Good Evening All!  

 

A bit of background before I go any further:

When I bought the car a couple of Months back, I was told that the A/C was warm and could do with a re-gas. Having got this done, within a few hours, it was nowhere near ice cold.  Using the self-diagnostic would sometimes re-set (producing the Fault Code 4FA - Re-Circulating Flap), and would blow ice cold for no more than about five minutes, before going back to blowing warm air again.  I took it back to the local non-Skoda Garage, and they checked pressure / levels, all was fine.  The compressor was working, and it was engaging with the clutch fine too.  All very frustrating (and my ears were getting a right ol' bashing from the other 'alf about how the car was too hot for our mini people etc., etc.....)  

 

 

So, fast-forward to about a Week ago, when I posted about my recent positive experience when I took my car to HAYES SKODA Garage in Little Clacton, Essex.

 

One of the issues that they looked at was the fact that the Air Conditioning (Climatronic System), had been blowing warm air, instead of ice cold.

 

After running their own Diagnostics, they could find no fault Codes (and when you run the self-diagnostic test, it only displays Code 444 - which I believe means that there are no faults).

 

Now, me only ever having cars with Air Conditioning (which I was told only "Conditions" the air), I was educated in a mini "Masterclass" in the basics of the Climatronic System, and apparently it works and should be used in the following way:

 

The way the Climatronic System works is pretty much the same in principle as a Thermostat in a House.

The car is fitted with a whole load of sensors, which measure the temperature inside the car, and this is relayed back to the Climatronic System.

When you start the car (even just turning on the Ignition), will trigger this temperature check (once ignition is on, it was pointed out to me that there is a delay of a few seconds whilst the car checks the temperature inside the car), before the fan kicks in, thus knowing which temperature for output.

 

It was explained that if you try to adjust the temperature to "LOW" (ice cold), or even switch on the fan / increase the fan speed during these first few seconds on start up, it apparently can confuse the System whereby it doesn't know the true inside temperature, and then this prevents the System from putting out ice cold air.

 

So, I've done exactly what was advised (leave the System to do it's thing on start up of ignition and / or engine), and since then, I'm pleased to report that the ice cold Arctic blast has been constant and reliable.  Apart from the temperature being set to "LOW", I've got the fan set to blow out through the dash grills (top horizontal arrow into face), with both "ECON" and "AUTO" switched off.

 

Now I appreciate that for some of you who are unfortunately experiencing on-going issues with the Climatronic System, that there may be under-lying fault/s, however it appears that for me, it was down to user error in not understanding the System 

 

I hope that this information will be of some help to some of you good peeps out there!    (It certainly was good for me and my ears!!!)  

Did you need to get the recirculating flap/motor fixed first?

What settings do you have the Climatronic on before you start messing with it?

 

Do you leave the ignition on for several seconds after all the self-check lights go off, for the temp check thing to do its stuff?

On 7/13/2017 at 23:57, YellowAges said:

It was explained that if you try to adjust the temperature to "LOW" (ice cold), or even switch on the fan / increase the fan speed during these first few seconds on start up, it apparently can confuse the System whereby it doesn't know the true inside temperature, and then this prevents the System from putting out ice cold air.

 

Would be a very badly written bit of firmware if it's possible to 'confuse' the system by adjusting the inputs before it's really ready. Normally in such systems the inputs are ignored until initialisation is completed.

 

Touch wood I've never had any issues with the climatronic in mine and haven't even needed to re-gas the air con in 6 years of ownership.

 

Mine is set to ECON most of the time except on warm days or to help clear the windscreen in winter. I also try to remember to use the air con at least once a week at times of the year when I wouldn't otherwise need to use it. I use the recirculate setting mostly to help speed up the cooling/heating time or in tunnels.

On 7/21/2017 at 13:01, Ttaskmaster said:

Did you need to get the recirculating flap/motor fixed first?

What settings do you have the Climatronic on before you start messing with it?

 

Do you leave the ignition on for several seconds after all the self-check lights go off, for the temp check thing to do its stuff?

Hi Ttaskmaster,

 

No, I left the re-circ flap as it is.  Yes, I usually leave a few seconds between ignition and start-up, and then you can hear a delay of 5-10 seconds between start-up and the Climatronic Fan starting up.  It then does its' thing and settles down after another 10-20 seconds.

On 7/23/2017 at 22:53, vrsTom said:

 

Would be a very badly written bit of firmware if it's possible to 'confuse' the system by adjusting the inputs before it's really ready. Normally in such systems the inputs are ignored until initialisation is completed.

 

Touch wood I've never had any issues with the climatronic in mine and haven't even needed to re-gas the air con in 6 years of ownership.

 

Mine is set to ECON most of the time except on warm days or to help clear the windscreen in winter. I also try to remember to use the air con at least once a week at times of the year when I wouldn't otherwise need to use it. I use the recirculate setting mostly to help speed up the cooling/heating time or in tunnels.

 

Hi vrsTom,

 

Thanks for the reply with your thoughts on this.  I agree that it sound's a bit un-likely that the System could be confused, however this is what I was advised.  Happy to report that the System is still nice and chilled, however I did recently try adjusting the settings on start-up, and it again failed to go icy cold.  Could be unique issue on my car, however wanted to share, just in case it helps anyone else

 

Good to hear that  yours gives you no problems - 6 years without a re-gas - pretty good going is that!  

On 05/08/2017 at 21:56, YellowAges said:

Hi Ttaskmaster,

 

No, I left the re-circ flap as it is.  Yes, I usually leave a few seconds between ignition and start-up, and then you can hear a delay of 5-10 seconds between start-up and the Climatronic Fan starting up.  It then does its' thing and settles down after another 10-20 seconds.

 

Mine did this off and on, for a bit.

Now I switch the ignition on and it just sits there doing nothing for at least 30 seconds. I usually give up and start the engine by then. However, it does start doing things immediately after that and it seems to have started working properly.

 

But then:

On 05/08/2017 at 22:01, YellowAges said:

I did recently try adjusting the settings on start-up, and it again failed to go icy cold. 

 

Whatever it is, I also had the same thing as, without thinking, I fiddled with the settings and it went back to playing silly-buggers.

I mucked about, switching between ECON, Auto and back to basic aircon and I think it has now resumed cooling. WIll try and verify on the way home tonight...

 

Still no idea what the confusion is all about...

On 8/7/2017 at 12:44, Ttaskmaster said:

 

Mine did this off and on, for a bit.

Now I switch the ignition on and it just sits there doing nothing for at least 30 seconds. I usually give up and start the engine by then. However, it does start doing things immediately after that and it seems to have started working properly.

 

But then:

 

Whatever it is, I also had the same thing as, without thinking, I fiddled with the settings and it went back to playing silly-buggers.

I mucked about, switching between ECON, Auto and back to basic aircon and I think it has now resumed cooling. WIll try and verify on the way home tonight...

 

Still no idea what the confusion is all about...

 

Yes, still all a bit of a mystery, however good to hear that yours is working now  

Sometimes it starts up and does stuff with only the ignition on. I usually leave it 10-15 seconds after the 6-ding seatbelt reminder, so the system can configure itself or whatever it does, before gunning the engine.

Other times, it does nothing until after you gun the engine up, at which point it's irrelephant and it can sort itself out while I focus on driving.

 

However, on the rare occasions I let the Mrs ride in my car, she does like to fiddle with buttons and I suspect she messes the whole thing up each time.

@Ttaskmaster - SWTSMBO needs to be trained better, if she's fiddling with the driver's preferred heating settings (aside from the passenger-side vents; all I ask there is that you tell me if you want to change the window one because I normally aim it as a demister).

On 30/08/2017 at 15:36, KenONeill said:

@Ttaskmaster - SWTSMBO needs to be trained better, if she's fiddling with the driver's preferred heating settings (aside from the passenger-side vents; all I ask there is that you tell me if you want to change the window one because I normally aim it as a demister).

This is why she doesn't get to ride in my car very often... or pillion on my bike, either!

She cannot cope without freezing air blasting in her face and music blaring out the stereo... It's as if the mere noise of an engine offends her. It wasn't so bad when she had ber bike, as all that silliness was contained inside her lid and far away from me.

 

On 8/30/2017 at 15:01, Ttaskmaster said:

 on the rare occasions I let the Mrs ride in my car, she does like to fiddle with buttons 

 

Sounds like an ideal wife!

2 minutes ago, mrgf said:

 

Sounds like an ideal wife!

Depends very much on which buttons...