Guest]

On 13/07/2017 at 20:44, simspj said:

This should help?

 

http://wiki.ross-tech.com/wiki/index.php/01274

This is the answer to your fault code you said was on the climatronic display.

[Marconi1982]

Ok guys forgive me if I'm being thick but surely no matter what position the recirc motor of flap is in, it should still pump cold air around? As in proper cooled air?? 

It doesn't block the cold feed off does it? 

[KenONeill]

@Marconi1982 - If the mixer box is stuck in recirc mode it should get colder faster because you're not introducing new outside air.

[Ttaskmaster]

I'm currently battling the same 4FA fault.

It's been regassed and I get chilled air sporadically, but it comes and goes... mostly for a couple of minutes and then stays gone, rather than ever coming back.

Occasionally switching between ECON and normal mode over a period of minutes does give me another 2 minutes of cold air, but it's never seriously ice-cold.

 

 

[Marconi1982]

Yeah I think you may be having the same issue as me then. I've still had no joy with it. I was going i swap the climatronic unit out for a friends and see if it made any difference. 

[Liverpool-Lad]

4FA isnt detrimental to the correct operation of the climate control.  Mine had the same issue (4fa), due to the recirc motor not working.

 

I just set it to fresh air only manually moving the flap and unplugged the recirc motor.  4FA wont stop your climate working correctly.

Edited 23 July, 2017 by Liverpool-Lad

[Marconi1982]

19 minutes ago, Liverpool-Lad said:

4FA isnt detrimental to the correct operation of the climate control.  Mine had the same issue (4fa), due to the recirc motor not working.

 

I just set it to fresh air only manually moving the flap and unplugged the recirc motor.  4FA wont stop your climate working correctly.

Yeah this is exactly what I've been saying. I can't see that the recirc motor or flap can stop the system from making cold air.... so what's the problem?

Its doing my nut in. 

 

Do we reckon it's worth swapping the unit out for another one that's known to work correctly? 

 

Im not sure if there's a sensor to detect temperature in the car that's not reading correctly or something. 

[Liverpool-Lad]

Im not sure, Im no expert on air con.  Do any of the other climatronic direction controls help?

 

As long as the pollen filters clear, whether youre on fresh air or recirc wont matter as mentioned.  Are the AC pipes also getting cold after running (they run along the bulkhead in the bay) if so, maybe the climatronic unit...worth a shot if you have one handy?

 

I think they have an inbuilt temperature sensor on the front of the unit too....food for thought.

[Marconi1982]

Ok so I've just been out and swapped the climatronic unit for a know good one from a friends car and it made no difference at all.

 

We then had both cars running and set to LO in AUTO mode and the pipes to my cockpit don't get anything like as cold as the other car. They are slightly cooler than ambient I'd say but my mates pipes were covered in condensation within a minute and icy cold even though his car has never had a re-gas and its a 52 plate.

 

So what would cause that?   

[Guest]

Your best course of action is get it to an air con expert. As trying to internet diagnose a fault like this is almost impossible. 

[Ttaskmaster]

21 hours ago, Marconi1982 said:

So what would cause that?   

 

I've heard talk of a coolant gas pressure sensor, and of an aircon control unit underneath the battery, either of which were suggested as the causes. No idea about either and haven't gotten to checking mine out, but it's something else to test...

[YellowAges]

On 7/14/2017 at 16:52, Marconi1982 said:

Unfortunately it doesn't seem as if finger trouble is the problem in my case. The recirc motor and valve don't grind ot slip. It sounds pretty smooth. 

 

It does change to hot when I request it to so it works that way. 

 

Back to the drawing board I guess but thanks for your input. 

Ahh - that's a pity - hope that you get this issue fixed soon though (at least before Autumn /cooler weather arrives!)